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June 2, 2023

How to Do the Hex Press for Chest Size without Shoulder Pain

Filed under: Fitness,Training — Tags: bench press, chest workout, dumbbell, exercise guide, Exercise Guides, train, training — admin @ 8:31 pm

Part dumbbell bench press and part isometric dumbbell flye, the hex press is a unique high-tension chest-builder. The hex press is performed on a flat bench with the dumbbells squeezed together throughout the pressing motion. This feature explains why one alternate name for this unique chest exercise is the “squeeze press.”

Person holding dumbbells over chest — Credit: sornram / Shutterstock

This exercise also goes by “Champagne press,” but the hex press isn’t just for special occasions. Like Champagne, the hex press compliments just about anything — it’s great for lifters training for a stronger press, a more muscular chest, or healthier shoulders.

Ready to pop the cork on new chest gains? Find everything you need to know below.

Hex Press

Hex Press Video Guide

See the hex press in action, demonstrated by author Dr. Merrick Lincoln. Note the key techniques, then check out the Step-by-Step breakdown with additional form tips.

How to Do the Hex Press Step By Step

It may look like a close-grip dumbbell bench press but, while there are some similarities, there are crucial differences that make the hex press stand out. Follow these steps for proper, efficient, and effective technique.

Step 1 — Set Up Five Points of Contact

Dr. Merrick Lincoln performing dumbbell hex press — Credit: Merrick Lincoln, DPT, CSCS / YouTube

Like the bench press, the hex press is performed on a flat bench. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, set up with five points of contact for stability — the back of your head on the bench, your shoulder blades on the bench, your buttock on the bench, your right foot touching the floor, and your left foot touching the floor. (1)

Form Tip: Recruit a “spotter,” or individual who can assist you if you run into trouble during the exercise. Any exercise involving weights passing over the body requires a spotter. (1) A spotter is especially important when learning an unfamiliar exercise. The spotter stands behind the bench and, if assistance is necessary, they will assist by grasping your wrists to guide the dumbbells. (1)

Step 2 — Set Your Shoulders and Squeeze the Dumbbells Together

Lift your chest toward the ceiling by arching your back and pulling your shoulder blades together. Maintain this position throughout the exercise. With a neutral grip (palms facing each other), bring the dumbbells together just above your sternum and squeeze them together hard.

Form Tip: If you’re using hexagonal-shaped dumbbells — the namesake equipment for the hex press — ensure flat surfaces of the dumbbells are aligned and squeezed together.

Step 3 — Maintain Pressure, Press to Lockout

Initiate the press by flexing your shoulders and extending your elbows. Keep the dumbbells squeezed together and elbows tucked throughout the movement. Don’t decrease inward pressure as you reach the top, locked out, position.

Form Tip: Keep tension. In addition to the profound contraction you’ll feel in your chest, you should feel tension in your upper back and lats, which keep your shoulder blades pulled together (retracted) and keep your elbows tucked toward your sides.

Step 4 — Lower without Separating

Lower to the center of your chest using the same arm path as the upward movement phase. Focus on keeping the dumbbells firmly squeezed together throughout the lowering phase, which may feel slightly unnatural at first, since the lowering phase of most exercises emphasizes a muscle stretch.

Form Tip: Think about “rowing” or actively pulling the dumbbells back your chest. “Rowing” the weights back to the starting position reinforces tension in your upper back and eliminates the need to reset your arch before the next repletion.

Hex Press Mistakes to Avoid

Dodge these common errors for cleaner technique and more effective hex presses.

Losing The “Squeeze” Between Dumbbells

The pressure exerted between the dumbbells is part of the special sauce that makes the hex press effective — and extra spicy. It promotes muscular engagement in parts of the chest that might not otherwise be as active.

Man in gym on flat bench lifting dumbbells — Credit: Andrey_Popov / Shutterstock

At the bottom position of the exercise, the lifter’s elbows are bent, and shoulder internal rotation force is required to keep the dumbbells together. Toward the top position, arms are straighter, and shoulder horizontal adduction force is required to keep the dumbbells together. Although it may get harder to keep the squeeze at the top and bottom of the movement, firm pressure between the dumbbells must be maintained throughout.

Dropping Your Chest, Freeing Your Shoulder Blades, or Flaring Your Elbows

Loss of tension in the back allows the chest to drop, shoulder blades to spread, and upper arms to drift away from the lifter’s sides. These three errors tend to occur together, and they can make the hex press less effective.

Shirtless person in gym doing dumbbell chest exercise — Credit: Vladimir Sukhachev / Shutterstock

If you feel any of these faults, reset by arching your spine, retracting your shoulder blades (and pinning them to the bench), and tucking your elbows toward your ribcage. Now, keep this tension and finish.

Non-Perpendicular Pressure Between Dumbbells

When squeezing the dumbbells together, it’s essential to maintain opposing forces from the left and right arm that are horizontally aligned and nearly equal in magnitude. Otherwise, dumbbells may slip or roll apart, leading to loss of tension, missed reps, or worse.

Man on bench in gym holding dumbbells overhead — Credit: lunamarina / Shutterstock

Get the feel of creating the squeeze using light dumbbells during your “work up” sets and focus on maintaining even, steady pressure throughout the workout.

How to Progress the Hex Press

When first performing the hex press, start with relatively light dumbbells to hone technique. Once you’re comfortable with the exercise, a “working weight” 20 to 30% lower than what you’d typically use for a traditional dumbbell bench press will likely be appropriate. From there, lifters have several great options for progressing the hex press.

Squeeze Harder

The simplest way to progress the hex press is to apply more inward pressure to the dumbbells. Increasing the “squeeze” makes the exercise more difficult and boosts the training stimulus experienced by the chest and shoulder muscles.

Increase Weight

Squeezing harder during the hex press can make virtually any weight more challenging, but this progression method isn’t likely to stimulate triceps growth or carry over to heavy pressing as efficiently as increasing the weight.

Once you’re able to hit or surpass your repetition target on the final working set, it may be time to use heavier dumbbells. Ideally, jumping up to the next pair of dumbbells on the rack will drop you back toward the bottom of your target repetition range.

Increase Repetition Volume

As you get stronger with the hex press, consider performing additional repetitions per set. For example, if you normally perform eight to 12 repetitions, and you’re consistently hitting 12 reps with more left in the tank, change your target to 12 to 16 repetition sets. Shifting the repetition range upward helps to ensure challenging sets and ongoing muscle gain.

Benefits of the Hex Press

The hex press biases your chest while requiring only light to moderate weights and minimal shoulder extension. Altogether, the hex press may provide new chest growth and a more shoulder-friendly pressing experience.

Robust Chest Training

Performed properly, the hex press enables maximal or near-maximal chest contraction throughout every repetition — a feat not possible during traditional presses. Here’s why:

Traditional exercises are limited by the amount of resistance our muscles can overcome during the sticking point, or the most challenging portion of the movement. For presses, the sticking point occurs toward the beginning of the upward movement phase. (2) During the remainder of the movement, your muscles are not maximally challenged. During the hex press, you can ensure your muscles are adequately stimulated by squeezing the weights together as hard as you desire.

Not feeling adequately challenged? Simply squeeze the dumbbells together harder to demand more force from the chest. Moreover, squeezing as you press virtually ensures thorough engagement of pectoralis major — Read more in the “Muscles Worked” section below.

Reinforces Mind-Muscle Connection and Pressing Technique

Horizontal pressing exercises, such as the bench press and dumbbell bench press, are a mainstay for strength training and physique development. Several technical elements are common across all bench-supported horizontal pressing exercises, including the need for shoulder blade retraction and co-contraction of muscles around the shoulder joints. Also desirable is the sensation of muscular effort from the chest. Lifters spend months, even years, honing their form to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

person in gym holding dumbbells on chest — Credit: MDV Edwards / Shutterstock

Fortunately, the hex press can help lifters to build strength, technique, and a mind-muscle connection that can reinforce proper performance of other horizontal presses. During the hex press, squeezing the dumbbells together creates the feeling of peak pectoralis major contraction throughout the pressing movement. This sensation of “flexing the pecs” can help to enhance the mind-muscle connection, which may be conducive to greater gains. (3)

Squeezing the dumbbells together also encourages greater involvement of your rhomboids and middle trapezius, as they must counteract forces from pectoralis major, subscapularis, serratus anterior, and other muscles on the front of the torso. Rhomboids and middle traps are the muscles primarily responsible for maintaining retraction of the shoulder blades. Increased demand during the hex press may encourage lifters to create a tighter setup for bench-supported horizontal pressing.

Shoulder-Friendly Pressing

Individuals with certain shoulder problems, such as shoulder instability, may not tolerate traditional pressing. (4)(5) Individuals who present with apprehension and pain in the front of the shoulder when the arm is brought out and extended behind the body may have a specific type of instability called anterior instability. (4)(6) This problem is common among lifters. One small study reported over two-thirds of recreational resistance trainees showed signs and symptoms of anterior instability. (6)

Unlike the basic dumbbell bench press or barbell bench press, the hex press limits shoulder extension at the bottom of the movement. Your arms cannot travel behind your body, because the dumbbells are not allowed to clear the chest. This feature may be better tolerated by lifters with functional anterior instability.

Because every brand of shoulder pain is different, those suffering with shoulder issues should seek a qualified sports medicine provider — and the hex press might be worth discussing, as it may present an opportunity to train around or train through certain shoulder issues with the appropriate guidance.

Muscles Worked by the Hex Press

As a neutral-grip pressing movement, the hex press trains the muscles that flex your shoulders and extend your elbows. Squeezing the dumbbells together also trains the muscles of shoulder horizontal adduction (i.e. those trained during a chest flye) and the muscles of shoulder internal rotation. Here are the major players.

Pectoralis Major

You’ll feel the hex press most profoundly in pectoralis major, the biggest, most superficial muscles of your chest. The pectoralis major has two major parts — the clavicular head, or upper chest, and the sternocostal head, which composes the middle to lower part of the chest. Each part contributes to various shoulder actions and the hex press covers virtually all bases for training your pectoralis major.

Muscular man flexing chest and abs — Credit: ALL best fitness is HERE / Shutterstock

Shoulder flexion is resisted during the pressing movement of the hex press. The clavicular head of pectoralis major is trained during resisted shoulder flexion. (7) Shoulder horizontal adduction is trained by squeezing the dumbbells together toward the top of the hex press.

Both heads of the pectoralis major are trained during shoulder horizontal adduction, along with a handful of different muscles. (7)(8) Shoulder internal rotation is trained when the dumbbells are squeezed together toward the bottom of the hex press. Again, both heads are trained during internal rotation exercise, albeit the sternocostal head is likely biased. (9)

Anterior Deltoid

The deltoid is the “cap” of muscle surrounding the front, back, and side of your shoulder. It is divided into three functional parts, each with different actions — anterior, middle, and posterior. The anterior deltoid, or front delts, flex the shoulder and assist with squeezing the dumbbells together during the hex press. (7) While typical pressing exercises hit this part of the delt, the extra squeeze of the hex press makes this exercise more effective for anterior deltoid development.

Triceps Brachii

The hex press trains your triceps brachii, the three-headed muscle on the backside of your arms. In addition to filling your sleeves, the triceps brachii helps improve your bench press numbers by enhancing lockout strength. For a great triceps pump, try three or four sets of hex press with light-to-moderate weight dumbbells for high-repetition sets with 60 seconds rest between each set.

Rotator Cuff

Although traditional pressing largely trains muscles on the front of your chest and shoulders, the movement also activates important muscles located deep behind the shoulders— the posterior rotator cuff. (10) The posterior rotator cuff serves a stabilizing function during the press.

By actively squeezing the dumbbells together, particularly during the bottom half of the hex press, the deep muscle on the front of the shoulder, or anterior rotator cuff, is engaged. Hence, the hex press appears to be uniquely suited to train both the posterior and anterior rotator cuff muscles.

How to Program the Hex Press

The hex press can be programmed in a variety of ways on push day, during a specific chest workout, or during a full body workout. Hex presses can build muscle and strength. In addition, they prime your chest and shoulders for heavy work and work nicely for intensification techniques.

As a Low-to-Moderate Weight, High-Repetition Chest Builder

Whether training for building muscle (i.e. “hypertrophy”) or strength, high effort sets — those carried up to or near muscular failure — are effective even relatively with light weight. (11)(12)(13)

Select light-to-moderate weight dumbbells (e.g. 40 to 70% of what you’d use for a standard dumbbell bench press). Then, take each working set to within two or three repetitions of failure. Two to four sets of eight or more repetitions will promote strength and size, provided sets are performed with high levels of effort.

As a Lightweight Activation Exercise

Do you or someone you know suffer from the inability to feel the chest working during presses? Don’t despair. The hex press might be the fix.

Simply perform one to three light sets of hex presses before your primary press of the day (i.e. before the bench press, incline press, etc.). Focus on the “squeeze” during the hex press. Then, like an overfilled shaker bottle, the mind-muscle connection to your pecs will spill over to your primary pressing movement.

Maximally squeezing the dumbbells together during a set of hex pressing may increase power output during a subsequent set of presses via a phenomenon called post-activation potentiation. (14) This effect may be especially appealing for athletes and lifters training to be more athletic.

As Part of a Giant Set

A giant set is an intensification technique consisting of four or more exercises in series without rest between. Like supersets, the exercises used giant sets can target non-competing muscle groups or identical muscles.

When all four exercises in the giant set target the same muscles, they’ve been shown to produce similar hypertrophy to supersets and traditional sets that used 90 second rest intervals. (15) But here’s the kicker — giant sets take less time than supersets and traditional sets.

The hex press requires simple equipment, minimal setup, and compliments many different giant set configurations. Here’s a sample giant set:

Dumbbell Bench Press — 3-4 x 12
Dumbbell Pullover — 3-4 x 12
Dumbbell Flye — 3-4 x 12
Hex Press — 3-4 x 12

Take no rest between individual exercises. Switch dumbbells if necessary and immediately begin the next lift. Rest 60-90 seconds between giant sets.

Hex Press Variations

Looking for other effective and shoulder-friendly ways to train the chest? Depending on your preferences and available equipment, you might choose one of the following variations:

Single-Arm Dumbbell Floor Press

The dumbbell floor press can be a great exercise for learning and training horizontal pressing movements. Compared to the basic dumbbell bench press, the floor press limits shoulder extension, as the upper arms will be stopped by the ground. The shoulder extension range of motion of the floor press is similar to the hex press, meaning it is likely to minimize stress on the front of the shoulder, as discussed in the Benefits section, above.

One major drawback of the dumbbell floor press, however, is that it is usually limited to light dumbbells due to difficult setup. Performing the floor press one arm at a time (“unilaterally”) helps to minimize this problem.

Perform the single-arm dumbbell floor press lying on your back, either with your feet flat on the floor or your legs extended out in front of you. Begin the press with a single dumbbell held at the side of your chest and your upper arm resting on the floor. Keep your shoulder blades pinned to the floor as you drive the dumbbell toward the ceiling and lower with control.

Incline Hex Press

Limited research suggests the incline bench press may provide greater gains in upper chest, or clavicular head pectoralis major, muscle thickness compared to the flat bench press. (8)(16)

Although we must be cautious extrapolating these findings to the hex press, lifters wishing to build their upper chest might consider the incline version of the exercise. The incline hex press is performed just like the hex press, except an incline bench or adjustable bench set to approximately 45-degrees is used.

Hex Press to Flye Press Combo

A potential shortcoming of the hex press is the inability to expose the chest to training at long muscle lengths (e.g. “under stretch”). Enter the flye press. The traditional flye press involves pressing to lockout and then allowing the dumbbells to spread apart in a “flye-like” motion during the downward movement phase, thereby training pectoralis major at long muscle lengths during the eccentric (lowering phase).

For the hex press to flye press combo, get the benefits of the “squeeze” by performing the upward movement phase like a hex press and lowering the weights like a flye. Be sure to use lighter dumbbells than usual for this movement, as the eccentric flye is extremely challenging.

Medicine Ball Push-up

While this final variation isn’t a dumbbell press at all, push-up variations are criminally underrated. They can be done nearly anywhere. Better yet, push-ups increase strength and muscle mass similarly to the bench press. (17)

Performing push-ups with your hands on either side of a medicine ball requires isometric horizontal adduction of the shoulders similar to the hex press, while training through a similar pressing range of motion. Try the medicine ball squeeze push-up as a hex press alternative when dumbbells are scarce, when you want to change-up in the feel of your chest training, or when traditional push-ups become too easy.

FAQs

“Will the hex press build my ‘inner chest’?”

In bodybuilding speak, the “inner chest” refers to the fibers of pectoralis major that attach to the sternum. Specifically, those interested in building their inner chest are likely most concerned with the proximal or most central portions of those fibers.
Anyone who performs the hex press properly will tell you they feel a strong contraction of this portion of the pectoralis major. Although no studies have directly tested the hex press, let alone measured its long-term effects on chest muscle thickness, there is a case to be made for its use as an inner-chest builder.
Narrow-grip pressing tends to show lower muscular activity of the sternal part of pectoralis major compared to traditional or wide-grip pressing. (18) Although the arm path of the hex press resembles a narrow-grip or close-grip press, hex pressing involves the additional task of keeping the dumbbells squeezed together.
Therefore, it’s safe to assume the “squeeze” enhances sternal pectoralis major contraction, a feat lifters may be unable to accomplish during the traditional bench press. (19)

“My gym doesn’t have ‘hex’ dumbbells. Can I use roundhead dumbbells for the hex press?”

