The Dumbbell Pullover: Arnold’s Favorite Exercise?
Arnold Schwarzenegger commands attention. Whether he’s running his mouth on camera, serving up iconic action movie one-liners, or taking to the political podium, people listen to what the Austrian Oak has to say. And for good reason. Schwarzenegger is perhaps more responsible for ushering bodybuilding into popular culture than any man living. So when the G.O.A.T. calls the dumbbell pullover a “forgotten gem” and one of bodybuilding’s “must-do” movements, we certainly take note.
The dumbbell pullover is an old-fashioned bodybuilding exercise that was commonly adored by golden-era pros like Schwarzenegger and his contemporaries. However, it has since fallen out of fashion somewhat — a “forgotten gem,” as Schwarzenegger puts it.
Do Dumbbell Pullovers Make Your Rib Cage Bigger?
Schwarzenegger certainly knows his stuff when it comes to muscle hypertrophy — he won the Mr. Olympia seven times, after all — but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s an anatomy expert. According to the UK-based Royal Osteoporosis Society, “…bones stop growing in length between the ages of 16 and 18, but your bone density continues to increase until your late 20s.” Case closed? Not quite. Schwarzenegger may have simply conflated the natural goings-on of puberty with his training choices.
We wanted to dig a little deeper, so we tapped expert, Exercise Physiology PhD, and bodybuilding competitor Dr. Ryan Girts for his take:
“I wouldn’t say that pullovers actually expand the rib cage,” Girts told us. “But Arnold did have a point. When performed with a full range of motion, pullovers can improve lat and thoracic spine mobility which probably helped Arnold perfect his stomach vacuum and other poses on stage, creating the appearance of a broader torso.”
How To Do Dumbbell Pullovers
Will pullovers give you a barrel chest? Yes, but not by making your rib cage bigger (sorry, Arnie). This dumbbell exercise targets the musculature that surrounds your ribs and, when performed with proper form, is one of the best ways to develop your lats and chest at the same time.
So, if you want to make the kind of gains that would have Schwarzenegger blushing, you need to know how to do pullovers as well as he did. Here’s a crash course:
- Lie down on a weight bench and hold a dumbbell by the underside of the plate in your palms, with your arms reaching vertically above you.
- Brace your core; you can plant your feet on the far end of the bench, leave them on the ground, or lie perpendicular to the bench altogether without supporting your hips.
- Drift your arms slowly back behind your head without excessively bending your elbows.
- As the weight passes behind you, allow the dumbbell to stretch your lats and pecs until your upper arm is parallel to the floor.
- Pull the weight back to the starting position, stopping just as the dumbbell comes back into your field of view.
References
- Dahab KS, McCambridge TM. Strength training in children and adolescents: raising the bar for young athletes? Sports Health. 2009 May;1(3):223-6. doi: 10.1177/1941738109334215. PMID: 23015875; PMCID: PMC3445252.
- Conroy, B. P., Kraemer, W. J., Maresh, C. M., Fleck, S. J., Stone, M. H., Fry, A. C., Miller, P. D., & Dalsky, G. P. (1993). Bone mineral density in elite junior Olympic weightlifters. Journal of Applied Physiology, (10), 1103–1109.
- Pedrosa, G. F., Lima, F. V., Schoenfeld, B. J., Lacerda, L. T., Simões, M. G., Pereira, M. R., Diniz, R. C. R., & Chagas, M. H. (2022). Partial range of motion training elicits favorable improvements in muscular adaptations when carried out at long muscle lengths. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, (8), 1250–1260.
