Pullovers - For Building a Big, Healthy Chest

Pullovers are a strength move that’s fallen from favour. That puts them in company with moves like the bent press, the two hands anyhow and the strict press, and the behind the neck press. These moves were key components of the training of golden-age strongmen of the 1940s. That doesn’t of itself mean we should adopt them: after all, those guys did what they could with what they had, but there’s no good reason to reach for something old just because it’s old.

The pullover might be due for a renaissance though.

When you do a move like a bench press, you’re teaching your body to curl over tighter in front, compressing your chest to drive the bar upwards. When you row, your upper back might be slightly in extension, but your chest is never getting a workout in an extended position. The pullover might be just the thing to add to your routine to fix that.

To do a pullover, lie on your back on a bench with a dumbbell held by one end in both hands. You’re going to move both hands back until the dumbbell is as far behind and above you as you can, then return it to the centre above your face and repeat.

Pullovers strengthen the chest and back, particularly targeting pectorals and latissimus dorsi for upper body strength enhancement. They improve shoulder mobility and stability, crucial for a greater range of motion and injury recovery.

Core engagement during pullovers strengthens abdominal muscles, aiding in core stability. The exercise also benefits respiratory muscles like intercostals and diaphragm, promoting efficient breathing. Versatile in equipment use, pullovers can be done with dumbbells, barbells, or resistance bands, suiting various fitness levels. They contribute to better posture by strengthening upper back and chest muscles, countering the effects of prolonged sitting.

Pullovers fit into diverse workout routines, including chest, back, or full upper-body days. Aesthetically, they help sculpt a more defined upper body, enhancing physical appearance. Starting with lighter weights is advised to ensure proper form and avoid injury.

That’s the pullover, in essence.

Read More: Push-ups For Strength

But did an exercise that simple really build one of the world’s most famous chests?

John Grimek was one of the stars of the physique world at a time when weightlifters and bodybuilders were usually the same people. Grimek was a seriously strong man, but he took his inspiration for physique training from classical Greek statuary and used strength moves to build a physique that was in the proportions he saw in antique Davids and Apollos. He must have done something right, because he was simultaneously one of the strongest men in the world and arguably the most muscular man in the world.

And Grimek swore by the pullover.

In fact, he said that using the pullover made his chest grow from ‘39 to 45 1/2 inches in less than a year.’ So what was he doing?

Grimek Pullover Technique

Grimek used a technique that was similar to supersetting. The principle of supersetting is that you’ll pair two exercises with each other, and perform them back to back. Exercise B is your rest from exercise A. Sometimes this means doing a leg exercises followed by an arm exercise, sometimes it means two moves that hit the same area in different ways, so you might superset bench presses and pushups.

Grimek used leg exercises and pullovers. He claimed that using leg exercises supersetted with pullovers let him use breathing to expand his chest ‘from the inside out.’ Granted, that sounds pretty unusual, to say the least. But John Grimek had the goods to back it up.

Grimek’s method called for ‘exercises… which cause a rapid, deepened, and sustained state of breathing. Additional exercises,’ Grimek added, ‘should also be performed which stretch the ribs up and out when the trainee is breathing rigorously.’

Grimek used to perform a set of high rep squats, and then spend a minute or so taking short but rapid breaths. Next he would begin to breathe more slowly but deeper, and as he did, he’d do his pullovers then. His theory was that the deep breathing caused by doing the squats was what made the pullovers so effective.

The workout:

Session 1:

Front Squat: 20

1 minute fast shallow breaths, then begin deep breaths and move on to

Pullovers: 12-15

Rest for five minutes or so and repeat, up to 3 times.

Session 2:

Back Squat: 20

Use a weight you can do about 15 reps with, and use rest-pause to get to 20.

1 minute fast shallow breaths, then move on to deep breaths and move on to

Pullovers: 12-15

Rest for about 5 minutes and repeat up to 3 times

Session 3:

Bulgarian Split Squat: 10 each side

Breathe rapidly and shallowly, then move on to deep breathing and

Pullovers: 12-15

Rest up to 5 minutes, and repeat up to 3 times.

Read More: Serious Gains With Serious Squats

I’ve included squat variations so that you can have the best of all worlds – the thoracic extension work that comes with front squats, the strength challenge of the back squats and of course the proven increase in testosterone production over other squats that comes with the Bulgarian split squat. If you have a favourite squat, just use that. The key is to make the squat part of the training challenging enough that you’re seriously out of breath, without letting it turn into cardio.

If you do heavy 20-rep squats, you’ll find that this session will replace your normal workout. You can’t do 20-rep squats 3 times a week as an afterthought. You probably don’t want to replace your current workout with something you just heard about, so an alternative is to make the squats relatively light and throw them in at the part of your training session where you normally do your conditioning. That way you can road-test Grimek’s idea without having to bet the farm on it. Give it six weeks and let me know in the comments below what it does for you!