Although metal or rubber hexagonal-shaped dumbbells are common, many gyms have round or “pro style” dumbbells. The hex press can be performed with round dumbbells, as demonstrated in the video at the beginning of the article.
However, it is more challenging. Round dumbbells demand more precise application of inward pressure to avoid movement between the dumbbells.

“Why not just do pec flyes?”

That’s an option. Both exercises train pectoralis major, anterior deltoid, and company. But pec flyes are a single-joint exercise and fail to hit the triceps brachii, which does receive a training stimulus during the hex press.
Machine pec flyes and cable crossovers can also be more taxing on the shoulders, especially among lifters with functional anterior instability from a previous injury or cumulative trauma. This pathology is discussed in detail in the Benefits section.

“Can you explain more about why hex press is thought to be ‘shoulder-friendly’?”

The radius of the dumbbells gives the effect of a board press, which limits pressing range of motion. Specifically, shoulder extension is limited. Individuals with certain shoulder injuries, such as functional anterior instability, may not tolerate loaded shoulder extension. Hence, the hex press may be a suitable option.
Diving deeper, functional anterior instability is thought to be related to decreased activity of subscapularis — a muscle of the rotator cuff. (4) Squeezing the dumbbells together at the bottom of the hex press elicits strong contraction of the subscapularis. This feature might improve tolerance to exercise or help address subscapularis insufficiency.
Generally, hex pressing tends to be better tolerated than pec flyes and traditional bench press variations by those with banged up shoulders. Again, go see a qualified sports medicine practitioner if you’re dealing with a shoulder injury.

Build a Magnum Chest with the Champagne Press

The hex press is performed by aggressively squeezing dumbbells together throughout a neutral-grip dumbbell bench press. The squeeze engages greater portions of your pecs, which may lead to accelerated chest gains. The hex press also reinforces important elements of pressing technique, spares sore shoulders from loaded hyperextension, and creates co-contraction conducive to joint stability. Savor the squeeze and celebrate the hex press.

References

Haff, G. G., & Triplett, N. T. (Eds.). (2015). Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning 4th ed. Human Kinetics. Champagne, IL, USA. 351-408.
Kompf, J., & Arandjelović, O. (2017). The sticking point in the bench press, the squat, and the deadlift: Similarities and differences, and their significance for research and practice. Sports Medicine, 47, 631-640.
Schoenfeld, B. J., et al. (2018). Differential effects of attentional focus strategies during long-term resistance training. European Journal of Sport Science, 18(5), 705-712.
Moroder, P., et al. (2020). Characteristics of functional shoulder instability. Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery, 29(1), 68-78.
Kolber, M. J., et al. (2010). Shoulder injuries attributed to resistance training: a brief review. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 24(6), 1696-1704.
Kolber, M. J., Corrao, M., & Hanney, W. J. (2013). Characteristics of anterior shoulder instability and hyperlaxity in the weight-training population. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 27(5), 1333-1339.
Ackland, D. C., et al. (2008). Moment arms of the muscles crossing the anatomical shoulder. Journal of Anatomy, 213(4), 383-390.
dos Santos Albarello, et al. (2022). Non-uniform excitation of pectoralis major induced by changes in bench press inclination leads to uneven variations in the cross-sectional area measured by panoramic ultrasonography. Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, 67, 102722
Ackland, D. C., & Pandy, M. G. (2011). Moment arms of the shoulder muscles during axial rotation. Journal of Orthopaedic Research, 29(5), 658-667.
Wattanaprakornkul, D., et al. (2011). Direction-specific recruitment of rotator cuff muscles during bench press and row. Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, 21(6), 1041-1049.
Schoenfeld, B., et al. (2021). Resistance training recommendations to maximize muscle hypertrophy in an athletic population: Position stand of the IUSCA. International Journal of Strength and Conditioning, 1(1), 1-30.
Lasevicius, T., et al. (2018). Effects of different intensities of resistance training with equated volume load on muscle strength and hypertrophy. European Journal of Sport Science, 18(6), 772-780
Weakley, J., et al. (2023). Physiological Responses and Adaptations to Lower Load Resistance Training: Implications for Health and Performance. Sports Medicine-Open, 9(1), 1-10.
Esformes, J. I., et al. (2011). Effect of different types of conditioning contraction on upper body postactivation potentiation. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 25(1), 143-148.
Demirtaş, B., et al. (2022). The effect of three different sets method used in resistance training on hypertrophy and maximal strength changes. Physical Education of Students, 26(6), 270-279.
Chaves, S. F., et al. (2020). Effects of horizontal and incline bench press on neuromuscular adaptations in untrained young men. International Journal of Exercise Science, 13(6), 859.
Kikuchi, N., & Nakazato, K. (2017). Low-load bench press and push-up induce similar muscle hypertrophy and strength gain. Journal of Exercise Science & Fitness, 15(1), 37-42.
López-Vivancos, A., et al. (2023). Electromyographic Activity of the Pectoralis Major Muscle during Traditional Bench Press and Other Variants of Pectoral Exercises: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Applied Sciences, 13(8), 5203.
Paoli, A., et al. (2019). Mind-muscle connection: effects of verbal instructions on muscle activity during bench press exercise. European Journal of Translational Myology, 29(2).

Featured Image: MDV Edwards / Shutterstock

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May 9, 2023

How to Do the Reverse-Grip Bent-Over Row to Build a Strong, Muscular Back

Filed under: Fitness,Training — Tags: back workout, exercise guide, lats, row, train, training — admin @ 10:15 pm

How do you develop killer lats? First, you need to do lat pulldowns. Then you need to do pull-ups. After you’re done with that, try some rows, and then finish off with some pullovers. Or… you could just perform the reverse-grip bent-over row and get nearly the same results as combining a series of back-focused exercises.

long-haired person in gym doing barbell row — Credit: lunamarina / Shutterstock

Efficient programming and exercise choice can drastically improve the quality of your back workouts. Follow these steps to learn how to perform the reverse-grip bent-over row, and how you should incorporate it into your routine to make the most out of your back day.

How to Do the Reverse-Grip Bent-Over Row Step By Step

Approaching the reverse-grip bent-over row for the first time doesn’t need to be an intimidating experience. Follow these steps for a picture-perfect lift.

Step 1 — Setting Up

person in gym doing barbell row — Credit: Rocher Möllenkamp / YouTube

When you initially approach the bar, setting up for the reverse-grip bent-over row feels a bit like setting up for a deadlift. With the barbell over your midfoot, grab the bar slightly outside shoulder-width, using a double-underhand (supinated) grip — this is the “reverse grip” compared to the double-overhand (pronated) grip of the standard barbell row.

Brace your core, keep your spine neutral (not rounded or excessively arched), and drive through your feet to lift the weight off the floor.

Form Tip: Experiment with your grip width to see what results in feeling the highest degree of lat (back) activation. Most likely, setting up with your grip just past shoulder width apart will yield the best results. But depending on your limb and torso length, you may feel more comfortable slightly closer or wider.

Step 2 — Find Your Trunk Angle and Brace Your Core

Hinge forward at your hips and stop when your trunk is pitched at roughly a 45-degree angle. Bend your knees slightly and maintain that angle throughout the movement. Keep your arms straight and allow the barbell to shift slightly forward. Take a deep breath and brace your core as you prepare to perform the row.

Form Tip: Consistency is key. Keep your arms at a dead-hang while you set up. This will reinforce the position you want to hold at the beginning and end of each rep.

Step 3 — Pull From Your Elbows

Squeeze and depress your scapula (pull your shoulder blades together and “down” toward your tailbone), then pull your elbows back. As you lift the weight, consciously engage your back muscles before you contract your biceps.

Continue pulling the weight toward your trunk until the barbell makes contact with your torso. To specifically target your lats rather than your upper back muscles, make the bar contact closer to your belly button than your sternum.

Form Tip: Don’t be concerned if your bar path isn’t a perfectly straight line. Pulling towards your belly button may feel awkward at first, but you should quickly notice increased lat activation when lifting this way.

Step 4 — Lower the Weight

Squeeze your back muscles at the top of the lift and consider holding the weight there for a moment. Keeping your back flat and your core tight, lower the weight back to the stretched position until your arms are fully extended.

Maintain the forward hinge position throughout the entire set. To perform the next repetition, pull the barbell toward your belly button again.

Form Tip: Keep the movement relatively slow and controlled. This helps to avoid using momentum from one repetition to another to lift the weight.

Reverse-Grip Bent-Over Row Mistakes to Avoid

If you have a passing familiarity with the traditional bent-over row, or hinge movements as a whole, you could probably jump right into using the reverse-grip bent-over row to build your back and biceps without thinking too hard about form. Nevertheless, slipshod technique could mean you’re leaving gains on the table, or even putting yourself at an increased risk of injury.

Setting Up With a High Torso Angle

Either tight hips and hamstrings, a weak core, or a combination of the two could make it difficult for you to hold your trunk at a 45-degree angle across an entire set of rows. As a result, you could end up performing more of an upright row than you intend.

muscular person in gym rowing barbell — Credit: SOK Studio / Shutterstock

Setting up with a higher torso angle can result in increased muscular activation in your trapezius and your rhomboids, which means less isolation for your lats.

Avoid it: When you setup to perform the row, be sure to hinge forward and shoot your hips back to create a strong pulling position. Add hinge movements like the deadlift, Romanian deadlift, and the good morning into your training plan to develop greater levels of strength, balance, and mobility. This will help you build the strength needed to maintain the angle in your torso for your entire set.

Lower Back Rounding

For your spinal health and your longevity in the gym, for goodness sake, keep a flat back whenever you perform hinge movements like the row. While lower back rounding may be the result of a lack of mobility, you could also experience this just by going too heavy.

reverse-grip row back posture — Credit: Gabriel Sey / YouTube

Avoid it: If you find your lower back rounding while you perform the reverse-grip bent-over row, set your ego aside. Either practice hinge movements until you’re capable of maintaining an isometric hinge or reduce the weights significantly and start over.

Engaging Your Biceps First

Since your biceps are a wrist supinator — responsible for turning your hand into a palm-up position — they engage the moment you “reverse” your grip on a bent-over row. In addition to being a secondary mover to perform the exercise, they also stabilize your elbow.

person in gym doing barbell row with personal trainer — Credit: MercolaPeakFitness / YouTube

But your biceps should not be the primary mover in the reverse-grip bent-over row. That job falls to your lats, and trying to use your biceps to lift heavy loads meant for your lats might not end well for the much smaller biceps muscle.

Avoid it: Consciously think about pulling your shoulders back to engage your back muscles before pulling with your elbows. Don’t try to curl the bar to move the weight.

Utilizing Momentum From Rep to Rep

If you fail to maintain a consistent angle in your torso across each repetition, you might be generating momentum with your hips that decreases the load on your lats and biceps. This can be a sign of going too heavy, but you might also be doing this for ego lifting or simply because you’re not paying attention.

Muscular person in gym doing barbell row — Credit: Maui Athletics / YouTube

Avoid it: If the weight is too heavy for you to keep under control, lower it. Otherwise, consider focusing on the eccentric (lowering) portion of the lift to guarantee you keep the weight moving in a slow and controlled fashion to prevent momentum from building.

How to Progress the Reverse-Grip Bent-Over Row

If you have trouble performing the reverse-grip bent-over row right off the bat, here’s how you can approach it as a beginner and how to increase the difficulty as you continue to get stronger and progress in the gym.

Yates Row

The Yates row is the cousin of the reverse-grip bent-over row, the difference between the two being the angle of your torso. While you perform a reverse-grip bent-over row with your torso at roughly a 45-degree angle, the Yates row is performed from a more upright position.

The resulting lift targets your rhomboids and your traps in addition to your lats and biceps. It may not be as good of a lat builder, but it makes up for it by hitting your entire back. What was a “mistake” for the reverse-grip row can be used deliberately for a strategic purpose.

As you develop strength performing the Yates Row, you can slowly transition towards the reverse-grip bent-over row by experimenting with your torso angle. Sinking deeper into the hinge position will let you feel your lats working harder as you get closer to the 45-degree angle.

Add Isometric Holds or Timed Eccentrics

At a certain point, implementing basic linear progression — adding more repetitions or more weight — stops being as useful for lifts like the reverse-grip bent-over row. Rather than continuously increasing the load on the bar, which can eventually create a higher risk than reward and may decrease stress on the target muscle, you can add isometric holds or timed eccentrics.

With isometrics, squeeze your back and shoulders at the top of each repetition for one, two, or even three seconds while the bar is in contact with your abdomen. For timed eccentrics, focus on making the negative (lowering) phase of each rep take two, three, or four full seconds. This can help to maximize your gains and develop your mind-muscle connection.

Reverse-Grip Pendlay Row

If you’re looking to add an extra level of difficulty, swap out the reverse-grip bent-over row for a reverse-grip pendlay row. Since each rep starts and finishes on the ground, there’s no way for you to build momentum from rep to rep, which makes it a great lift to isolate your muscles and focus on pure pulling strength.

The reverse-grip pendlay row requires more hamstring flexibility than the reverse-grip bent-over row, because you’re in a steep forward-leaning position. However, it’s relatively easier on your core and lower back since you don’t have to hold an isometric hinge for the duration of your set.

Benefits of the Reverse-Grip Bent-Over Row

When you step into the gym, you come face-to-face with a wide range of tools and movements that you can use to sculpt your biceps and your lats. Here are some of the unique benefits of the reverse-grip bent-over row that make it worth adding to your routine.

Increased Lat Activation

Switching from a pronated grip to a supinated grip puts your arms and shoulders into a different position and changes the pulling angle, which is why it’s easier to draw the weight closer to your belly button than your sternum. This results in increased lat activation when compared to the traditional bent-over row.

Additionally, your rhomboids and traps play much less of a role in the reverse-grip bent-over row than they do when you perform the lift with an overhand grip.

Improved Balance and Core Strength

Holding an isometric hinge isn’t easy. Your core muscles work overtime to maintain a consistent angle under heavy loads. Simultaneously, your hamstrings stay active and engaged at a lengthened position, which can help build strength in your posterior chain while also improving your overall mobility.

Unparalleled Rowing Strength

The reverse-grip bent-over row cuts down on a number of variables and limiting factors posed by many other row variations. Generally speaking, you can lift heavier loads with a barbell than you can with a dumbbell.

Flipping your grip from overhand to underhand means your grip strength won’t hold you back as you increase loads over time because your wrists and forearms are in a stronger position. Finally, range of motion tends to be more efficient than with a traditional bent-over row, since you have improved leverage when tracking the bar closer to your center of gravity.

When you put all these factors together, what you get is a lift that lets you lift heavy weights with your lats, without so many of the variables that get in the way when performing other types of rows.

Muscles Worked by the Reverse-Grip Bent-Over Row

As a compound exercise, the reverse-grip bent-over row targets muscles across numerous joints. Here’s a list of the largest muscle groups worked by the lift.

Latissimus Dorsi

With some back exercises, you feel “your back” working. That’s not the case with the reverse-grip bent-over row. When performed correctly, you should be able to feel and, later specifically target, your lats in particular.

Your lats are the biggest muscle group in your upper body — running along each side of the back half of your torso. Your lats are also the primary muscle group working in the reverse-grip bent-over row. A rock-solid pair of lats make your upper body and shoulders appear broader and your waist look more narrow in comparison, which makes them an important part of developing an aesthetic physique.

Biceps

As secondary movers — muscles which assist the primary target muscles during a given exercise — your biceps and your brachialis muscles play two separate roles during the reverse-grip bent-over row. Since your biceps are a wrist supinator, they get direct stimulation to maintain the palm-up position during the lift. More importantly, they’re responsible for stabilizing your elbow during flexion to support the joint as the muscle contracts.

Abdominals

With a barbell held out in front of you and your torso held in an isometric hinge, your abs provide the strength and stability necessary to keep you from buckling over while performing the reverse-grip bent-over row. Especially as you get to heavier loads, you’ll find that your core plays a crucial role — keeping your torso held at the desired angle and stabilizing your spine to prevent rounding.

Hamstrings

As with any hinge movement, the reverse-grip bent-over row provides stimulus to your hamstrings. By developing strength in the fully lengthened (stretched) position, the exercise promotes muscular balance and flexibility in your hamstrings.

How to Program the Reverse-Grip Bent-Over Row

Building an effective training routine can be challenging. When you’re in the gym, you want to make the most of your time and energy to maximize your gains. If you’re not sure how to incorporate the reverse-grip bent-over row into your workout plan, here are a few options that you might consider.

As an Accessory for the Deadlift

For powerlifters, who specialize in performing the squat, bench press, and deadlift, finding efficient compound (multi-joint) exercises that complement your primary lifts can be a bit of a chore or simply confusing. The reverse-grip bent-over row builds strong lats while performing an isometric hinge, which can improve both strength and mobility across your posterior chain.

Following the deadlift, consider incorporating three to five sets of six reps, using a weight that lets you keep your torso angle solid across the length of the set.

As a Main Movement For Bodybuilders

In the interest of both exercise economy, and the hormonal response that compound movements provide, many bodybuilders prefer to start their workouts with heavy compound exercises before they get to their isolation movements. (1)(2) When you’re carving a statue from stone, use the dynamite before you get started with the hammer and chisel.

