Stretching exercise for the chest. By learning the technique, you can significantly increase chest volume and develop working muscle groups. Running a barbell pullover on a regular basis until your age of 27 can significantly increase your chest size and look great. Note that this is one of the oldest movements in bodybuilding and it was performed by athletes in the thirties. Of course, since then, the exercise has evolved very much and today it differs significantly from the initial one. Exercise allows you to use a large number of muscles in the back and chest.
Barbell Pullover Technique
To many novice builders, this movement seems simple. However, in practice, it is one of the most difficult from a technical point of view. It is conditionally basic and, as we said, involves a lot of muscles in the work. The pullover can be performed on a horizontal or inclined bench. The first species is considered a classic and it is about him that we will talk today.
You need to lie along the bench and at the same time the body should be in contact with it over the entire surface and not hang down. Feet should be firmly pressed to the ground. Hold the sports equipment with a straight grip on outstretched arms. The distance between the palms should be about forty centimeters (narrow grip). The elbow joints should be slightly bent.
From this starting position, begin to slowly lower the projectile behind your head, controlling the movement along its entire trajectory. Lower the barbell until you feel a strong tension in the chest muscles, and most often this happens slightly below the line parallel to the ground. As a result, the trajectory of the rod should be a semicircle. When you feel a stretch of the above muscles, start moving in the opposite direction.
There are some things to keep in mind when performing this movement:
- Throughout the trajectory of movement of the projectile, the hands must be fixed at the elbow joints.
- Make sure that the angle at the elbows is approximately 150 degrees.
- To prevent arching of the spinal column, you can place your legs on a bench.
- Since the barbell pullover is a stretching exercise, inhale at the bottom of the trajectory, and exhale while the projectile moves up.
- By using the EZ bar you can achieve the most natural joint position.
- Try to exclude stops and jerks from the movement.
- Using large operating weights can cause injury.
The subtleties of performing a pullover with a barbell
You should effortlessly hold the projectile in outstretched arms behind your back. It is this weight that is optimal for performing the movement. Do 2 to 3 sets of 10-12 reps each. For beginners, the best place to start is with an empty neck.
Benefits of running a pullover
There are several advantages that an athlete can obtain by performing this movement:
- Increasing the ability to perform shoulder adduction movements at the moment of resistance to the load, which is very useful when performing pull-ups.
- The flexibility and mobility of the shoulder joints increases.
- The muscles of the chest are perfectly loaded.
- Posture improves and you can eliminate slouching by pumping your lats.
- Functional preparation improves.
The best option would be to perform a pullover with a barbell at the final stage of training your chest muscles. This will allow you to perfectly finish off this muscle group. If the age of the athlete is 15 to 19 years old, then perform the movement twice during the week. Then you can do it only once.
How to correctly perform a pullover with a barbell, see this video:
