# Lat Pullover



## musclemate

*Which type of lat pullover do you prefer?*​
Good old fashioned dumbbell 526.32%Hammer lat pullover machine1473.68%


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## musclemate

Who prefers what and why...?

a) Dumbbell Pullovers (lat emphasis)

OR

B) Hammer lat pullover machine


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## RowRow

musclemate said:


> Who prefers what and why...?
> 
> a) Dumbbell Pullovers (lat emphasis)
> 
> OR
> 
> B) Hammer lat pullover machine


Got to say I prefer the machine version simply because I can get a better contraction and can play around with it more.

Whereas with the Db version stretch and initial contraction is great but full contraction is rather poor


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## Boshlop

DB warm up, gets the core into it, tonne of control needed to get it to hit the lats but its good. then finish with the hammer or a bar on the lat pull down


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## nWo

Much prefer the machines, I can get a good stretch without feeling like my shoulder joints might dislocate :laugh: You can get a better ROM in general with the machine as well. You can of course increase you ROM with the dumbbell verson by lying in a decline position on an ab bench, steeper the better really.


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## LeviathanBodyBuilding

Prefer the machine version, I'd even go as far to say I'd prefer a straight arm cable pull down compared to a db pullover, feel with the machine and cable version can get a better contraction and squeeze throughout.


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## Gotista

Should the arms remain straight throughout the movement for lat emphasis? I tend to feel it in my triceps and chest.


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## Newperson

I find it it works the chest better (dumbbell and machine)

But if you wanna hit the lats...use the machine and do a reverse grip. Hits the lats much better


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## rocky666

if you do it last lay on the floor and do 15-20 reps with a db moderate not to heavy weight the pump is incredible keep arms fairly straight.


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## Rico1

Most people do them incorrect. They keep their body as high as the bench. Keep your ass down. Almost to the floor otherwise you achieve no stretch on it. Also its primarily a chest exercise with secondary emphasis on the lats. If you feel your lats more your doing it wrong. This is for the dumbbell version. The machine has totally different mechanics behind it. If you look at the routine s of most of the well known bodybuilders from the 70's up into the 90', you'll see it in their chest routine s not back.


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## benno_2010

Not sure what the hammer pull down machine is but they have this one at the gym I use called the 'super pullover' although I believe it's called a nautical pullover and is a real good machine - so yeah prefer machine to free weight for this exercise


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## benno_2010

Rico1 said:


> Most people do them incorrect. They keep their body as high as the bench. Keep your ass down. Almost to the floor otherwise you achieve no stretch on it. Also its primarily a chest exercise with secondary emphasis on the lats. If you feel your lats more your doing it wrong. This is for the dumbbell version. The machine has totally different mechanics behind it. If you look at the routine s of most of the well known bodybuilders from the 70's up into the 90', you'll see it in their chest routine s not back.


Are you sure? Pretty sure it's a back exercise and that people got confused and thought it was chest? How can the mechanics be different when you are doing the same movement?

Edit - quick internet search shows that no one knows what it works out and all sites say it works both chest and back lol!!


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## NoGutsNoGloryy

benno_2010 said:


> Are you sure? Pretty sure it's a back exercise and that people got confused and thought it was chest? How can the mechanics be different when you are doing the same movement?
> 
> Edit - quick internet search shows that no one knows what it works out and all sites say it works both chest and back lol!!


Depends how you hold the dumbbell. If you put both hands on the bar in the middle, it hits the lats, but putting your hands underneath one of the blocks on the db and pushing it up gets the chest. That's how I do it anyway. You don't want to go heavy on either one of these.


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## bigchickenlover

Dumbell.. but im old and fashioned


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## Jamieson

Rico1 said:


> Most people do them incorrect. They keep their body as high as the bench. Keep your ass down. Almost to the floor otherwise you achieve no stretch on it. Also its primarily a chest exercise with secondary emphasis on the lats. If you feel your lats more your doing it wrong. This is for the dumbbell version. The machine has totally different mechanics behind it. If you look at the routine s of most of the well known bodybuilders from the 70's up into the 90', you'll see it in their chest routine s not back.


