Last Update On November 18, 2011
The Pullover Is Not a Chest Exercise
by Vladi
The dumbbell pullover was popularized by Arnold Schwarzenegger as one of the greatest chest exercises and a good way to expand your ribcage. However neither of those effects are provided by the pullover.
Myth Number One: The Pullover Works Your Chest
I don't how it started but the pullover does not work your chest. There might be some chest involvement but it's very small.
Nobody develops big pecs from pullovers because the main muscles working during the exercise are the latissimus dorsi and the long head of the triceps. The actual movement that happens during a pullover is called shoulder extension.
At the same time the pectoralis major muscles attaches from the sternum, ribcage, and clavicle to the humerus (upper arm). They share the function of adducting the arm (pulling it down and in towards the body) when working with certain muscles of the back (like the latismuss dorsi). However the main function of the chest muscles is to pull the arm forward (from pointing out sideways to pointing forward) to the position of the "flexed" shoulder.
Conclusion: There is small peripheral pectoralis involvement during pullovers but due to the nature of the exercise (shoulder extension) the latissimus dorsi is providing most of the working force. Don't count on pullovers to build your chest. Bench press, dumbbell bench press, dips, ring push-ups...etc are way better because the pecs are much more involved in the exercises. Make sure you use chest activation techniques when you perform the mentioned pushing exercises.
Note: There is small chest involvement but the bulk of the work is done by the latissimus dorsi, the long head of the triceps and the serratus anterior. Counting on pull-over to make your chest bigger is like counting on the bench press to get your lats wider. Yes, the bench press requires lat involvement but they are mainly stabilizers rather than the main moving force.
Myth Number Two: The Pullover Expands Your Ribcage
The human rib cage, also known as the thoracic cage, is a bony and cartilaginous structure which surrounds the thoracic cavity and supports the pectoral girdle, forming a core portion of the human skeleton.
The only flexible portion is the sternum or the so called breast bone composed partly from cartilage which is a flexible connective tissue found in many areas in the bodies of humans and animals including the joints between bones, the rib cage, the ear, the nose, the elbow, the knee, the ankle, the bronchial tubes and the inter-vertebral discs. It is not as hard and rigid as bone but is stiffer and less flexible than muscle.
Guess what? The length of your sternum is entirely genetic. You can't make it that much longer unless something like 1 mm for 10 years sounds good to you. I would even say that trying to perform something like this is dangerous because it will also affect the way your posterior ribs attach to the spine. Thank God the body is smart and does not allow you to do stupid things like that. You might just as well try to increase the length of your legs by stretching your knees.
At the same time the only way to stretch the sternum would be to stretch the pecs to the fullest and flex your lats extremely hard since you will need to produce some kind of brutal force in order to make the tendons of the chest pull your breast bone. In other words your chest tendon and muscle system is not in such strong position to effectively perform this kind of pull.
The reason why so many people think the ribcage expands from pullovers is the extreme lat involvement during the exercise. Big lats make you look wide not only from the back but from the front as well. Strong lats will also improve your posture and a better posture will make your ribcage look larger but don't get too happy it's still the same ribcage. It was not "expended."
Conclusion: Don't get caught into the bullshit of the famous bodybuilders and gurus. Chances are they don't know what the hell they are talking about. There is a lot bro-science and marketing based information in the fitness industry today. It's all about promoting products and sometimes ignorant get hurt too.
Don't be one of them.
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