If your training split has a back and biceps day, the reverse-grip bent-over row lets you isolate your lats and warm-up your biceps, while also stimulating a hormonal response which may support muscle growth. Early in your workout, hit at least three sets of eight, focusing on the eccentric portion of the lift to maximize your hypertrophy gains. (3)

As a High Volume Accessory Lift

If you spend a significant amount of time in a squat rack or on a weight platform, adding the reverse-grip bent-over row as an accessory after the classic bent-over row can be as much about convenience as anything else. All you have to do is flip your wrists around and you have a lift that lets you engage and isolate your lats while also dialing in your rowing technique after the related muscles are thoroughly warmed up and pre-trained.

If you want to implement the reverse-grip bent-over row as a high volume accessory movement, consider performing three sets of 15 following other row variations.

Reverse-Grip Bent-Over Row Variations

Maybe you don’t have access to a barbell. Maybe you’re dealing with nagging shoulder or back pain. Maybe you just want to mix things up. Regardless of your reasons, here are a few different lifts that let you target your back like the reverse-grip bent-over row.

Seal Row

As with all chest-supported rows, the seal row provides unique stimulus by preventing you from developing momentum or engaging your hips. Unlike other chest-supported rows, you perform the seal row by lying face down on a flat bench.

The resulting lift can target your lats and your rhomboids without having to concern yourself with keeping a flat back. The full bench support also removes strain from the lower back and makes it virtually impossible to move the weight using momentum.

Single-Arm Dumbbell Row

Single-arm dumbbell rows are a relatively easy-to-learn introductory lift that keeps paying dividends as you grow in the gym. To get started, just kneel on a bench and row.

The single-arm row provides some advantages over barbell rows. Kneeling on a bench limits the amount of stress on your spine. Since the lift is performed one side at a time, you can isolate your lats and correct any muscular imbalances that may develop if you tend to exclusively use barbell row variations.

Inverted Row

Advanced pull-ups aren’t the only way to utilize your body weight for back-building. Inverted rows can be performed in a number of different ways — whether that be with suspension straps, on a Smith machine, a barbell set in a power rack, or any other stable surface that lets you get under it, and keeping your body in a straight line, pulling upwards.

To modulate the level of difficulty, simply increase or decrease the angle of your body relative to the floor. Either elevate your feet (for increased difficulty) or create a steep angle with an elevated upper body (to decrease the challenge).

FAQs

Should I perform the reverse-grip bent-over row instead of the bent-over row?

If you’re specifically interested in targeting your lats, the reverse-grip bent-over row would be a good addition to your routine. It isn’t necessarily a replacement for the bent-over row which, in addition to targeting your lats, also hits your rhomboids and helps develop grip strength.

Why am I feeling my biceps more than my back while performing the reverse-grip bent-over row?

If you feel your biceps more than your back during the reverse-grip bent-over row, you’re probably leading with your arms. Think about squeezing your back and shoulder muscles before pulling with your elbows.

What should I do if my mobility keeps me from performing the reverse-grip bent-over row?

No lift is strictly necessary to get a good workout, but improving your mobility can be a crucial part of joint health and longevity in the gym. Consider incorporating movements that both strengthen your posterior chain and improve your mobility into your routine. Some examples of these include Romanian deadlifts and good mornings.

References

Vingren JL, Kraemer WJ, Ratamess NA, Anderson JM, Volek JS, Maresh CM. Testosterone physiology in resistance exercise and training: the up-stream regulatory elements. Sports Med. 2010 Dec 1;40(12):1037-53. doi: 10.2165/11536910-000000000-00000. PMID: 21058750.

Shaner AA, Vingren JL, Hatfield DL, Budnar RG Jr, Duplanty AA, Hill DW. The acute hormonal response to free weight and machine weight resistance exercise. J Strength Cond Res. 2014 Apr;28(4):1032-40. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000317. PMID: 24276305.

Hody S, Croisier JL, Bury T, Rogister B, Leprince P. Eccentric Muscle Contractions: Risks and Benefits. Front Physiol. 2019 May 3;10:536. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2019.00536. PMID: 31130877; PMCID: PMC6510035.

Featured Image: mountaira / Shutterstock

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May 3, 2023

How to Do the Half-Kneeling Pallof Press for Core Strength and Full-Body Stability

Filed under: Fitness,Training — Tags: ab workout, exercise guide, train, training — admin @ 1:08 am

Some lifters will only consider training their abs with high-repetition bodyweight exercises. If they do add resistance, it’s often with exercises performed on highly stabilized machines, excessively heavy movements with compromised technique, or basic cable crunch variations that don’t allow the abs to perform as efficiently as possible. That’s when it’s time to head into the cable station and hit your core with something new.

long-haired person in gym performing core exercise with cable — Credit: Balance In Motion / YouTube

The half-kneeling Pallof press is a challenging, progressive core exercise derived from the basic standing Pallof press. The unique ground-based position challenges different musculature on both sides of your body while coordinating your torso, core, and legs with different tasks.

Here’s a review of all the elements you need to know about building total-body stability and core strength with the half-kneeling Pallof press.

Half-Kneeling Pallof Press

Half-Kneeling Pallof Press Video Demonstration

Author James Shapiro explains the half-kneeling Pallof press and offers in-depth guidance for exercise technique, common mistakes, as well as several simple and effective ways to adjust the exercise.

How to Do the Half-Kneeling Pallof Press Step By Step

Following these detailed instructions to position yourself up for the half-kneeling Pallof Press will optimize your results. You will need a cable pulley system or a long resistance band with an anchor point that will not move, such as a squat rack.

Step 1 — Set Up Your Equipment and Position

Coach James Shapiro demonstrating Pallof press exercise — Credit: James Shapiro Performance / YouTube

Being relatively comfortable is a priority since you’re in a half-kneeling (one-knee down) position Use a pad to cushion your knee if you don’t like the surface you are kneeling on. Set the pulley or band height so that the resistance runs in-line with your sternum — above your hips and under your chest — when you’re in the kneeling position.

Stand sideways to the cable and assume a half-kneeling position with the foot of your outside leg flat on the ground and the knee, shin, and toes of your inside leg on the ground. Your outside leg should have a roughly 90-degree angle relative to your hip and knee. Set the heel of your outside leg directly underneath the same side knee and set the knee of your inside leg underneath your hip.

Form Tip: Tucking the toes of your inside leg down (aiming your shoelaces to the ground) will add an extra level of lower-body bracing and activation. If you keep that foot pointed up on its toes, you might experience less hip stabilization and glute activation.

Step 2 — Brace with the Weight

Coach James Shapiro demonstrating Pallof press — Credit: James Shapiro Performance / YouTube

Grab the cable or band with both hands and interlock your fingers. Slowly pull the handle to the center of your sternum. With your lower body in position, drive your shoulders down pull your elbows to your sides to brace your total-body position before initiating the movement.

Keep your outside leg strong by engaging your glutes and activating your shoulders prior to the press. You should be able to maintain these key positions throughout the entire exercise.

Form Tip: The half-kneeling Pallof press is not an evenly distributed movement toward the body. The rotational forces being applied by the resistance are biased more toward the side closest to the band’s anchor point. This means you need to work even harder with the side farthest from the anchor point (the outside half of your body) to stay in line and balanced. This is also why it’s essential to perform reps equally on both the left and right sides.

Step 3 — Press and Pause

Keep your lower body stable as you press your hands in a straight line, from the center of your sternum, away from your body until your arms are locked out. Pause briefly in the locked out position.

This is the hardest point of the movement — when your arms are farthest away from your body. The greatest amount of anti-rotation occurs when the arms are extended and the hands are the furthest point away from the sternum. Pausing in the arms-locked position will maximize tension through your core.

Form Tip: Do not try to exceed the muscular stress your body can maintain. If you start to feel that you’re shifting away from pressing in a straight line as your arms extend, do not go further just to get “more” out of the exercise. At that point, it’s likely you’ve lost some of your initial brace and need to return to the starting position. If necessary, stop before lockout to maintain position.

Step 4 — Return to the Starting Position

Bring your hands back to your sternum in a controlled manner. Repeat steps two through four — brace, press and pause, return — for your intended repetition scheme before carefully returning the weight back to the anchor point.

Form Tip: There is no need to speed through the half-kneeling Pallof press. With a reduced and lowered base of support, plus a greater emphasis on core control, you need to be careful and deliberate with each individual repetition. Focus on quality movements instead of piling up a quantity of repetitions.

Half-Kneeling Pallof Press Mistakes to Avoid

A successful half-kneeling Pallof press requires a lot of moving parts and internal communication. Steer clear of these common mistakes to maximize your performance and results.

Leaning Too Far Forward or Backward

One common issue with half-kneeling positions is that people sometimes have a hard time understanding what a “neutral hip position” actually is. Either their torso leans too far forward because their lower body is positioned wrong or they lean back too much “for balance” and create too much extension through their low back.

Poor technique Pallof press leaning forward — Credit: James Shapiro Performance / YouTube

Avoid it: Think about keeping your upper body as tall as possible when entering the half-kneeling Pallof press. When you look down, you should see your hips are under your shoulders and above the knee of your lower leg. If you start to see an angle form between your torso and front thigh, you’re likely pushing your hips back.

Allowing Your Outside Knee To Collapse

Your outside knee might experience some movement during the pressing motion as your core is activated and your body fights against the resistance, however your knee can actually be the last place a lot of people focus on.

Coach James Shapiro Pallof press poor form with leg leaning — Credit: James Shapiro Performance / YouTube

If your outside knee collapses inward toward the weight, it is demonstrating a lack of coordination from your glutes and obliques. Loss of coordination and strength from the internal obliques on the outside portion of your body can lead to more torso rotation toward the inside leg.

Avoid it: Be attentive to not push your knee out excessively. Having your inside-leg toes tucked under and engaging your glutes will help your outside leg maintain stability. An additional cue is to focus on how much ground pressure you are developing — feel power coming up from your outside foot. Pushing through the big toe of your outside leg can keep your hips and ankle in more efficient alignment.

Having Your Arms Fall “Off-Center”

Finding an imaginary line on the floor or focusing on a spot on the wall may initially be hard, but it’s possible when you don’t have any tangible landmarks to aim for while pressing away from your chest.

Coach James Shapiro half-kneeling Pallof press bad form with arms moving — Credit: James Shapiro Performance / YouTube

Once you’ve picked a target, your arms should not be moving excessively “off-center”. If they do, it indicates you have either lost the brace position or you’re using too much resistance. Being in a half-kneeling position only amplifies either of these two common faults because your stability is challenged that much more.

Avoid it: You can either reduce the resistance, which should allow you more overall control, or you can slightly reduce the range of motion to a stay in a more easily controlled position. The half-kneeling position is a very demanding variation for any movement let alone an anti-rotation core movement.

Hips Falling To The Side

Poor oblique control paired with a lack of adductor (inner thigh) activation from your outside leg will lead you to have your hips falling to the side. Some of the functions of your obliques (side abs) include rotation, flexion, and lateral flexion — performing those movements as well as resisting them.

Coach James Shapiro demonstrating half-kneeling Pallof press with bad form — Credit: James Shapiro Performance / YouTube

As you press forward, you may notice your hips potentially falling to the inside if you’re not strongly stabilizing the adductors of your outside leg.

Avoid it: Imagine you’re slightly crunching your obliques prior to your brace and press — just imagine, don’t actively crunch sideways. With your obliques and core fully engaged prior to pressing, you can expect little-to-no movement at your hips.

How to Progress the Half-Kneeling Pallof Press

Progressing through the half-kneeling Pallof press comes in a variety of ways. Using a band or cable pulley system can be a preference or a factor of accessibility depending on your available equipment. When the basic half-kneeling Pallof press becomes mundane or “easy,” challenge yourself with these small adjustments.

Pause Repetitions

Changing your tempo (speed of movement) is one of the best initial ways to progress a standard half-kneeling Pallof press, outside of changing your sets and reps. You can challenge your core with a longer pause in the lockout position before returning your hands to your sternum. You can also add multiple pauses for a second or less at specific points throughout the range of motion to make each repetition longer, creating more time under tension.

Increasing Repetitions Performed

Performing any anti-rotation exercise depends on the strength and endurance of your entire core musculature working together. Increasing the number of repetitions performed puts a strain on your core and challenges your local and overall muscular endurance. Making small incremental jumps in repetitions will also increase the amount of time worked and is a form of linear progression.

Benefits of the Half-Kneeling Pallof Press

The list of benefits the half-kneeling Pallof press holds may persuade you to add it into your workouts even if it may not look like the most interesting exercise. The research and evidence demonstrate the effectiveness of this exercise for relieving pain, supporting strength development, and improving sport performance. (8)

Reducing Lower Back Pain

One of the primary sources of work absence and disability is lower back pain (LBP). (1) With sedentary lifestyles, bad ergonomics, and poor posture, it shocking to see that more than 50% of people in the United States are affected by lower back pain that can lead to physical therapy or disability. (12)

By using the half-kneeling Pallof press to train the muscles responsible for improving the stability and endurance of your lumbar spine and hips, you can either reduce, eliminate, or prevent pain and discomfort in your lower back.

Increasing Your Strength

Performing compound (multi-joint) exercises like squats, lunges, deadlifts, overhead pressing, and bench press requires minimal movement where there should be stiffness. Many hear the word “stiffness” in a gym setting and attach a negative connotation. However, in places where there should be stiffness — such as your low back and spine — stiffness can simply mean wanting to be as stable as possible.

Muscular person in gym doing barbell front squat — Credit: Jasminko Ibrakovic / Shutterstock

The effects of abdominal bracing have been shown to increase the strength and power of trunk and hip extension. (10) A core program that includes the half-kneeling Pallof press can stimulate intra-abdominal pressure, which helps to create that much-needed stability, and results in improved force output.

Sport Performance Improvements

Athletes who play sports are going to be rotating through their spine to generate force when they change direction, move sideways, jump, throw, or swing. Having the ability to generate core stiffness in certain athletic positions can also lead to great force application and prevent “energy leaks” (losses of strength and power) from occurring when attempting athletic movements. (5)(9)

Athletes who engage in core training with exercises like the half-kneeling Pallof press may see improvements in their athletic skill, agility, and power while maintaining a healthy spine. (2)(4)

Muscles Worked by the Half-Kneeling Pallof Press

Even though it has the word “press” in the exercise name, the half-kneeling Pallof press does not fall under traditional pressing exercises which would train your chest or shoulders. The press portion of the exercise is used to increase the lever arm and more strongly challenge your core stabilizers. You’re not actively lifting the weight during the pressing movement, so your chest and shoulders are not significantly recruited.

This means the muscles in your hips, core, and a few intrinsic muscles of your back get utilized a lot more than muscles of the shoulders, pecs, and triceps.

Obliques and Transverse Abdominis

Your internal and external obliques — found on each side of your abdominal wall — maintain abdominal tension, increase intra-abdominal pressure, and coordinate to rotate your trunk.

shirtless muscular person looking out window — Credit: MDV Edwards / Shutterstock

This buildup of intra-abdominal pressure reinforces the transverse abdominis (your “primary” abdominal muscle) to stabilize your spine and pelvis. (6) Coordination between all of these muscles help to keep your spine and trunk stable and relatively stationary during he half-kneeling Pallof press as you press with your hands away from your body. (11)

Hip Musculature

In the half-kneeling position, your hips work isometrically to activate and integrate your core muscles. Your hamstrings and glutes are firing to maintain hip extension on your inside leg while holding a neutral hip position. Your outside leg has the TFL (tensor fasciae latae, a hip muscle) to assist the leg in hip flexion. Your inside leg is relying on a neutral position that counteracts the hip flexion of the outside leg. These muscles work in concert to prevent your hips from tilting sideways, forward, or backward during the exercise.

Intrinsic Back Muscles

People often misinterpret “core muscles” to mean only those located where we can see them — on the front of our body. However there are smaller intrinsic muscles located on our back, near our spine, or with attachment to our ribs.

The erector spinae, semispinalis, quadratus lumborum, and multifidi are a few that play a part during the half-kneeling Pallof press. These muscles are designed to extend the spine, laterally flex the spine when contracted unilaterally, maintain posture, and stabilize the low back. (7)

How to Program the Half-Kneeling Pallof Press

The half-kneeling Pallof press is considered a “supplemental” or accessory exercise and doesn’t necessarily need to be the primary movement for your workout. Understanding where the half-kneeling Pallof press can be programmed will determine its effectiveness in your program. Also note, if you’re familiar with performing the standing Pallof press, use less resistance with the half-kneeling exercise due to the change of position.

Supplementing Your Main Compound Lift

Performing the half-kneeling Pallof press at relatively lower intensities can be beneficial to those who lack proper core bracing during heavier sets of their squats, deadlifts, bench pressing, or overhead pressing. (3)

Fatiguing your core is not a smart or effective approach before performing compound movements. However, performing the half-kneeling Pallof press with lower intensities (staying away from muscular failure) and lower volume (such as two sets of 10 to 12 reps) can reinforce and maintain core tension for your primary training movements.

