Special techniques are required to measure muscle moment arms. (8) This is why we can’t simply reference the textbook action of a muscle and call it a day. Muscle moment arms change during a movement as muscles bend and wrap around bone. Muscle actions seem straightforward, but actual application of these principles to predict the effectiveness of an exercise for training a given muscle is much more complex. This is basic physics: Torque = Force x Distance. A muscle’s effectiveness for producing a given action is the muscle “moment,” which is determined by the product of muscle moment arm (distance between the muscle’s line of action and the center of joint) and muscle force (end-to-end pull).It crosses behind the joint– when this muscle shortens, it pulls the shoulder into extension. A shoulder extensor has a line of action behind the center of the shoulder. The action of a muscle describes how it tends to move a joint when it shortens (concentric contraction). First, we need a solid framework to understand a muscle’s effectiveness for a given action, such as shoulder extension. To address the pecs versus lats question, we must make educated interpretations based on anatomy and muscle physiology. The pullover is performed overhead, toward end-range shoulder flexion (around 100-180 degrees). Textbooks provide muscle actions from the anatomical arms-at-sides position. Well, if you look up “shoulder extension” in an anatomy textbook, it’ll be listed as an action of the latissimus dorsi, not the pectoralis major. So which muscles are contributing the most during the shoulder extension: pecs or lats? The pullover is a resisted shoulder extension. Why Is There Controversy Over This Exercise? Importantly, keep the elbows pointed forward to promote external rotation at the shoulders and to better target the lats, if that’s what you’re wanting to hit. There’s no added benefit to allowing an extreme arch of the spine.īecause resistance is lost at the top, end the movement at or before the weight crosses over your eyebrows. You can lay on a flat bench in traditional position or you can lay cross-bench with your hips bridged and shoulders supported on the bench, your choice. For ease and simplicity, my preference is a heavy dumbbell. For those with limited forearm mobility, the Olympic bar may not be appropriate. You can do the free-weight pullover with a barbell, an EZ bar, a multi-grip bar, a kettlebell, or a dumbbell. Therefore, my bias is to include pullovers with the rest of my pulling movements during back training. Performing pullovers with back training has never interfered with my subsequent push session. However, I feel it trains the back more robustly, applying a much greater mechanical stimulus on the lats than the chest. Though we’ll discuss it in depth, research is inconclusive about whether pullovers are best for pectoralis major (chest) or latissimus dorsi (back). Let’s go over the standard variations, dig into some research, discuss the variations you can do for stiff shoulders, and then get into the modifications that’ll improve the resistance profile so you can make more gains. This means the resistance profile of the pullover has an extremely steep descending curve when you do it with free weights. If you haven’t done it in a while, here’s a reminder: The toughest part occurs when the arms are flexed overhead, and it gets much easier when your arms are perpendicular to your torso. Seasoned lifters have long known about this exercise, but these days, it’s rare to see someone do it.īut is a back or a chest exercise? Should you include it with upper-body pulling work or upper-body pushing? Even practitioners squabble about it. You might remember golden era bodybuilders doing the pullover, their bodies arching across benches, lats flared wide, pumping out reps. Should you do the pullover on pushing day or pulling day? Even the experts argue about it. You can use variation by going declined, flat or inclined.Pullover-Exercise 1000×409 90.9 KB Yes. It can pre-fatigue the lats and improve muscle activation and mind-muscle connection. It appears to be best as the first exercise on back day. The “common wisdom” is that the pullover “expands your ribcage” to make your chest bigger… But properly performed the pullover is also the only way to isolate the lat muscle without significant assistance from the rhomboids, teres, traps, or any of the back muscles. You can tweak pullovers to target certain bodyparts depending on what you do before or after the unique exercise. There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding about it – does it work the chest or the lats? This is because the pullover is a compound movement that targets both the chest and the back and is one of the only exercises that works opposing muscle groups at the same time. The pullover is a great and almost forgotten exercise.
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