Straight-Arm Dumbbell Pullover

Starting position:

Choose the appropriate dumbbell weight taking account of your fitness level. Grab the dumbbell at the disc with both hands. Rest your shoulders and head on the bench and fix your feet at shoulderwidth (bending your knee joints at 90 degrees). Keep your torso in a firm horizontal position with your pelvis in a neutral position. Move the dumbbell and hold it with both hands over your chest.

Exercise:

From the starting position lower your outstretched hands with the dumbbell to behind your head and bring your hands to a level horizontal with your body. Inhale as you move the barbell back and downand exhale going back to the starting position. Do the required number of repetitions.

Note:

Watch for the correct starting position of your hands. The torso must remain firm throughout the exercise. Avoid lumbodorsal swayback and undesired backwards bending, especially with the barbell in the lowered position. Never do this exercise with a dumbbell withdetachable weights as there is danger of severe injury.

Recommendation:

Choose the appropriate weight taking account of your fitness level and coordination abilities; that means doing the motion using a lighter weight to start.

***

Straight-arm dumbbell pullover is performed in an unusual position perpendicular to the bench with only shoulders lying on the bench.

You are going to place the dumbbell just over your head so only use the fixed-weight modern dumbbells – traditional dumbbell with welding will sooner or later fall on your head.

Make sure the only joints involved in the exercise are shoulder joints.

Although technically an isolated exercise (only one joint is working – the shoulder joint), every form of pullover involves several muscle groups: lats, pectorals, triceps, deltoids, obliques, rhomboids, teres major, levator and intercostals. There are very few other exercises involving so many muscles.

Do not move your hips during the exercise! It is a common mistake to lower the hips during the pulling motion and raising them during the lowering phase.

Do not lower the dumbbell too far behind your head. This will almost inevitably cause shoulder problems.

Straight-arms version of dumbbell pullover doesn’t allow for such weights as the bent-arm variant. It is more suited for stretching and chest expansion (this is a subject of discussion among athletes and scientists – while some swear that pullovers do expand the rib cage, others claim this is just a widespread myth).

Straight-arms dumbbell pullover is done with lighter weights than the bent-arm pullover.