Low Intensity Recovery Days

Adding the half-kneeling Pallof press to recovery workouts or low intensity days can be an effective way to prepare your body, and your central nervous system, for the more intense workouts during your training week. Performed at low to moderate volume — such as two to four sets of eight to 12 reps — can help prime your body for the next day. It can also help with small “power leaks” with your strength-based movements.

Positioned in a Core Circuit

Many experienced lifters have found that training multiple core movements together as a form of circuit training amplifies the intensity of each exercise, compared to performing separate exercises by themselves. Pairing up other core exercises such as suitcase carries, hollow body holds, or deadbugs can amplify the intensity of the half-kneeling Pallof press.

Half-Kneeling Pallof Press Variations

Challenging yourself with the half-kneeling position can be difficult, but definiely not impossible. Below are a few variations of the half-kneeling Pallof press that increase with difficulty and should be progressed slowly. Demonstrations can be reviewed in the technique video at the beginning of the article.

Pallof Press and Lift

Moving your arms away from your center-mass is the driving force behind the anti-rotational benefits of the Pallof press. The farther the leverage moves from your center, the more difficult it will be.

Coach James Shapiro performing half-kneeling Pallof press with lift — Credit: James Shapiro Performance / YouTube

Adding a lift above your sternum, to eye-level or higher, further challenges your whole body to remain stable while engaging your serratus and shoulder stabilizers even more. Start small, as even a little movement will yield exponential difficulty to the exercise.

Pallof Perturbation Press and Hold

When your goal is to brace and maintain position, your body will work even harder when forces are trying to move you, rather than forces being manipulated more passively. This advanced exercise variation is performed with a small weight plate and a resistance band attached to an anchor point, rather than with a cable pulley.

Coach James Shapiro performing kneeling Pallof press with resistance band and weight — Credit: James Shapiro Performance / YouTube

Attach a relatively light resistance band to the anchor point and slide a five-pound weight plate halfway down the band. Step out farther from the anchor position than normal and assume a half-kneeling position.

Focus on a rapid, almost explosive, press and hold the locked out position. The momentum of the movement should sling the plate forward and back. This forward and backward disturbance will try to push your body out of position. Work hard to maintain full-body tension, with core stiffness and a strong position, as the weight plate slowly comes to rest.

Isometric Split Squat Pallof Press

This variation increases lower body involvement while decreasing your base of support, which further increases the stability requirement. Start off in the half-kneeling position, brace, and press your arms in front of your chest. Then the hard part begins.

Coach James Shapiro demonstrating half-kneeling split squat Pallof press — Credit: James Shapiro Performance / YouTube

Hold the locked out position, and push from the ground with both legs until your back knee is slightly off the ground. Briefly hold this isometric split squat position before gently returning the knee back to ground. Keep your arms locked and repeat the split squat position for repetitions.

FAQs

Why is the half-kneeling Pallof press harder than the standing version?

By taking the half-kneeling position, you create an uneven environment when your outside leg enters hip flexion and your inside hip remains neutral. This position affects the oblique core musculature demands when comparing the half-kneeling position and the more evenly stabilized standing position.

How can this exercise increase my strength for heavy compound lifts?

It takes a lot of experience to build full-body tension and equally express force through both sides of your body. Naturally, people will have a bias from one side of their body, either due to overall posture or from favoring the dominant side of the body.
If you’ve ever felt a small turn or tilt to one side of your body when performing a lift, it’s a sign that you are losing tension during the movement. The half-kneeling variation can help address the oblique muscles on your relatively weaker side, so that your body can express force more efficiently.

What resistance level should I start with?

Begin with relatively light weight or low resistance. If you’re using a looped resistance band, use a thinner band, as band tension exponentially increases as you stretch it farther from the anchor point.
If you have access to a cable pulley station, I would initially use 50% of the resistance you use if you’re familiar with performing the standing Pallof presses. If it’s your first time performing any Pallof press, use less than 10 pounds and master the technique before progressing gradually in weight.

References

Chang, Wen-Dien et al. “Core strength training for patients with chronic low back pain.” Journal of physical therapy science vol. 27,3 (2015): 619-22. doi:10.1589/jpts.27.619
Hibbs, Angela E et al. “Optimizing performance by improving core stability and core strength.” Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) vol. 38,12 (2008): 995-1008. doi:10.2165/00007256-200838120-00004
Huxel Bliven, Kellie C, and Barton E Anderson. “Core stability training for injury prevention.” Sports health vol. 5,6 (2013): 514-22. doi:10.1177/1941738113481200
Kibler, W Ben et al. “The role of core stability in athletic function.” Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) vol. 36,3 (2006): 189-98. doi:10.2165/00007256-200636030-00001
Luo, Shengyao et al. “Effect of Core Training on Skill Performance Among Athletes: A Systematic Review.” Frontiers in physiology vol. 13 915259. 6 Jun. 2022, doi:10.3389/fphys.2022.915259
Lynders, Christine. “The Critical Role of Development of the Transversus Abdominis in the Prevention and Treatment of Low Back Pain.” HSS journal : the musculoskeletal journal of Hospital for Special Surgery vol. 15,3 (2019): 214-220. doi:10.1007/s11420-019-09717-8
Malátová, Renata, Jitka Rokytová, and Jan Stumbauer. “The use of muscle dynamometer for correction of muscle imbalances in the area of deep stabilising spine system.” Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine 227.8 (2013): 896-903.
McGill, Stuart M.. “Core Training: Evidence Translating to Better Performance and Injury Prevention.” Strength and Conditioning Journal 32 (2010): 33-46.
Samson, Kim M. et al. “A Core Stabilization Training Program for Tennis Athletes.” Athletic Therapy Today 12 (2007): 41-46.
Tayashiki, Kota et al. “Effect of abdominal bracing training on strength and power of trunk and lower limb muscles.” European journal of applied physiology vol. 116,9 (2016): 1703-13. doi:10.1007/s00421-016-3424-9
Willson, John D., et al. “Core stability and its relationship to lower extremity function and injury.” JAAOS-Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons 13.5 (2005): 316-325.
Wu, Aimin et al. “Global low back pain prevalence and years lived with disability from 1990 to 2017: estimates from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017.” Annals of translational medicine vol. 8,6 (2020): 299. doi:10.21037/atm.2020.02.175

Featured Image: James Shapiro Performance / YouTube

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March 15, 2023

How to Do the Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown for a Bigger Back

Filed under: Fitness,Training — Tags: back workout, exercise guide, Exercise Guides, lats, pulldown, train, training — admin @ 7:02 pm

Due to their prominence, well-developed back muscles have been described as wings. Want wing-like back muscles? On the short list of things that allegedly “give you wings” are energy drinks, good deeds, and upper body vertical pulling.

After consuming energy drinks throughout my younger years, I can dispatch the first claim. Alertness and insomnia? Yes. Back muscles? No. As for good deeds, this is a fitness article so it shall be kept secular. That leaves vertical pulling — pull-ups and pulldowns.

Person in gym doing close-grip pulldown on cable machine. — Credit: lunamarina / Shutterstock

Although pull-ups can be modified for nearly everyone, nothing beats the adjustability and convenience of cable-stack pulldowns. But the traditional overhand grip isn’t for everyone, especially those with shoulder issues. (1)(2)(3)

The neutral-grip lat pulldown is a shoulder- and elbow-friendly alternative to standard lat pulldowns. Find out how to perform, program, and modify this big back builder.

Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown

Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown Technique Breakdown

Dr. Merrick Lincoln demonstrates how to do a neutral-grip pulldown and talks you through a complete repetition. Check to see what form looks like before reading on for the details.

How to Do the Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown Step By Step

As opposed to using a straight or cambered “lat bar,” the neutral-grip pulldown requires use of a bar with grips running perpendicular to the length of the bar. This allows you to keep your forearms in a “neutral” rotation, with your palms facing each other, halfway between full supination (palms facing toward you) and full pronation (palms facing away from you).

Step 1 — Establish Points of Contact

Dr. Merrick Lincoln preparing to do lat pulldown — Credit: Merrick Lincoln, DPT, CSCS / YouTube

Face a cable machine with your glutes on the seat, both feet flat on the floor, and your upper legs under the thigh pad. If necessary, adjust the height of the thigh pad or seat for secure fit.

Form Tip: When setting the height of the thigh pad or seat, ensure your feet are flat on the floor with your heels slightly behind your knees. This enables you to easily slide your feet back to stand when it’s time to retrieve or return the pulldown bar.

Step 2 — Grab the Bar and Set Your Trunk Angle

Dr. Merrick Lincoln doing lat pulldown — Credit: Merrick Lincoln, DPT, CSCS / YouTube

Grab the handles with a shoulder-width, or slightly narrower, position. If the bar has traditional cylinder-shaped grips, use a fully closed grip with your fingers and thumb wrapped around the bar. If the bar has more modern paddle-style or angled grips, ensure the palms of your hands make maximum contact with the paddles. With this handle, the knuckles of your fingers should be flexed over the top of the handle.

Once your grip is secure, lift your chest, lean back slightly (e.g. 10 to 30-degrees from vertical), and brace your core. Maintain this trunk position throughout the exercise. In the stretched position, your elbows should be locked completely straight.

Form Tip: If you have range of motion limitations in the overhead position, you may benefit from leaning back slightly further (e.g. approximately 30-degrees from vertical). This changes the pulling angle and reduces stress on your shoulder joints.

Step 3 — Pull Down to Peak Contraction

Initiate the movement by drawing your shoulder blades together and down, and “pull your shoulder blades into your back pockets.”

Immediately after beginning to move your shoulder blades, begin pulling your elbows toward the sides of your ribcage. Peak contraction is achieved when your shoulder blades are squeezed together and down, and your upper arms are pinned to your sides.

Form Tip: Don’t worry about getting the bar to your chest, below your chin, or to some other arbitrary position. Focus on achieving a strong contraction in your back muscles when you reach the bottom position.

Step 4 — Return and Seek Stretch

Lower the weight and allow your arms to be drawn upward, slowly letting your elbows extend. At the same time, allow your shoulder blades to be elevated. The upward movement phase ends when elbows are completely straight and a strong sensation of stretch is felt across the outside of your armpits — that feeling is your lat muscles being properly stretched.

Form Tip: As your arms are drawn overhead and your latissimus dorsi are stretched, your low back might tend to arch. Avoid this by keeping your abdominal muscles engaged to maintain a neutral torso.

Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown Mistakes to Avoid

Common errors in the neutral-grip pulldown occur when range of motion goes unchecked, when compensations are permitted, and when your arms “out-muscle” your back.

Excessive Range of Motion

The uninitiated often assume the pulldown is not complete until the bar touches their chest. This is erroneous. Hyperextension of your shoulder places additional stress on the front of the shoulder. (4)(5) This is not typically good for folks with anterior shoulder instability, a prevalent issue among lifters. (4) Also, consider the physics of hyperextending the shoulders at the bottom of the pulldown — Demand on the shoulder muscles actually decreases due to a shortened resistance lever.

Long-haired person in gym grimacing while doing pulldown exercise. — Credit: Kitreel / Shutterstock

Still convinced touching the bar to your chest is “necessary?” Watch a handful of folks with barndoor backs perform neutral-grip pulldowns. They don’t touch the bar to their chest — Albeit, they likely couldn’t if they wanted to due to the size of their latissimus dorsi and teres major muscles.

Avoid it: A good rule of thumb for pulldown range of motion is to pull down and back until your triceps squeeze against your lats. Achieve a strong contraction, then begin the upward movement.

Slouching Into the Repetition

The sticking point, or most challenging part of the repetition, occurs near the bottom of the downward pulling phase. Novice lifters often work through this portion of the lift by rounding their shoulders forward and flexing their mid-back. This gives the appearance of “crunching” or slouching at the bottom of the repetition.

Long-haired person in gym doing close-grip pulldown — Credit: pnarongkul / Shutterstock

Avoid it: As you pull, keep focus on your back muscles by reminding yourself to create space between the front of your shoulder and the cable pulley.

“Curling” the Weight Down

While it’s true the neutral-grip pulldown can be a great biceps-builder, it is not intended to be an arms-focused exercise. Lifters who initiate the pulldown with elbow flexion and “muscle” the bar down with their elbow flexors are missing out on back gains.

Long-haired person in gym doing lat pulldown — Credit: Vladimir Sukhachev / Shutterstock

Avoid it: Performed properly, upper body vertical pulling exercises (i.e. pull-ups and pulldowns) are initiated by back muscles, specifically your lower trapezius and latissimus dorsi. (8) These muscles should activate a split-second before your biceps. Ensure this sequence by downwardly rotating and depressing your shoulder blades to begin each rep or “pull your shoulder blades into your back pockets.”

How to Progress the Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown

To learn the neutral-grip pulldown, start with light weight. Over time, progress the exercise by adding weight and/or repetitions. Incorporating strategic pauses may also be useful for dialing-in proper form and building strength.

Start Light, Add Weight and Reps

Once proper form is dialed in, progress the pulldown by adding weight. The amount of weight you add should be related to your primary training goal. A weight that allows four to six good repetitions is an effective target when you’re prioritizing strength. A wide range of weights can be effective for hypertrophy, so pick a weight that allows a repetition target you prefer (e.g. eight to 12 repetitions, 12 to 16 repetitions, or 16 to 20 repetitions).

Once you’ve established your working weight, you will need to add weight or repetitions over time to ensure you are progressively overloading your muscles. A simple strategy is to add repetitions, then add weight once you’ve exceeded the top end of your target repetition range. For example, if you/re aiming for eight to 12 repetitions per set, start by identifying a weight that allows you to perform approximately eight repetitions.

In a week or two, you’ll likely be hitting nine or 10 repetitions with the same weight. Eventually, you’ll reach 13 repetitions, which is the signal to add weight. Note: If you have a bit more training experience, gains sometimes come more slowly and you might consider the occasional deload to ensure ongoing progress.

Add “Iso-Holds”

Near the bottom position of a pulldown, when your elbows are bent and just in front of your chest, the resistance at the shoulder is amplified by the length of the humerus (upper arm bone). This is the sticking point, or portion of the exercise where muscular failure or form breakdown is most likely to occur. It’s also the perfect position for adding an isometric hold or “iso-holds.” This is an intensification technique used to prolong time under tension and improve strength at targeted positions.

Muscular person in gym doing lat pulldown exercise — Credit: Vladimir Sukhachev / Shutterstock

To add an iso-hold, simply stop at the most challenging portion of the pulldown. Hold for four to six seconds, and then complete the repetition. Iso-holds can be performed on the final repetition to maximize set performance or incorporated on every repetition. Keep in mind, you will likely need to lower the weight or repetition target if you intend to use iso-holds on every rep.

Benefits of the Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown

Sure, there are a lot of back exercises you could do at the gym, so why focus on this pulldown variations? With good effort and decent programming, lifters can build respectable size and strength with the neutral-grip pulldown due to the setup, range of motion, and user-friendliness.

Works Back Muscles Through a Full Range of Motion

During pulldowns, shoulders reach the overhead position at the top of every repetition. This exposes the target muscles to substantial stretch and load. This mechanical tension is a key driver of muscle growth. (6) Unlike rows, for example, which only train the muscles through a relatively partial range of motion, pulldowns reach maximum or near-maximum stretch on the target muscles.

Full range of motion training may result in more muscle gain over time. (7) As a bonus, full range of motion training is likely to improve flexibility as effectively, or even more effectively, than stretching. (9)

An Alternative for Banged Up Shoulders and Elbows

Although traumatic injuries among resistance trainees are somewhat uncommon, a large percentage of lifters complain of painful shoulders and elbows. (4)(10) The lion’s share of these issues can often be attributed to overuse or training errors.

Forearm position during exercise affects the stress and strain experienced by joint structures, connective tissues, and muscles around the elbow. (11) Structures around the shoulders experience different patterns of stress based on your arm path. For example, the “high five” position of abduction and external rotation passed through during traditional lat pulldowns is associated with increased stress the front of the shoulder. (4)(1)(3) Temporarily avoiding this position may be indicated in the presence of certain shoulder injuries.

Muscular person in gym lifting weight with lat pulldown exercise — Credit: MDV Edwards / Shutterstock

It may be prudent for lifters to incorporate neutral-grip variations to reduce the risk of overuse. Periodically switching out pull-ups or traditional lat pulldowns for a slightly different vertical pulling exercises, such as neutral-grip pulldowns may help to ward off overuse-type injuries.

Lifters already contending with overuse injuries related to upper body pulling may wish to experiment with variations such as the neutral-grip pullover to determine whether it’s better tolerated than previous exercises.

Allows Easy Use of Advanced Training Techniques

Advanced training techniques can include methods used to take sets past failure (e.g. forced reps, drop sets, rest-pause), delay failure (e.g. cluster sets), or increase time under tension by imposing a tempo (e.g. lowering the weight very slowly with six-second eccentrics). (12) The neutral-grip pulldown is typically performed on a stable and safe machine that allows for efficient use of these techniques.

The pulldown machine enables quick manipulation of weight — Just move the pin or slide plates on or off. This allows for efficient performance of drop sets. The machine is also self-contained and “self-spotting.” If muscular failure is reached, there is very little chance of getting pinned under weight. Just stand up and control the pulldown bar back to the top position.

Similarly, if the lifter wishes to take rest within a given set (i.e. cluster set training), the machine allows for quick stops and starts. Finally, the seated position on the machine allows for a training partner to safely and efficiently assist the lifter to perform additional reps. Advanced training techniques are far from easy, but the pulldown setup makes them about as efficient as they can be.

