All about the Bent Arm Pullover
(Chest Warm-up)
START POSITION: Sit on one end of a horizontal bench with your feet planted firmly on the floor and slightly apart. Pick up a single dumbbell and hold it vertically in your lap, gripping it at its upper end. Push the dumbbell forward towards your knees and slowly bend your knees up, and then slowly pull the dumbbell backwards over your head. You will automatically roll back to a lying position. Then you can put your feet back down on the floor.
I recommend that you master this starting technique, which gives full lower back support throughout the exercise. See video below.
NOTES: DIFFICULTY RATING: 15%
This exercise is ideal for warming up the chest muscles before a main chest workout routine that includes more traditional exercises, such as the Bench Press. For all warm-up exercises, keep the weights lower and the reps higher. You can do hundreds of these if you have time.
2 different forms of the Dumbbell Bent Arm Pullover (Chest & Triceps)
The exercise can be modified slightly to target the Back or Lat muscles more effectively. One version is the Bent Arm Pullover, and the other is called the Straight Arm Pullover. However, please note that I tend to use the Straight Arm Pullover primarily with light dumbbells to give my chest a longitudinal stretch. I dont teach the Lat muscles version of Bent Arm Pullovers, but the slight modification is easy to understand and switch to. Everyone has a different type of physique, and whether you use the bent or straight arm version, or something in between, depends on the results you are trying to achieve from your training.
Both exercises target your lats, chest, and triceps, but the bent-arm version engages your biceps and lats more. For perfect form, keep your back flat on the bench, maintain a slight bend in your elbows, and lower the dumbbell slowly and smoothly. Control the movement and avoid arching your back
5 Tips for Perfect Form for Bent Arm Pullovers
- Lie on a bench with your feet flat on the floor and your head supported by the bench. I find it helpful to perch the back of my head just over the edge of the bench, allowing me to look up towards the top of the wall behind me at about a 45° angle. I find this is conducive to a slightly bigger chest stretch
- Hold a dumbbell with both hands above your chest, palms facing up
- Keep a slight bend in your elbow and slowly lower the dumbbell behind your head until your arms are parallel to the floor
- Engage your chest and back muscles to pull the dumbbell back up to the starting position
- Keep your core engaged and your lower back pressed into the bench throughout the movement
Bent Arm Pullovers are great for warming up your chest and back muscles before a workout like bench presses. They help improve flexibility and range of motion. Just be sure to use a lighter weight for your warm-up sets. However, this is not an exercise for heavy weights and significant robust muscle gains – this is a warm-up and toning exercise. The exercise should be done in conjunction with flat bench dumbbell flyes to achieve a thorough chest stretch and warm-up engagement before tackling more powerful chest exercises.
To make bent arm pullovers more challenging, you can use a heavier weight or slow down the lowering phase of the exercise. Try doing them on a decline bench to increase the range of motion. Try doing single-arm dumbbell pullovers for a greater challenge to your core stability. Or, try pausing at the bottom of the movement for a few seconds to increase the time under tension.
Please watch this brilliant explanation of the differences between the two forms of Pullover – Different types of Bent Arm Pullover.
