

You can even forego the flat bench altogether and perform lat pullovers while lying on the floor.

This will mean your core muscles need to work even harder to keep your body stable. You can also adjust the starting position so that just your upper back and shoulders are resting on the flat bench, with your feet still on the floor and your knees bent. You hold a dumbbell in either hand with your palms facing toward your feet, or toward each other, depending on your preference, then perform the movement in the same way.įor more of a challenge, you can work one arm at a time while using two dumbbells, which allows you to really focus on your shoulder mobility. You can perform dumbbell pullovers with two dumbbells instead of one, but ensure they’re a lighter weight. The risk for injury gets higher with the more weight you use, so consider starting out with a light weight to get familiar with the exercise and then build from there.There will be a small, natural arch to it as you perform the movement but don’t let it become excessive. Likewise, ensure your back isn’t arching or bending too much.Don’t let your arms bend too much the straighter they are, the more your arm muscles are engaged – there’s a reason it’s also referred to as the straight arm pullover!.Breathe in as you lower the weight behind you, then breathe out as you bring it back up.Focus on pulling your belly button in toward your spine to ensure your core muscles are fully engaged.The starting position should see a very slight arch in your back and arms, but keep it minimal.Squeeze your lats at the bottom of the movement, and squeeze your chest muscles at the top.Now, engage your chest muscles to raise your arms back up to the starting position.Engage your lats and lower your arms, keeping them straight, until the weight is behind and slightly below your head.Hold it in place for a second or two and then slowly move back to the starting position to complete one rep. Get into a wide stance with your feet about shoulder-width apart and then pull the handle toward the front of your thighs. With your arms straight, hold a dumbbell with both hands above your chest, grasping the top end of the dumbbell so that the other end drops between your arms. Use a triangle or a lat bar for the best results. There aren’t many exercises that will have your shoulders flexing through this plane of movement, making this an important exercise to include in your workouts.Ī post shared by Peak Work Archie Lie back on a flat bench with your feet on the floor and knees bent. Likewise, the lat pullover can also help increase shoulder mobility, as the pullover action recruits your deltoids and the range of motion will loosen them up. Plus, as you are lying down when performing these dumbbell pullovers, you are taking the strain off of your lower back that might otherwise be there during other exercises. All of this, in turn, can actually help lower your risk of injury as you are strengthening the muscles around your spine and core. The lat pullover also helps to improve core strength and stability. This makes it a pretty comprehensive upper body exercise that builds strength in several important areas. The lat pullover – sometimes referred to as dumbbell pullovers or a straight arm pullover – is quite unique in that it targets both your back and chest muscles at the same time (more on that below).
Straight arm cable pull over how to#
We’re going to dive into all the benefits of the lat pullover, how to perform it correctly and what variations are available to you so that you’re equipped with all the knowledge to master this move. It’s a highly effective exercise that moves your lats through a fuller range of motion than other back exercises. There are plenty of exercises that target this part of your upper body, such as the lat pulldown or the inverted row, however, there is one that is sometimes overlooked the lat pullover. When developed correctly, your lats can become some of the most prominent muscles in your body structure, adding not only aesthetic size but also strength to help with a range of movements and exercises.