Muscles Worked by Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown

The neutral-grip pulldown hammers muscles of the back, shoulders, and arms. (3)(13)(14) The pulldown is a relatively fundamental movement because it recruits a number of upper body muscles and works them through a significant range of motion.

Shoulder Extensors — Lats, Upper Back, Deltoids

The neutral-grip pulldown targets the muscles that extend the shoulders or draw the arms from in front of the body toward the back of the body. They primarily include the latissimus dorsi, teres major, rear deltoids, and the long head (or innermost portion) of the triceps brachii. Interestingly, the lower part of the pectoralis major (“costal fibers” of the chest) contribute to the pulldown as well. (14)

Shirtless muscular person in gym doing cable pulldown exercise — Credit: Vladimir Sukhachev / Shutterstock

Collectively, the shoulder extensors have the potential to be highly aesthetic muscles. Well-developed latissimus dorsi gives the back breadth, while teres major and rear deltoid enhance shoulder dimensions. And if any gap remains between the arms and upper sweep of the lats, building the long head of triceps brachii will appear to fill it in. “Wings” achieved.

Mid-Back

Sometimes called “scapular muscles,” the muscles of the mid-back act on your shoulder blades. No big back is complete without the visual interest and depth of well-developed scapular muscles.

While these muscles may not be the primary target of the pulldown, they will receive a training effect. During the pulldown, the rhomboids, lower trapezius, and middle trapezius rotate the shoulder blades downward, pull them together, and draw them toward the small of your back.

Elbow Flexors

Curls aren’t the only way to build big biceps. Drawing resistance toward the body trains the muscles of elbow flexion (bending your arms) — Specifically, your biceps brachii, brachioradialis, and brachialis. Functional importance notwithstanding, these muscles give your arms a more muscular, anaconda-like appearance.

How to Program the Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown

Neutral-grip pulldowns can fit nicely into most lifters’ programs in a full body workout, back day, or pulling session. Whether your major training goal is strength or muscle gain, an overarching recommendation is to perform neutral-grip pulldowns earlier in the workout to maximize adaptations.

As a Primary Exercise for Strength

The neutral-grip lat pulldown is long range-of-motion, multi-joint exercise that allows incremental loading. These features make it ideal for use as a primary exercise in your “back day” or “pull day” routine. Primary exercises, sometimes termed “core exercises” in some circles, are typically placed earlier in the workout before any “accessory exercises,” which are typically single-joint exercises or rehab/prehab work.

This exercise order is preferred, because multi-joint exercise performance tends to suffer when performed after isolation exercise. (15) Moreover, exercises performed earlier in the workout tend to stimulate greater improvement in strength. (16)

To prioritize back strength, hit two to five sets of four to six repetitions using 85% or greater of your one-repetition maximum (1RM), ideally early in your workout. (17)

As High-Volume Hypertrophy Work

If your training focus is building a big back, address neutral-grip pulldowns toward the beginning of your workout. Due to heavy involvement of the biceps brachii and other elbow flexors, it is best practice to perform pulldowns before curls or other direct biceps exercises.

Some research has shown that as few as three sets of barbell curls performed before pulldowns can decrease back-training performance by three to five repetitions. (13) Lost repetitions does not bode well for optimal muscle gain, as hypertrophy is positively related to exercise volume (i.e. total weekly sets x reps). (18) Maximize pulldown volume by performing this exercise early in the workout.

For building bigger back and biceps, perform three to six sets of eight to 20 repetitions using a weight that brings each set within three or fewer repetitions of failure.

Neutral-Grip Lat Pulldown Variations

On your back-building quest, there are many variations of the neutral-grip pulldown to help move you forward. Select the most appropriate variation based on personal preference, equipment availability, and goals.

Neutral-Grip Pull-Up

No pulldown machine? Prefer pull-ups over pulldowns?— Swap neutral-grip pulldowns for pull-ups. If multiple neutral-grip widths are available, start with the ones closest to shoulder-width or slightly narrower.

Despite the fact your bodyweight provides the resistance, the mechanics of the neutral-grip pul-up are similar to the neutral-grip pulldown. Start from a dead-hang, initiate from your shoulder blades, and pull your elbows down to your sides.

V-Bar Lat Pulldown

Using a narrow v-bar or “chinning triangle” attachment results in a tighter arm path and hits your back and arms differently. Neutral-grip pulldowns with the v-bar appear to rely more heavily on the biceps brachii than shoulder-width and wide neutral-grip variations. (13) So the v-bar pulldown is a great option for those prioritizing strong, thick arms.

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The v-bar pulldown is performed much like the neutral-grip pulldown except the lifter should focus on squeezing the elbows and forearms together throughout the exercise. Elbows should graze your ribcage below your pecs as you approach the bottom position of the exercise.

Half-Kneeling Single-Arm Lat Pulldown

Single-arm lat pulldowns are wonderful for feeling the stretch and contraction of your latissimus dorsi and other shoulder extensor muscles through a large arc and long range of motion. Because each arm is worked individually, they can also help to address any possible side-to-side strength asymmetries.

The half-kneeling single-arm lat pulldown is the next level of single-arm pulling. The “half-kneeling” position (i.e. one knee down) provides a large, stable footprint for the addition of subtle trunk movements. These trunk movements allow more stretch at the top followed by a stronger peak contraction at the bottom of each rep. The former may enhance “stretch-mediated” muscle growth, while the squeeze at the bottom promotes mind-muscle connection and increased latissimus dorsi activity. (6)(19)

Face the cable stack and kneel with the working side knee down. Allow your shoulder blade to be pulled up for a full stretch through your lat. Side-bend your trunk slightly away from your working arm. Pull by drawing your shoulder blade and elbow down and in. Achieve peak contraction by aggressively pulling your arm to your ribcage and side-bending slightly toward the working side. Focus on feeling your lats “cramp” at the bottom of each rep.

Swiss Bar Pullover

The pullover is a phenomenal exercise for the shoulder extensor muscles — Latissimus dorsi, posterior deltoid, part of your pectoralis major, etc. Although commonly done with a both hands on a single dumbbell, the pullover may also be performed using a neutral-grip implement such as a Swiss bar, a multi-grip barbell, or triceps bar.

The Swiss bar may enable those with less-than-ideal range of motion (i.e. limited forearm pronation or shoulder external rotation) to reap the benefits of pullovers – Namely, heavy loading overhead when the target muscles are at their longest lengths, which may enhance growth.(6)(20)(21) Just be sure to have an attentive spotter due to free weights passing over your head and face during the movement.

FAQs

Should I use lifting straps for neutral-grip lat pulldowns?

It is common to use lifting straps during pulling exercises such as deadlifts and barbell rows. Lifting straps may increase the amount of weight a lifter can handle, prolong the set by minimizing grip fatigue, and spare your grip for subsequent exercises.
While it is possible to use straps for neutral-grip pulldowns, it is typically not necessary. The neutral-grip position tends to stronger than a pronated (overhand) grip, though not as strong as supinated (underhand) grip. (22) Moreover, trained lifters have demonstrated no beneficial effects of lifting straps on pulldown one-repetition maximum, repetitions to failure, or total repetitions across three sets to failure. (23) That being said, if you train deadlifts during a back workout, there might be benefits to using straps to preserve your grip if you’re performing heavier pulls later in the workout.

Can different pulldown variations be used to target different portions of the lats or back?

Compared to other pulldown variations, the neutral-grip pulldown may bias certain shoulder muscles and even certain parts of the lats.
While some neuromuscular strategies may differ due to grip orientation, more notable differences can be attributed to differences in grip width. The lat pulldown traditionally uses a relatively wide grip, which results in resisted shoulder adduction (i.e. pulling your arms down and into the sides of your body). (24) neutral-grip pulldown typically uses a shoulder-width or slightly narrower grip. This grip width results in resisted shoulder extension (i.e. pulling your arms toward the back of your body).
The most reliable method of determining a muscle’s action is to analyze its moment arm (how a muscle crosses the joint and how much leverage it has over the joint). For example, muscles crossing behind the shoulder will extend the shoulder when they shorten. Shoulder extensors with a larger moment arm extend the shoulder more efficiently.
Since the posterior deltoids and teres major have the greatest moment arms for shoulder extension through much of the pulldown’s range motion, it could be inferred that the neutral-grip pulldown will emphasize these muscles. (14)
The latissimus dorsi is a broad, multi-part muscle with fibers originating on the pelvis (“iliac part”), lumbar region (“lumbar part”), and lower thoracic spine (“thoracic part”). Certain parts are mechanically better suited to adduct the shoulder (i.e. iliac- and lumbar parts), whereas the upper portion of latissimus dorsi (i.e. thoracic part) is a strong shoulder extensor. (14)
Putting that all together, from a mechanical standpoint, traditional lat pulldowns may best target the iliac and lumbar parts of the latissimus dorsi (“lower lats”), while neutral-grip pulldowns may better target the thoracic part of latissimus dorsi (“upper lats”), teres major, and posterior deltoid.
Ultimately, more research is needed. To cover your bases for complete back development, incorporate both pulldown variations into your training plan.

Is there any benefit to using rotating handles?

First, let’s examine how these rotating handles are often used. The handles are commonly held in the pronated (“overhand grip”) position at the top of the pulldown then gradually twisted into the supinated (“underhand grip”) position at the bottom of the repetition.
Another option is to maintain the same grip and forearm position throughout the pulldown. You could hold the rotating handles in a neutral position (or any other position) throughout the repetition; however, this option introduces an additional degree of freedom (read: “instability”) and may result in reduced maximum weight or repetition performance.
The rotating method feels very natural for some lifters. Anecdotally, twisting the handle throughout the repetition promotes shoulder external rotation during the pulldown. This might be useful for keeping tension on primary muscles like latissimus dorsi and teres major.
Objective research on rotating handles is sparse, however. Some research has reported pull-ups performed with rotating handles increased latissimus dorsi muscle electromyography (EMG) activity, albeit not to a level reaching statistical significance. (8) But interpret these findings with caution. It must be stated that muscle activity via surface EMG is not an indicator of the quality of an exercise and it does not necessarily mean rotating handles promote better lat growth or strength. (25)(26)
Ultimately, if rotating handles feel more natural or more comfortable to you, go ahead and use them instead of a rigid pulldown bar.

Earn Your Wings

The neutral-grip lat pulldown builds a wide back and thick arms to boot. When performed with a shoulder-width or slightly narrower grip, it tends to be a joint-friendly exercise for your lats, upper back, mid-back, and biceps. Altogether, neutral-grip lat pulldowns may be among the best options for building a set of wings when your shoulders have other plans.

References

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Vilaça-Alves, J., et al. (2014). Effects of pre-exhausting the biceps brachii muscle on the performance of the front lat pull-down exercise using different handgrip positions. Journal of Human Kinetics, 42(1), 157-163.
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Figueiredo, V. C., de Salles, B. F., & Trajano, G. S. (2018). Volume for muscle hypertrophy and health outcomes: the most effective variable in resistance training. Sports Medicine, 48, 499-505.
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Featured Image: MDV Edwards / Shutterstock

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February 23, 2023

How to Do the Front Foot Elevated Split Squat for Size, Strength, and Athleticism

Filed under: Fitness,Training — Tags: exercise guide, leg day, leg workout, train, training — admin @ 7:48 pm

When it comes to building muscle one leg at a time, the Bulgarian split squat, also known as the rear foot elevated split squat, usually gets all the praise and attention. But the real ones know how underrated the front foot elevated split squat truly is.

person outdoors performing leg exercise on street — Credit: Zoran Pucarevic / Shutterstock

The unfairly overlooked front foot elevated split squat is gaining quite the popularity surge, especially from its use in rehab and athletic settings. This upgraded split squat variation is typically a little more comfortable to set up than the rear foot elevated option and it can skyrocket your lower body muscle, strength, and athleticism. Here’s a closer look at this unique exercise.

Front Foot Elevated Split Squat

The front foot elevated split squat, or FFESS, requires a high-level of stability across a long range of motion, which can make the exercise difficult to master. Follow these technique cues to tackle this single-leg exercise.

Step 1 — Set Up Your Platform

Person in gym standing on aerobic step — Credit: Balance in Motion / YouTube

You will notice a massive benefit from even the slightest elevation. Any platform that is at least two to four inches high will be sufficient. A small aerobic step or one or two weight plates work nicely. Use bumper plates, if possible, to prevent sliding. If your gym has an Olympic lifting platform with a raised edge, that can work too.

Form Tip: A staircase might seem like a convenient option, but it’s likely too high to start with and can make the movement too awkward. It will end up feeling more like an indecisive hybrid between a split squat and a step-up while delivering the results of neither.

Step 2 — Elevate Your Front Foot

person in gym elevating one foot on weight plate — Credit: Iron Monk / YouTube

Having a strong and stable front foot is, obviously, key to the front foot elevated split squat. Stand upright and set one foot flat on the platform. Keep your entire foot in contact throughout each repetition. Don’t raise up onto your toes or heel.

Form Tip: Supportive shoes can play a surprisingly significant role in your mobility, stability, and force production. (1) Old school Chuck Taylor sneakers, dedicated weightlifting shoes, or any stable-soled shoe is preferable. Super-floppy, extremely cushioned running shoes are not ideal because stability will be compromised as your foot compresses into the cushioning.

Step 3 — Set Your Back Foot

muscular person in gym doing foot-elevated lunge exercise — Credit: PriorityStrength / YouTube

Your back foot should be as secure and stable as your front foot. Keep your front foot in place and step back a comfortable distance for you, depending on your leg length and general mobility.

Depending on your ankle mobility, your back foot will likely be on the ball rather than flat on the ground. This is acceptable because this foot is primarily for support and balance, and will not be producing much force into the floor.

Form Tip: For maximum balance and stability, make sure your back foot is in its own “lane,” not directly in line with your front foot. You shouldn’t feel like you’re perched on a thin balance beam. You should feel stable and grounded.

Step 4 — Lower Yourself With Control

Take a deep breath and feel both feet securely in place before descending into the rep. Feel your lower body and your core being still before descending. Keep your upper body upright with your shoulders pulled back.

Bend your front leg and lower yourself with control. Descend as low as possible, ideally reaching your back knee to the ground.

Form Tip: Depending on your mobility, your back knee should gently graze the ground — with an emphasis on gently. Some lifters fail to pay attention during the descent and quickly smash their back knee into the ground. Don’t do that.

Step 5 — Drive Up to the Starting Position

When you’ve reached the deepest position your hip and leg mobility allows, push through your front leg to drive up to a standing position

Keep your upper body close to vertical as you drive up. Don’t allow yourself to bend forward at the waist. Repeat all repetitions with one leg before switching sides.

Form Tip: It can be tempting to bounce out of the bottom by leveraging the stretch reflex — a muscle’s ability to “rebound” during the transition from a stretched position to a full contraction for increased momentum and power. (2) Avoid it to allow your glutes and quads to do all the work. This will build more muscle by increasing the time under tension, while keeping you safer by reducing ballistic forces.

This exercise can feel tricky, especially when you’re awkwardly setting up for the first time. Here are some common mistakes to avoid.

Not Being Mobile Enough

While this exercise can be great for building mobility, if your hip and ankle mobility resemble the Tin Man, you will struggle to go deep enough to reap the muscle- and strength-building benefits. (3)

person in gym doing front foot elevated squat — Credit: GrowFormance / YouTube

If you’re unable to descend near full-depth, the exercise won’t be any different for building size or strength than a standard split squat, but it can still be beneficial as a mobility drill if you focus on improving your depth instead of adding reps or weight.

Avoid it: To perform the exercise efficiently, do a dynamic warm-up prior to your leg workout to ensure your hips and ankles are thoroughly mobilized and prepared for training. Over time, this should help to get into the deeper positions of knee flexion and hip flexion needed to reach the bottom position.

Not Going Low Enough

The purpose of the platform elevation is to increase the range of motion. It lets you get into degrees of knee and hip flexion that you couldn’t access with other exercises.

Person in gym doing single-leg lunge with kettlebell — Credit: Kevin Maxen / YouTube

However, it’s common to see people do the first few reps with a perfect deep reps but, when the pump sets in, they start to compromise the range of motion. Soon enough, the “front foot elevated split squats” appear to be using less range than traditional split squats with both feet on the ground.

Avoid it: Choose an elevation level that works for you and keep every rep consistent. Try to lightly touch your back knee to the ground each rep, or at least get close. Using a folded towel or padded mat under your back knee can serve as a reliable target as long as it allows your back knee to reach lower than your front foot.

Being Too Wobbly

The elevated front foot-position will make balance more challenging. The more wobbly you are, the less muscle-building force you can generate. Not to mention, you’ll feel self-conscious if you topple over while holding a pair of light dumbbells.

If you’re focused on maintaining balance more than you’re focused on actually training your legs, the overall stimulus will be reduced and you’ll waste energy.

long-haired person in gym doing single-leg squat — Credit: kristifitnick / YouTube

Avoid it: Take your time to secure your foot position before doing a couple of warm-up sets. Even if your working weight will be relatively light, a warm-up set or two with only your body weight can be a game changer in preparing your nervous system and core musculature to stabilize the load effectively.

Consider including the FFESS in your program because it’s simple to progress. It also never runs out of progression because, if you do manage to run out of weights, your legs will be beyond elite status at that point.

