Pullover Exercise Benefits

Discover the pullover exercise benefits and see how this isolation chest exercise might be able to help you reach your goals faster.

If you are planning to add this exercise to your routine, be sure that you know how to do the dumbbell pullover and review these pullover exercise tips.

Pullover Exercise Benefits. The pullover exercise offers a few key benefits that you can experience if you are among the best candidates for this movement (i.e. some people shouldn't do this exercise). Listed below are the top benefits of pullovers:

• Build Upper Body Muscle. Although it's considered to be among the isolation chest exercises (since it's a single-joint movement), it also effectively works the triceps, lats and other upper back muscles. The pullover is also unique in that it hits the lats and the triceps. So get ready for thicker chest and back muscles. I should note, though, that contrary to populare belief, this exercise does not work the serratus anterior (the "rib muscles").
• Work the Stabilizers. The pullover clearly does your chest justice, but it'll also test many stabilizer muscles throughout your body; spefically those in the abs, upper back/scapular region and the gluteal muscles. Stabilizer muscles don't actually do the work to move the weight, but they support the muscles that do by holding them steady or balanced. Poorly developed stabilizer muscles can be a "weak link" that causes a plateau.
• Flexibility. Although the pullover is no substitute for a stretching routine, the stretch involved in performing the technique is effective for maintaining or improving flexibility and range of motion in your chest and shoulder region. An increase in the flexibility of this region will benefit all other related exercises in your weight lifting routine.

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