Interesting comment. Dorian Yates says the exact opposite in his Blood & Guts video on back tarining. I grant Pullovers do hit the chest slightly but not as a primary function. If using a DB except for the final 10-15degrees of the movement its primarily working your back and if you stop the movement shy of your collar bone you avoid activating your chest almost entirely, if not, altogether.

Just becuase the exercise works the chest slightly, doesn't make it a chest exercise.

If you think about most exercises they hit muscles both indirectly and directly. Dips hit Chest/Delt/Tri but also traps and upper back, holding the contraction on a close grip pulldown or chin contracts the chest, doesn't mean you would classify Dips as a trap/upper back exercise or Chins/Pulldowns as a chest exercise.

As for the poll question, the old Nautilus P/over machine would be my preferred option, failing that the Hammer 1 is OK.


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## Big ape

funny when people say there old fashioned while using there iphone 6


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## musclemate

So since starting this thread I've had a go on the pullover machine...and I really dislike it. The hand bar is in an awkward position and the movement is not right for my body mechanics. So next session is going to be with the trusted dumbbell pullover.


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## Rico1

Yeah you maybe right if you do them the way they're done today with body parallel with the bench. Bodybuilder s such as Arnold, Sergio Olivia and Victor Martinez . Hell even the great Vince Gironda did the ass down , elbows together with slight bend. It keeps the chest flex throughout the movement. Pullovers were not originally done the way they are now.

I guess I can't say they're done wrong as I said previously but just done different. I stand corrected.


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## nWo

Rico1 said:


> Most people do them incorrect. They keep their body as high as the bench. Keep your ass down. Almost to the floor otherwise you achieve no stretch on it. Also its primarily a chest exercise with secondary emphasis on the lats. If you feel your lats more your doing it wrong. This is for the dumbbell version. The machine has totally different mechanics behind it. If you look at the routine s of most of the well known bodybuilders from the 70's up into the 90', you'll see it in their chest routine s not back.


Most bodybuilders are misguided, they were just using them as a chest exercise because that's the knowledge that was handed down - physiologically it makes no sense that a pullover would be a chest exercise. The function of the chest is to bring the elbows in from the side of the body to the front. The function of the lats is to pull the elbows in from overhead down to the front. Given the position of the elbows during pullovers and the fact that they travel on a vertical plane in relation to the position of the torso, that makes it a lat exercise. It might feel like the chest is being involved if you make a conscious effort to add a bit of push near the top of the movement, and naturally if you've been working your chest and it's a bit pumped then it's gonna feel a bit stretched at the bottom of the movement, but that doesn't mean it's a chest exercise. I use upper/lower splits, and train chest before going on to do pullups - because my chest is pumped, I feel tension on it whilst doing pullups, but that doesn't mean it's being worked.


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## nWo

musclemate said:


> So since starting this thread I've had a go on the pullover machine...and I really dislike it. The hand bar is in an awkward position and the movement is not right for my body mechanics. So next session is going to be with the trusted dumbbell pullover.


Try doing them on the machine again but with a reverse grip mate, can make all the difference somehow. I've got long arms and when doing them with a normal grip it almost felt like a pulldown machine, but with a reverse grip I'm able to get a better elbow and wrist position and more of an arc movement.


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## Robbie789

Straight arm pull down on the cables works the lats much better than dumbbell pullovers ime


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## ki3rz

I'm not a fan of either. Would choose the machine over the DB pull over though. Mainly because I struggle to get my form spot on with the DB pullover.


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## zak007

Machine one is far better than manual due to contraction & you being in a set position. I've only ever used the machine once & it was brilliant!


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## elliot438

I'm usually a free weights guy but for this I usually use a wide bar on a cable and bend over with a tight core. Using a dumbbell just seems awkward for this excersize.


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