Begin with Bodyweight

The bodyweight-only FFESS can be quite humbling. Even for some advanced lifters, the exercise can be challenging especially when done toward the latter part of a workout. Performing the exercise as a “finisher” when your legs are pre-fatigued from heavy training can be an eye-opening, leg-burning experience.

The bodyweight FFESS is also an excellent go-to exercise when you have limited equipment, like when you’re training at home or on the road.

Loading with Dumbbells

Once you master bodyweight FFESS, consider adding load via dumbbells. This is the easiest and most common setup for loading — simply hold a pair of dumbbells at your sides.

Using a narrow platform helps prevent the dumbbells from clashing with the platform, especially if you have longer arms and reach maximum depth. Controlling the weight and not allowing the dumbbells to hit the platform works fine, as well.

As the weights get heavier, and as you’re able to do more reps per set, your grip will likely fatigue quite a bit over the course of multiple sets. Once you feel it kick in, you should use lifting straps or some sort of assistance to eliminate your grip as a weak link.

Barbell Front Foot Elevated Split Squat

Barbells allow for the most loading, but they are also the most time consuming to set up along with adding more instability. However, this is a necessary compromise once you get strong.

Make sure you have a strong, stable platform to support the added weight. Set up in a rack with safety pins, similar to performing squats. Progress like most barbell exercises, adding a little more weight and a few more reps from week to week.

This exercise has some unique ways of delivering its benefits. Here’s why you should incorporate the FFESS as soon as possible.

Hypertrophy and Strength

The front foot elevated split squat will produce single-leg strength and hypertrophy thanks to a long range of motion and unique positioning compared to other exercise options. The front foot elevation allows you to push your center of mass forward, bringing your hamstring against your calf without compromising torso position.

This stretches the muscles of the quads and glutes under load and increases mechanical tension compared to bilateral squat variations. The unilateral (single-leg) nature helps with addressing potential imbalances and also maximizes range of motion, which increases hypertrophy. (3)

The strength you gain from this exercise translates efficiently to many other exercises. You’ll notice your single-leg and bilateral (two-leg) lower body exercises getting stronger after focusing on the FFESS as an accessory movement.

Pain-Free Training

One of the main benefits people explore this exercise in the first place is to find pain-free alternatives to barbell squatting. If your joints are achy, this exercise can be a perfect option.

gray-haired person outdoors doing leg exercise — Credit: Anatoliy Karlyuk / Shutterstock

It allows you to lighten the load while achieving ranges of motions you likely didn’t have access to. Over time, you achieve pain-free muscle building. In addition, the FFESS reinforces new degrees of hip, knee, and ankle mobility.

The FFESS prioritizes your lower body muscles — perfect for your favorite leg day. Some core stability and upper body stability is trained as well, especially when using added load.

Quadriceps

The front foot elevated split squat primarily trains your quads. The front thigh muscle gets worked through a long range of motion as you get into deep angles of knee flexion (bending). With your front foot elevated, you have the opportunity to drive your knee forward for a deep weighted stretch in the quads.

Glutes

Similar to many squat variations, your glutes are also going to get a significant stimulus during the FFESS, especially in the bottom stretched position.

person holding kettlebells during lunge exercise — Credit: Sergii Gnatiuk / Shutterstock

You’ll likely feel more glute soreness, especially if you’re used to a relatively shortener range of motion from traditional squats and split squats.

Adductors

The FFESS will also nail your inner thighs (adductors), particularly in your front leg. This muscle gets a high degree of stabilizing action during the exercise, along with some dynamic contraction to extend your hips at the top of the movement.

Generally speaking, it’s best to do unilateral exercises after heavier bilateral exercises to avoid fatiguing important stabilizers. You can program the FFESS after your heavy sets of squats, possibly as the second or third exercise of a lower body day.

However, the stimulus from the FFESS is effective and comprehensive for the quads, glutes, and adductors, so it’s can also be valid to program them as your first exercise. This is ideal, for example, for lifters with achy knees who don’t do well with heavy bilateral movements early in the workout. Prioritizing the front foot elevated split squat allows your hips, knees, and ankles to be more thoroughly warmed up before proceeding to relatively heavier lifting.

Moderate to Light Weight, High Reps

This exercise is best suited for moderate to light weight. This allows for less joint strain and connective tissue stress, and allows you to better control the weight which can give you a better mind-muscle connection.

front foot elevated split squat stance — Credit: BarBend / YouTube

Most people will prefer to do these with relatively light weight and higher reps to create a strong pump and an even stronger mind-muscle connection. With this approach, some lifters may even be able skip any warm-up sets, depending on how they feel and how their body responds. Pick a load you can do for at least 12 reps, and crank out two or three sets of 10 to 20 per leg.

Heavy Weight, Low Reps

If you do FFESS early in the workout, you can go heavier. Your nervous system will be fresh and you can stabilize heavier loads. Three or four sets of five to 10 reps (per leg) is already pretty heavy for this exercise. You will still need one or two warm-up sets, especially if you’re strong and plan on approaching your limits.

Using extremely heavy weights for very low reps is not advisable because the stability required for them may not be worth it. It’s not the type of exercise to test your one-rep max because the risk:reward just isn’t worth it.

There’s a couple of effective variations of the front foot elevated split squat for those that are more adventurous or want to progress beyond the standard movement.

Heel-Elevated Split Squat

Instead of just elevating your front foot, add an additional plate or ramp to elevate your heel even higher. This puts your foot into a steep angle, creating even more knee flexion and makes an already quad-dominant split squat even more quad-dominant.

This is great for those in need of serious quad growth or for athletes who want to get used to deeper ranges of knee flexion, including combat sports athletes, strength sports athletes, football players, or sprinters.

Double-Elevated Split Squat

If you want to maximize your mobility and range of motion, you can elevate both the front and back foot. Essentially, you are combining the FFESS with a Bulgarian split squat. More range of motion for both the front leg and the back leg can help to skyrocket your quad and glute gains.

Setting this up can be cumbersome and requires some extra space, but once you’ve determined a good set up and know an effective distance to set each platform, it should be pretty smooth each time you’re in the gym.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes the front foot elevated split squat different than the rear foot elevated split squat (Bulgarian split squat)?

Depending on your structure and mobility level, the two exercises might not be all that different. However, most people will feel their quads more during the FFESS. You can think of the front foot elevated split squat as a more “quad-dominant version” of Bulgarian split squats.
FFESS are also easier to setup and generally feel more comfortable to perform. Elevating your back foot with Bulgarian split squats usually requires more hip and ankle mobility and can be a bigger challenge to maintain balance.

Why don’t I see more people in the gym doing the front foot elevated split squat?

Bulgarian split squats are simply more popular in recent years. They’ve garnered a reputation for being painful — the “good kind” of pain from post-workout soreness — and more “hardcore.” They are a great exercise, but the front foot elevated split squat is starting to catch up in popularity thanks to the rehab world.
Many physiotherapists assign the FFESS as a way to train deep ranges of motion with reduced knee pain. Many people learn the movement and end up realizing, “Oh, snap, these are great even if I’m not trying to rehab my knee thanks to the gnarly quad pump.”

Single-leg training is often overlooked in many training routines. Performing exercises with an increased range of motion, even moreso. The FFESS is a straightforward solution to both of these deficiencies. This comprehensive exercise will payoff with more size, more strength, better mobility, and improved all-around performance. You just need to step up to the challenge.

References

Legg, H. S., Glaister, M., Cleather, D. J., & Goodwin, J. E. (2017). The effect of weightlifting shoes on the kinetics and kinematics of the back squat. Journal of sports sciences, 35(5), 508–515. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2016.1175652
Seiberl, W., Hahn, D., Power, G. A., Fletcher, J. R., & Siebert, T. (2021). Editorial: The Stretch-Shortening Cycle of Active Muscle and Muscle-Tendon Complex: What, Why and How It Increases Muscle Performance?. Frontiers in physiology, 12, 693141. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.693141
Schoenfeld, B. J., & Grgic, J. (2020). Effects of range of motion on muscle development during resistance training interventions: A systematic review. SAGE open medicine, 8, 2050312120901559. https://doi.org/10.1177/2050312120901559

Featured Image: Balance in Motion / YouTube

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February 14, 2023

How to Do the Pallof Press for a Stronger, Healthier Core

Filed under: Fitness,Training — Tags: ab workout, exercise guide, Exercise Guides, train, training — admin @ 9:44 pm

Physical therapist John Pallof shared a simple exercise with a few influential strength coaches in the early 2000s. It offered an effective way to challenge core stability in an upright, athletic position. Due to the exercise’s relative starting and ending point, he called it the belly press.

Fast-forward two decades. Pallof’s “belly press” was renamed by way of common usage, and what’s become known as the Pallof press is a mainstay exercise in settings from rehabilitation clinics to the strength and conditioning facilities of elite athletes. (1)(2)(3)(4)

This relatively new spin on the classic plank challenges core strength at a new angle, literally. The direction of force requires anti-rotation, as opposed to dynamic rotation. “Anti” movements are a generally overlooked and undertrained aspect of core health and strength.

Muscular man performing ab exercise with resistance band outdoors — Credit: RomarioIen / Shutterstock

How can a single exercise be effective across such a wide range of populations? Well, it’s scalable for difficulty, making it effective and accessible to beginners and experienced athletes alike. It also trains the body to resist rotation, which is useful across human movement patterns from athletics to daily life. Here’s a detailed look at the Pallof press and how to incorporate into your training plan.

Pallof Press

Classic Pallof Press Video Tutorial

Author Dr. Merrick Lincoln demonstrates the Pallof press in the video below. Read on for step-by-step instructions.

How to Do the Pallof Press

Follow these detailed instructions to dial-in proper Pallof press form for maximum benefit and efficiency. You’ll need a cable system with an adjustable pulley or a resistance band and a stable, chest-high anchor point.

Step 1 — Set Your Equipment and Step Out

Dr. Merrick Lincoln in gym performing resistance band ab exercise — Credit: Merrick Lincoln, DPT, CSCS / YouTube

Set a resistance band or cable pulley (with a single handle attached) at approximately chest-height. Grasp the band or handle with both hands and hold it in front of your sternum with bent arms.

Pull your shoulders back and brace your core. Sidestep away from the anchor-point until you feel moderate tension on the band, or until the weight plates lift several inches from the cable stack.

Form Tip: Although this is just the “setup” of the exercise, your core is already experiencing resistance from the band or cable. Before the walkout, not after, is the best time to set your brace and tense your abs, as this avoids having to establish proper alignment while under greater resistance.

Step 2 — Quarter-Squat and Press

Dr. Merrick Lincoln in gym doing resistance band ab exercise — Credit: Merrick Lincoln, DPT, CSCS / YouTube

With your shoulders squarely over your pelvis and your feet just beyond shoulder-width, perform a shallow squat. Maintain this stable position throughout the remainder of the exercise. Slowly press the band or cable directly away from your sternum until your elbows are straight.

Form Tip: The turning force from the band or cable doesn’t stop at your core. You will need to establish a firm connection with the floor during the Pallof press. Accomplish this by attempting to “grip” or “spread” the floor with your feet.

Step 3 — Pause at Peak Tension

This portion of the exercise is responsible for a relatively large amount of the training stimulus, so give it plenty of attention. The end position of the press is the most challenging part of the exercise — Savor it by pausing for a moment or longer.

Form Tip: You’ve (likely) inhaled to set your brace before initiating the repetition, and you’ve exhaled throughout the pressing motion. Now, fill the pause at peak tension with another full breath cycle (breathe in, breathe out) without losing your brace. This is a good way to make sure you hold the pause for a sufficient duration.

Step 4 — Return to Start Position

Pull the band or cable handle back to your sternum with a smooth, controlled movement. Repeat steps two through four (press, pause, pull back) for the desired number of repetitions before sidestepping toward the anchor point or pulley and switching sides.

Form Tip: Although the exercise becomes progressively easier as you bring the band or handle back toward the start position, do not lose your brace. Strive for no movement below the shoulders.

Pallof Press Mistakes to Avoid

Don’t be lulled into thinking this simple-looking exercise doesn’t require focus. Avoiding these Pallof press pitfalls ensures exercise effectiveness.

Setting Up at an Angle

One common error in the Pallof press occurs before the exercise really begins. After you step out with band or cable, your torso must be perpendicular to the line of pull of the resistance. Don’t bend at your waist and don’t stand in front of, or behind, the anchor point or cable.

Person in gym doing ab exercise with band — Credit: BarBend / YouTube

Any substantial deviation from perpendicular will reduce the effectiveness of the exercise by decreasing the turning force (“torque”) applied to your trunk. An oblique angle reduces demand on your obliques.

Avoid it: No need to track down a protractor or angle finder. Just imagine a straight line running between your shoulder joints and another straight line running through your hip joints. These two imaginary lines should be parallel to each other and run at a right angle to the actual line of the band or cable.

Midsection Motion

Poor trunk control during the Pallof press is indicative of a misunderstanding of the exercise or the use of too much resistance. Assuming you’re not simply overpowered by the band or cable, you can improve your Pallof press form by focusing on a “braced” midsection.

person in gym doing cable ab exercise — Credit: Breaking Muscle / YouTube

Avoid it: Treat the Pallof press like a “standing plank.” Make your trunk rigid by bracing or co-contracting the muscles on the front, back, and sides of your midsection.

Retreating Quickly From Peak Tension

The Pallof press should be most challenging after the press, when your arms are outstretched in front of the body. This is informed by Newtonian physics (i.e. “law of the lever”) and it’s supported by the obvious sensation of effort you should feel at the end-range.

Close view of person in gym holding resistance band — Credit: BarBend / YouTube

Avoid it: Make Sir Isaac Newton proud by pausing and demonstrating control when the resistance force has the most leverage. When your elbows are straight and your hands are at approximately chest-height, take a moment to verify your shoulders and hips are square. As you breathe during the pause, make sure your midsection is tight and braced before returning to the start position.

How to Progress the Pallof Press

When progressing the Pallof press, use a combination of traditional exercise variables (e.g. adding resistance or volume) and non-traditional variables (e.g. devising modifications that increase the technique-demands or complexity of the exercise. (5) When the traditional Pallof press gets too easy, lean into one or more of the progression strategies below.

Change the Base of Support

The basic version of the Pallof press is performed with both feet slightly outside shoulder-width. Your “base of support” is always going to be the area outlined by your feet and all the space between the feet. The exercise becomes drastically more difficult with a smaller base of support. Achieve this progression by standing with a narrower stance. Once you’re able to perform Pallof presses with your feet together, try the lunge variation or even the single-leg variation, described below.

Increase the Number of Repetitions

For performance training, the Pallof press is considered an “accessory exercise,” generally performed for moderate to higher repetitions. It isn’t the type of exercise conducive to high resistance/low repetition programming. No one cares about your Pallof press one-repetition maximum. Rather than push for more resistance, push for higher-repetition sets. Work up to sets of 20 or more smooth, controlled repetitions before worrying about adding resistance.

Increase the Movement Speed

Your primary task during the Pallof press is to keep your trunk motionless. Or, if there is any motion or loss of the initial trunk position, your task is to regain control and re-achieve the initial position as soon as possible. In fact, the latter scenario most closely describes the biomechanics definition of stability. (6) Rapid movement speed during the Pallof press exposes the body to a greater stability challenge.

As long as any movement below your shoulders is minimal and well-controlled, increasing the speed of the pressing motion can be an effective progression. However, even when performing faster repetitions, you should still pause at peak tension when arms are fully outstretched.

Benefits of the Pallof Press

Isometric core exercises like the Pallof press are recommended to improve core muscle endurance. (7) But the benefits of the Pallof press don’t stop there. Emerging research points to its potential role in improved sports performance and injury-risk reduction.

Enhances Force Transfer and Performance

From a movement development perspective, we know the ability to control the trunk and demonstrate stability is a prerequisite for effective limb movement. This is evidenced by babies sitting unsupported before they walk or before launching their toys across the room. This same phenomenon is seen in athletes, albeit during much higher-level activities. Trunk stability enhances the ability to generate forceful, rapid, and precise limb movement. (8) The good news is, this appears to be trainable.

For example, a core training program including Pallof press variations was shown to improve striking force among Muay Thai athletes. (9) Whether you’re a fighter, thrower, field- or court sport player, swimmer, or just about any other type of athlete, progressive training with the Pallof press might up your game.

Teaches You To ‘Breathe and Brace’

Many sports and athletic endeavors require the skill of simultaneous breathing and bracing — sprinting, kayaking, swimming, and pretty much any CrossFit-style workout, just to name a few. The peak tension position of the Pallof press is a great opportunity to practice this skill.

As noted in the step-by-step instructions, you should pause when your arms are fully pressed away from your sternum. If you fill this pause with one or more breath cycles while also preventing any motion between your shoulders and hips, you are training “breathing and bracing.” Since the Pallof press is typically programmed as a fairly-high repetition, moderate-to-low load exercise, it gives plenty of opportunities to practice.

Potentially Reduces Injury Risk

Poor core stability is thought to predispose athletes to injury. (10) And although we know not all injuries can be prevented, there is a strong case for the inclusion of core exercises like the Pallof press in workout programs designed to reduce injury risk. Improving core stability is thought to improve control or coordination of the body and limbs. (10)(11) And improved coordination may translate into reduced risk for injury.

For example, across 13 studies, core training was shown to improve balance, which may ultimately decrease the risk of injurious falls. (12) Altogether, exercises intended to improve stability and coordination (i.e. “neuromuscular training”), along with strength training, are among the most well-supported types of training to reduce risk of injury. (13)

Muscles Worked by Pallof Press

Although the term “press” may seem to imply the shoulders are targeted, the Pallof press is decidedly core work. The pressing motion is minimally-resisted due to the body’s orientation to the line of pull of the band or cable stack. The press isn’t “lifting” the weight. Instead, the exercise hammers your core, particularly the muscles that prevent trunk rotation.

Abdominals

The primary muscle task during the Pallof press is to resist trunk rotation, which is why the movement pattern is termed “anti-rotation.” Muscles that act to rotate the trunk contract isometrically and create tension without creating appreciable movement.

Key muscles include the external obliques and internal obliques. Your rectus abdominis (i.e. the six-pack abs) and transversus abdominis (the deepest abdominal muscle) may also contribute to the Pallof press by increasing intra-abdominal pressure to increase the rigidity of your trunk.

Tiny Back Muscles

Often forgotten, many small muscles on the backside of the trunk contribute to trunk rotation and anti-rotation. These muscles are arranged between the bones of the spine (vertebrae), run between the ribcage and vertebrae, or span the pelvis and sacrum to vertebrae.

Among them, erector spinae may be the most notable, but semispinalis, multifidi, and rotatores deserve honorable mention. Multifidi and rotatores, in particular, are thought to produce“fine-tuning” muscle contractions needed for effective stabilization of the spine. (14)

How to Program the Pallof Press

For most, the Pallof press is an accessory exercise, meaning it plays a supplementary role in the training program. Accessory exercises can be programmed in a variety of ways, provided they support, or at least do not interfere with, the primary objectives of the workout.

As a Warm-up or Primer

The warm-up is a time dedicated to increasing body temperature and rehearsing movements that support the upcoming training session. It’s also a great time to incorporate core work. As a fairly low-intensity exercise, the Pallof press is well-suited for inclusion during any general warm-up.

As Dedicated Core Training

By setting aside time specifically for core training, as you likely do for your shoulders, arms, chest, back, or quadriceps, you help to ensure the work gets done. The Pallof press primarily works the rotators of the trunk. Therefore, to create a robust core workout, you may also wish to add exercises targeting the flexors, extensors, and lateral flexors of the core, such as crunches or planks, Roman chair back extensions, and farmer’s walks, respectively.

Although the Pallof press is a wonderfully effective year-around core exercise for most individuals, high-level athletes may wish to incorporate more dynamic trunk rotation training, such as medicine ball twists and tosses, during the pre-season and in-season for more sport-specific training. (7)

As Rest Interval “Filler”

The amount of exercise completed in a defined period of time determines the density of a workout. Increasing the density of your workouts makes them more efficient, as long as the additional work (or reduced rest) does not adversely affect exercise performance. The Pallof press does not create excessive fatigue in muscles commonly targeted by traditional resistance training.

Therefore, it may be a great “filler” exercise. Take some of the two or three minutes you’d typically rest passively between sets of bench presses, rows, or any other exercise, and hit a set of Pallof presses. By supersetting the Pallof press with another exercise, you’ll increase the efficiency of your workout and keep your mind (and body) engaged throughout your entire training session.

Pallof Press Variations

The Pallof press can be modifiable in countless ways. Below, find a beginner-friendly version of the Pallof press, followed by three relatively more advanced modifications.

Half-Kneeling Pallof Press

To reduce the difficulty of the Pallof press, try the “half-kneeling” position. Place your inside knee (the leg closest to the band or cable stack) on the floor and bend your outside leg 90-degrees at the knee and hip. Place your front foot flat on the floor. (1)

From this position, brace your midsection and perform the Pallof press with typical pressing technique. When you switch sides, be sure to switch leg positions — the leg closest to the resistance is on the ground and your opposite foot is flat on the floor.

Lunge-Position Pallof Press

Performing the Pallof press in a lunge stance increases the difficulty by narrowing your base of support. (1) With your outside leg in front, drop into a narrow lunge position, brace, then perform the Pallof press with standard “press and pause” form.

Be sure to keep your outside knee pointing straight ahead, as tension from the band or cable will try to “unravel” your body. Don’t allow your knee to collapse inward. When you switch sides, switch lead legs and repeat the lunge position.

Single-Leg Pallof Press

The single-leg Pallof press is performed standing on the outside leg — The leg farthest from the anchor point of the band or the cable stack. By performing the exercise on one leg, the single-leg Pallof press increases training demand on the lateral hip muscles, namely the gluteus medius. (4)

You will also need to prevent your foot and ankle from caving inward (“pronating”) under the pull of the band. To get the greatest training effect from the foot and ankle complex, perform in minimalist shoes or even barefoot.

Chaos Pallof Press

To further progress the Pallof press, increase the reactive demand of the exercise by adding a light weight to the center of the resistance band setup (demonstrated in the video). Be sure the weight is secured in place, so it can’t slide up and down the length of the band.

Performing the “press” portion rapidly will create oscillating movements of the weight plate. Your core muscles will be forced to contend with the added, and somewhat unpredictable, challenge of the bouncing plate. Hold the paused position to regain core control before continuing repetitions.

FAQs

Why are there so many Pallof press variations?

Core stability can be conceptualized as a function of capacity (i.e. strength, power, endurance) and control (i.e. coordination). Increasing resistance or adding extra sets and repetitions to core stability exercises primarily improves the core’s capacity. To improve control, modifications that increase the technical difficulty of the exercise are indicated. That is, we need to progress the complexity of the exercise. (5)
We can increase the complexity of the Pallof press in many ways. These include, but are not limited to, decreasing the footprint or “base of support” (as in the lunge-position and single-leg variations), increasing the movement speed, adding instability by standing on a balance pad, or incorporating a reactive challenge (as in the chaos Pallof press). As long as you adhere to the basic movement principles and technique guidelines, you are only limited by your creativity when developing variations of the Pallof press.

Should I use a cable stack or a resistance band for the Pallof press?

Equipment availability and personal preference should be the key determinants of whether to use a cable stack or a resistance band. Assuming both are available, consider the pros and cons of each.
Compared to bands, the cable stack allows for more consistent external resistance and provides the ability to adjust loading in smaller, more quantifiable increments. But low-quality or poorly maintained cable stacks can feel rough and friction in the machine can negatively affect the resistance during the exercise.
Elastic bands are inexpensive and convenient. They are better than cables for training at high speeds due to minimal inertial forces. Like cable stacks, elastic bands allow for modification of the resistance, but you will need to either change out resistance bands to accommodate you desired resistance level or set up closer or farther from the anchor point to adjust the band’s stretch.
Due to the elastic nature of the resistance band, it will apply more resistance when your arms are fully outstretched than when your arms are pulled in. That is, expect a more dramatic resistance curve with resistance bands — At the hardest part of the movement, the demand is on your trunk is even greater. This feature may introduce a bottleneck effect: It could limit the resistance used ,as well as your ability to progress to thicker resistance bands.

How often should I perform the Pallof press?

When programmed for injury prevention or athletic performance enhancement, core training is commonly performed at moderate to high frequencies with at least two sessions per week and as many as seven days per week. (9)(12)
To accomplish this, complete a couple of sets during the warm-up for your daily workout, or designate two or three core-focused sessions per week to complete three to six sets of the Pallof Press per session.

Make Room for Anti-Rotation in Your Exercise Rotation

Since its introduction, the Pallof press has become a contemporary classic exercise. It builds rotational strength and enhances trunk stability. And it might even boost athletic performance and reduce injury risk. Remember, to achieve meaningful benefits, consistency and progression are key.

References

Mullane, M., Turner, A. N., & Bishop, C. (2021). The Pallof Press. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 43(2), 121-128.
Wilson, K. W., et al. (2019). Rehabilitation and return to sport after hip arthroscopy. Operative Techniques in Orthopaedics, 29(4), 100739.
Cotter, A. (2022). Return to Sport Following Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: Women’s Field Hockey. Journal of Women’s Sports Medicine, 2(2), 57-69.
Holling, M. J., Miller, S. T., & Geeslin, A. G. (2022). Rehabilitation and Return to Sport After Arthroscopic Treatment of Femoroacetabular Impingement: A Review of the Recent Literature and Discussion of Advanced Rehabilitation Techniques for Athletes. Arthroscopy, Sports Medicine, and Rehabilitation, 4(1), e125-e132.
La Scala Teixeira, C. V., et al. (2019). Complexity: a novel load progression strategy in strength training. Frontiers in Physiology, 10, 839.
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Kibler, W. B., Press, J., & Sciascia, A. (2006). The role of core stability in athletic function. Sports Medicine, 36, 189-198.
Lee, B., & McGill, S. (2017). The effect of core training on distal limb performance during ballistic strike manoeuvres. Journal of Sports Sciences, 35(18), 1768-1780.
Willson, J. D., et al. (2005). Core stability and its relationship to lower extremity function and injury. JAAOS-Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, 13(5), 316-325.
Huxel Bliven, K. C., & Anderson, B. E. (2013). Core stability training for injury prevention. Sports Health, 5(6), 514-522.
Barrio, E. D., et al. (2022). Effects of core training on dynamic balance stability: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Sports Sciences, 40(16), 1815-1823.
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Kavcic, N., Grenier, S., & McGill, S. M. (2004). Determining the stabilizing role of individual torso muscles during rehabilitation exercises. Spine, 29(11), 1254-1265.

Featured Image: Merrick Lincoln, DPT, CSCS / YouTube

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February 11, 2023

How to Do the Toes-to-Bar for Core Strength and Power

Filed under: Fitness,Training — Tags: ab workouts, crossfit, exercise guide, Exercise Guides, toes to bar, train, training — admin @ 5:51 am

Ask several people to describe the toe-to-bar movement and you’re likely to hear multiple descriptions of how the outcome should be accomplished. That is, actually getting one’s toes “to the bar.” You might think the exercise was relatively simple enough considering its self-evident name, but that’s like thinking there’s only one way to “squat.”

Person outdoors doing ab exercise on equipment — Credit: Jordi Mora / Shutterstock

While the movement has gymnastics roots, the toes-to-bar is closely associated with CrossFit athletes and the exercise features frequently in WODs (workouts of the day). Despite the movement’s erratic appearance, the toes-to-bar has potential benefits for athletes of any sport, as well as physique-focused bodybuilders. This article describes technique and programming considerations for the toes-to-bar.

Toes-to-Bar

How to Do the-Toes to-Bar Step By Step

A common version of toes-to-bar involves well-coordinated movement of body segments to achieve fast and efficient performance —kipping. A variation involves action of your abdominals and hip flexors with immaculate body control — strict. The kipping version is described below.

Step 1 — Grab the Bar

Credit: StratfordProductions / Shutterstock

Choose an appropriate pull-up bar that’s strong, secure, and taller than your standing overhead-reach height. Take an overhand grip at, or slightly outside, shoulder-width and hang with straight arms.

Form Tip: Consider using a “reverse hook grip” — After wrapping your fingers around the bar, squeeze your thumb over the nailbed of your index finger (and middle finger, too, if you’re able).

Step 2 — Generate a Kip

“Kipping” refers to the controlled act of swinging to generate momentum. For the toes-to-bar, initiate the kip by arching your back as you extend your legs behind you. Your body should form an extended or “arched” shape under the bar. Immediately reverse the movement by rounding your spine and pulling your legs forward to achieve a flexed or “hollow” shape under the bar. Without losing speed, transition again to the initial extended shape.

Form Tip: When kipping, it’s helpful to think about pushing and pulling the bar horizontally even though the bar itself won’t move. First push backward, then pull forward, and then push backward again. This will help to incorporate your upper body, improve stability and positioning, and can help establish a rhythmic movement.

Step 3 — Carry the Kip into Upward Leg Movement

A person hanging from a pull-up bar, gaining upward momentum — Credit: UfaBizPhoto / Shutterstock

From the arched position, carry your trunk and leg momentum forward once again, but this time actively flex your low back and hips at the end of the kip to transition the momentum upward to the ceiling, not forward.

Form Tip: Keep your gaze straight as you lift your feet. Following your toes with your eyes will only promote neck and spine extension, which will interfere with this phase of the movement.

Step 4 — Touch Your Toes to the Bar

A person doing a toe-to-bar exercise — Credit: MilanMarkovic78 / Shutterstock

As your low back and hips reach maximum flexion (i.e. maximum compression between your stomach and thighs), straighten your knees and touch your toes to the bar. Use control — you don’t want to kick the bar.

Form Tip: Quickly “flicking” your knees into extension at the top of the repetition rather than keeping your knees straight throughout the movement will promote movement efficiency and speed.

Step 5 — Return to the Extended Arch Position

Two people hanging from a pull up bar with arched backs. — Credit: Jules43 / Shutterstock

To smoothly transition into the next rep, allow a slight re-bend to your knees and drive your hips into extension downward. As your legs move below your waist, begin to extend your spine. Once you achieve the arched position, immediately transition to the hollow position to initiate the next repetition.

Form Tip: Unlike the first repetition, subsequent reps should not require multiple forward and back kipping movements to generate momentum. Transition immediately from the hollow position into the upward leg movement of the next repetition.

Toes to Bar Mistakes to Avoid

Common toes-to-bar errors occur when form gets sloppy, when range of motion gets cut short, or when the distinction blurs between the kipping version and the strict version.

Swinging Too Far Forward

An athlete who allows their hips to travel underneath the bar during the “hollow” position (immediately before and during the leg lift) is unlikely to achieve a full repetition. Even if the repetition is salvaged, excessive swinging will disrupt the rhythm of the kip and interfere with the next repetition.

Avoid it: When transitioning from the “arch” position to the “hollow” position of the kip, avoid excessive forward motion of the pelvis by actively pushing yourself backwards. Keeping tension in your upper body and trying to move the bar can help.

Missing Full Compression at the Top

Achieving the end goal of touching your toes, well, to the bar requires full hip and low back flexion. Athletes who fail to achieve this fully compressed position may simply require technique remediation or supplemental mobility work.

A person trying to do the toe-to-bar exercise. — Credit: Berkomaster / Shutterstock

Avoid it: During upward leg movement, focus on powerfully pulling your knees toward your elbows. If this intent isn’t enough, it is acceptable to maintain a small amount of flexion throughout the upward movement phase. Then, at the last possible moment, complete the movement by reaching your feet to the bar. Athletes who lack the mobility to achieve the fully compressed position, may benefit from the hanging L-sit variation discussed below.

Slowing the Descent

In contrast to the strict version (and most exercises in the gym), the downward movement phase of the kipping toes-to-bar is not intended to be slow and controlled. Coming down slowly kills your momentum and extinguishes the stretch reflex — Both of these features are needed to perform efficient reps in consecutive fashion.

Avoid it: Instead of attempting to control the descent with your hip flexors and abdominals, actively drive into extension during the descent — first from your hips, then from your spine.

How to Progress the Toes to Bar

Unlike traditional resistance training exercises, the toes-to-bar is not typically progressed via the addition of weight unless, of course, this occurs inadvertently after a big pre-workout meal. Rather, the toes-to-bar is appropriately progressed by increasing repetition rate, manipulating body position, and extending set durations.

Perform More Repetitions Within a Given Time

In fitness competition, the rate of repetition completion is the most important factor, often aiming to complete as many repetitions as quickly as possible. Therefore, pushing yourself to complete more toes-to-bar reps in a set timeframe is a great way to progress this movement. Set a timer for 20 to 40 seconds and hammer out as many good repetitions as possible. Next session, shoot for one or two more reps in the same time.

Lengthen Your Legs

Keeping a slight bend in the knees during the kipping toes-to-bar is acceptable and potentially beneficial because it increases repetition speed. For those less interested in competition and more interested in training abdominals and hip flexors, keeping your knees straight throughout the toes-to-bar is an appropriate progression.

Straight legs place your center of mass further from the working muscles (your abdominals), thereby increasing mechanical demand. To progress in this fashion, simply keep your knees as straight as possible throughout the forward/upward movement phase of the exercise.

Perform More Repetitions “Unbroken”

In CrossFit vernacular, “unbroken” refers to stringing multiple repetitions together without interruption. If fatigue or loss of coordination forces you to release the bar between reps, miss a rep, or perform an extra kip, your set of toes-to-bar is no longer unbroken. Performing unbroken sets builds muscular endurance and taxes coordination.

To progress, simply establish the number of repetitions you can perform unbroken, then shoot for an extra repetition or two next time.

Benefits of the Toes to Bar

In stark contrast to the complex movement and coordination demands of the toes-to-bar, the exercise requires one simple piece of equipment — a sturdy pull-up bar. Therefore, the following benefits can be reaped at any gym or local park.

Full Range of Motion Training

The hips and trunk cycle through extremes of flexion and extension during the toes-to-bar. At these extreme positions, core and hip muscles are trained at long muscle lengths. Consistent training at long muscle lengths may reduce risk of muscle and tendon injury. For example, Nordic Curls, which train the hamstrings at long lengths are associated with reduced injury risk. (1)

While more dynamic exercises like toes-to-bar have not yet been studied for the purpose of injury prevention, it is plausible they confer a protective effect, making the abdominals and hip flexors more resilient to strains.

Builds Ballistic Core Power

Abdominal- and hip flexor muscles experience rapid stretch immediately followed by contraction during the toes-to-bar. This sequence engages a phenomenon called the “stretch-shortening cycle” to produce a powerful and efficient muscle contraction. Nearly all sports and athletic endeavors rely on stretch shortening cycle muscle actions. And with training, stretch shortening cycle contractions can be enhanced.

So, whether you want to spike an unreturnable volleyball, launch a downfield soccer throw-in, or accelerate past your competition on the cross-country ski trails, training the stretch shortening cycle through the toes-to-bar is likely to help.

Movement Coordination Training

The kipping toes-to-bar demands sequenced and controlled movement of the trunk, hips, and shoulder girdle. Timing is everything, as momentum must be carried from one body segment to the next. Dialing-in this coordination sets the foundation for other skills requiring similar movements. Gymnasts use toes-to-bar to teach a clean kipping technique for mounting above the bar. You might use the toes-to-bar to build up to similar movements, such as kipping muscle-ups, kipping pull-ups, or maybe even “the worm” (if you’re into breakdancing).

Muscles Worked by Toes to Bar

The toes-to-bar trains muscles of the anterior chain — the muscles on the front of the body. Muscles of the posterior chain, such as the spinal erectors, multifidi, and hip extensors, help to drive the body into the backswing of the kip, but the anterior core predominates.

Abdominals and Hip Flexors

The tasks of transitioning from the arched position to the hollow position of the kip and driving the toes legs vertical to reach to the bar are accomplished by the abdominals and hip flexors. Key muscles include rectus abdominis, external obliques, internal obliques, iliacus, psoas major, and rectus femoris.

Grip and Shoulders

A strong grip and robust shoulders are non-negotiable attributes for the toes-to-bar. Finger flexors and thumb muscles must not only support the weight of the body, but contend with multidirectional forces produced during kipping.

A person hanging from a pull-up bar. — Credit: Mix Tape / Shutterstock

While stabilizing muscles preserve the integrity of the shoulder, shoulder flexors and extensors rhythmically contract to facilitate kipping. Most notable are latissimus dorsi, regions of pectoralis major, and posterior deltoid, which help to create the hollow position and keep the trunk behind the bar during the leg lift.

How to Program the Toes to Bar

The toes-to-bar is likely to pop up in prescribed CrossFit workouts during competitions and training. They can be programmed for day-to-day workouts in a variety of ways to suit your needs.

Part of a Complex

A complex is two or more exercises performed continuously with the same equipment. Complexes are an efficient and engaging way to build work capacity and develop movement skills. The toes-to-bar pairs well with kipping muscle-ups and kipping pull-ups, as the momentum from the kipping motion can be preserved throughout the entire complex. For a challenge, try six repetitions of toes-to-bar, followed by three reps of muscle-ups, then six kipping pull-ups.

Progressive Skill Training

Dedicated practice is needed to achieve technical mastery of the toes-to-bar. Motor learning is likely most effective when unfatigued. (2) For best results, dedicate an early portion of your workout to the toes-to-bar. Try three to five sets of six to 12 reps, three or more days per week.

If you are a CrossFit competitor, you will likely need to perform toes-to-bar in a fatigued state. So be sure to challenge yourself from time to time with longer sets, short rest intervals between sets, or circuit training that includes the toes-to-bar.

Part of a Multi-Mode Workout

In the sport of fitness (i.e. CrossFit), multiple exercises are programmed in the same workout, often in circuit training fashion. Commonly, these exercises are performed as “rounds for time” (RFT). In an RFT workout, a round consists of a defined number of repetitions for several exercises. The athlete performs a designated number of rounds as fast as possible. For example, eight rounds of 16 kettlebell swings, eight toes-to-bar, and four wall ball shots. Track the time it takes to complete the entire series and aim to beat that time next workout.

person in gym training with kettlebell — Credit: Jacob Lund / Shutterstock

Another common workout design is EMOM or every minute on the minute. The exercises are performed for a prescribed number of repetitions every minute for a designated number of minutes. The repetitions should be completed in under one minute, and any time remaining is dedicated to rest. For quick workout, try a 10-minute EMOM of eight toes-to-bar, six push-ups, and four dumbbell front squats.

Toes-to-Bar Variations

Novice athletes or athletes with goals outside of CrossFit, gymnastics, and parkour may be better served by one of the following variations.

Strict Toes-to-Bar (Hanging Leg Raises)

Those with fitness goals not directly related to gymnastics or fitness competition may consider the strict toes-to-bar variation, commonly called “hanging leg raises.”

By eliminating the momentum and stretch reflex generated by a kip, the strict variation forces your abdominals and hip flexors to act in a slower and more isolated fashion. This results in higher levels of muscle activity in the rectus abdominis and obliques. (3)

Hanging L-Sit

Hanging L-sits are an isometric, or motionless, endurance exercise. The “L-sit” places the mass of the legs at its furthest point from the hips and low back, which trains your abdominals and hip flexors. This exercise may help to address weak points in the toes-to-bar.

If you’re not accustomed to training your hip flexors at short muscle lengths, don’t be surprised if they cramp during your first few sessions. Shake it out and get back to work.

Controlled GHD Sit-Ups

To progress toward the kipping toes-to-bar, novice athletes should consider the controlled glute-hamstring developer (GHD) sit-up. Unlike standard sit-ups on the floor or a sit-up board, this exercise trains your hip flexors and abdominals at long muscle lengths.

This exercise can also be used as a progression toward CrossFit-style GHD sit-ups, which are performed more rapidly and with outstretched arms.

Lying Leg Lifts

Athletes unable to hang from a pull-up bar due to weakness or equipment unavailability might consider training their abdominals and hip flexors using lying leg lifts. This exercise only requires a bench or open floor space and a sturdy object to hold on to as a counterbalance to the lower body — a heavy kettlebell or dumbbell also works.

Be sure to keep your low back pressed into the bench or floor throughout each repetition to avoid a loss of tension at the bottom of the repetition.

FAQs

Does the toes-to-bar work the ‘lower abs’?

The toes-to-bar is a great abdominal exercise for those physically prepared to contend with its demands. And, yes, it might bias the lower portions of these muscles.
The toes-to-bar involves resisted and powerful trunk flexion, which undoubtedly works the abdominals. Rectus abdominis (the “six-pack abs” muscle) runs vertically from the underside of the sternum and ribcage to the pubic bone. The fibers of rectus abdominis also run vertically but do not run the entire length of rectus abdominis, because they are interrupted by tendinous inscriptions that create the outline of a chiseled six- (or eight-) pack.
Due to the momentum of the kip and the stretched position of the muscle, rectus abdominis likely experiences peak tension during the rapid eccentric contraction at the bottom of the movement. Eccentric muscle contractions have been shown to elicit preferentially greater muscle growth at the distal end of the muscle in other body parts. (4) Therefore, the eccentric bias of the toes-to-bar could, theoretically, lead to enhanced lower abdominal development over time.
A rationale based on surface electromyography (sEMG) is most commonly cited to support the toes-to-bar (and similar exercises) for “lower abs” training. Leg raises result in greater activity in the lower portion of rectus abdominis than the upper portions. (5) Similar findings have been reported with hanging knee-ups, which are essentially hanging leg raises performed with bent legs. (6) Due to the similarities between these exercises and the toes-to-bar, it is fairly safe to assume that the toes-to-bar, too, electromyographically biases the lower rectus abdominis.
However, surface electromyography is not a valid indicator of the amount of muscle a dynamic exercise activates or will ultimately stimulate to grow. (7)(8) For these reasons, we must be cautious about inferring superior “lower ab” hypertrophy outcomes from toes-to-bar.
Keep in mind, toes-to-bar is a very fast movement. Although peak tension in the muscle is likely quite high during the eccentric transition of the kip, the abdominals do not experience prolonged time under tension. Those interested in building muscle may be better served by a more traditional exercise variation, such as the strict toes-to-bar or reverse crunch.

My grip fails first during a set of the toes-to-bar. Recommendations?

Hanging ab straps can be used during the strict toes-to-bar to reduce demand on the shoulders and grip. Gymnastics grips or chalk may assist with grip issues. Aside from these modifications, it might be prudent to focus on building your forearms and lats to work up to the toes-to-bar. Pull-ups and lat pulldowns are great options.

The toes-to-bar is just too hard. How can I work up to it?

Consider a progressive strategy to build the requisite strength and control for toes-to-bar repetitions. Here is a sample exercise progression using Variations discussed above: Start by training your hip flexors and abdominals at short muscle lengths using hanging L-sits. Add long muscle length work via controlled GHD sit-ups.
Strict toes-to-bar, although difficult, may be possible before kipping toes-to-bar, because they are less complex. Practice the forward and back (arch to hollow) kipping motion, in isolation without the leg raise, on a pull-up bar. Once proficient, it’s time for the real-deal toes-to-bar.

Appropriated by CrossFit, but Not Limited to “Fitness Competitions”

The toes-to-bar is a relatively complex exercise used in some CrossFit competitions and workouts. It can also be used to develop gymnastics skills, be placed in calisthenics programs, or it can be added added to a standard gym workout as a novel core exercise.

Like any complex exercise, mastery of the toes-to-bar takes practice and patience. But once you dial in, you’ll be stringing together unbroken repetitions with ease with core strength, and core development, to show for it.

References

Al Attar, W. S. A., et al. (2017). Effect of injury prevention programs that include the Nordic hamstring exercise on hamstring injury rates in soccer players: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 47, 907-916.
Branscheidt, M., et al. (2019). Fatigue induces long-lasting detrimental changes in motor-skill learning. Elife, 8, e40578.
McGill, S., Andersen, J., & Cannon, J. (2015). Muscle activity and spine load during anterior chain whole body linkage exercises: the body saw, hanging leg raise and walkout from a push-up. Journal of Sports Sciences, 33(4), 419-426.
Franchi, M. V., Reeves, N. D., & Narici, M. V. (2017). Skeletal muscle remodeling in response to eccentric vs. concentric loading: morphological, molecular, and metabolic adaptations. Frontiers in Physiology, 8, 447.
Pruthviraj, R., & Paul Daniel, V. K. (2017). Electromyographic analysis of exercises proposed for differential activation of rectus abdominis muscle components. Int J Phys Educ Sports Health, 4, 153-157.
Escamilla, R.F, et al. (2006). Electromyographic Analysis of Traditional and Nontraditional Abdominal Exercises: Implications for Rehabilitation and Training. Physical Therapy, 86(5), 656–671.
Vigotsky, A. D., et al. (2018). Interpreting signal amplitudes in surface electromyography studies in sport and rehabilitation sciences. Frontiers in Physiology, 985.
Vigotsky, A. D., et al. (2017). Greater electromyographic responses do not imply greater motor unit recruitment and ‘hypertrophic potential’ cannot be inferred. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 31(1), e1-e4.

Featured Image: MilanMarkovic78 / Shutterstock

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January 12, 2023

How to Do the Bear Plank for Stronger Abs and Total-Body Stability

Filed under: Fitness,Training — Tags: ab workout, exercise guide, Exercise Guides, plank, train, training — admin @ 6:55 pm

Everyone in the gym has their own ideas about ab training. And the majority of people seem to hate it. It’s the one thing most lifters leave to the end of their workout in favor of movements for other body parts, if they bother to train their core at all.

People often neglect core training because it can be grueling, boring, or just plain difficult. But it doesn’t have to be any of that. Simple and effective core training starts with the basics. When it comes to simple core training, it’s hard to beat what’s arguably the most ubiquitous of all core exercises in the gym, the classic plank. But when it comes to being both simple and effective, take the plank to the next level.

Enter, the bear plank. This upgraded plank position is both easier to learn than the classic and it hits your core harder. Here’s how to get a win-win for your core workout.

Bear Plank

How to Do the Bear Plank

The bear plank, or bear-stance plank, refers to holding a ground-based position using straight arms and bent legs, rather than straight arms and straight legs (like a standard plank position). Your weight is supported on your hands and toes, with no other bases of support, but your legs are bent and your knees are very slightly above ground-level.

Step 1 — Hands, Knees, and Toes

Step 1 of doing a bear plank. — Credit: Christian Fabrizio / YouTube

Get on the ground and support your body with your hands, knees, and feet. Set your hands directly under your shoulders, not in front or behind them. Place your feet hip-width apart.

Get an approximate 90-degree joint angle at your knees. If your legs are too bent, the movement won’t be challenging enough and you’ll risk resting your knees on the ground. If your legs are too straight with your knees behind your hips, you’ll end up looking like a poorly performed standard plank, which defeats the purpose of the exercise.

Form Tip: Your overall position should be comfortable, square, and balanced. Take the time to check the position of your hands, shoulders, knees, hips, and feet. Look directed down to the ground or slightly in front of your hands. Cranking your head to look forward will only stress your neck.

Step 2 — Lift Your Knees and Brace

Step 2 of doing a bear plank. — Credit: Christian Fabrizio / YouTube

Bring your knees just a few inches off the ground and keep them in line with your feet. Don’t let your shins or knees wobble in or out of alignment. Flex every muscle from your toes to your wrists. Although this is a core-focused exercise, the more muscles surrounding the core you can also contract to promote stability, the better. (1)

Squeeze your quads, glutes, and hips. Think about driving your hands and feet into the floor as hard as possible without actually raising your body. Keep your knees off the ground and maintain complete tension for the duration of each set.

Form Tip: Don’t only focus on flexing your abs. Achieving full-body tension will contribute to a better quality bear stance which will make the movement harder and require more effort, which can yield better results.

Bear Plank Mistakes to Avoid

Even though the bear plank is a static exercise with no “moving parts,” there are still some common technique errors that will prevent maximum tension or limit progress.

Poor Knee Position

When your knees are touching the ground, your body has very little need to stabilize, so you’re not actually performing the exercise. Keeping your knees elevated also helps to maintain a strong hip position and prevent back rounding. This can also help maintain tension through your hamstrings, glutes, core, and trunk.

person in home gym doing push-up on knees — Credit: Benjavisa Ruangvaree Art / Shutterstock

Avoid it: Set your knees directly under your hips or tailbone, not far back in a nearly straight position. When you begin the exercise, imagine having a tray of wet paint appear under your knees. Stay tight, stay focused, and keep your legs clean. If your knees dip down into the “paint,” end the set, rest briefly, and try again.

Bending Your Arms

The fully supported bear plank position uses your fully straightened arms to support your upper body while your lower body is supported by bent legs. Bending your upper arms changes the overall angle of your torso and alters your center of gravity.

long-haired person in home gym doing kneeling push-up — Credit: fizkes / Shutterstock

This makes the exercise less effective overall and emphasizes the relatively smaller muscles of your arms and shoulders to support the majority of your body’s weight, compared to dispersing the tension throughout your entire body.

Avoid it: Keep your arms locked straight during the exercise. If your shoulders or triceps fatigue excessively, end the set. Over time, your muscles will adapt by building strength and endurance to support the position.

How to Progress the Bear Plank

The bear plank is a relatively a simple movement, so the natural inclination of a lifter would be to seek ways to make it more difficult once they’ve “graduated” from the basic execution.

Add a Weight Vest

Adding a weight vest creates a heavier load to bear when in position, requiring even more from the trunk for stability and positioning. However, the typical weight distribution of a standard weight vest (with the weighted inserts often placed around the midsection) creates even greater temptation for the spine to slip into an arched or extended position. That means more reliance on your abs to negate this repositioning and keep your spine flat.

Credit: Depth Training and Physiotherapy Waterloo / Youtube

Keep in mind that using a weight vest usually goes hand-in-hand with reducing the amount of time spent in the plank position. Focus on high-quality performance rather than just achieving long durations.

Shoulder Taps

In the typical bear-stance plank, there are four points of contact with the floor — two hands and two feet. That means forces are distributed evenly among all those points. As soon as one of those points of contact leaves the floor, there are added demands on the body to resist changing position to compensate for reduced stability. In the bear plank, these are rotational forces and resisting them would be termed “anti-rotation.”

Since a massive function of your core is to brace and work against unwanted outside forces, the simple shoulder tap is a great way to train anti-rotation from a bear stance. Work hard to stay square and keep your back and trunk parallel to the floor without twisting or shifting. Try sets of 12-20 shoulder taps, alternating hands as you go along. Remember to move slowly with control.

Bear Dogs

Assuming a bear-stance starting position allows you to maintain a much more neutral spine when in starting position, as previously discussed. The basic bird dog exercise is a core stability movement that many lifters can master, but taking things to the next level involves some strategy. Bear dogs are a smart modification that provide all of the benefits in blasting contralateral stability (coordinating left and right limb movements).

Keep sets very low-rep, such as three or four reps per side. Instead of progressing with higher reps, opt for more total sets. This ensures you can focus on high-quality repetitions while avoiding too much fatigue which would prevent good performance.

Benefits of the Bear Plank

The bear plank, like all types of plank exercises, can be a top-level core strengthening drill. The total-body tension and abdominal activation can carry over to provide stability in other strength-focused exercises.

Better Ab Recruitment

The bear plank works well as a modification or alternative to basic planks, while being much more effective in targeting the abs due to simple changes in positioning. The abs are much more difficult to fully engage in a classic plank due to the long-legged position. Everyone naturally has a slight arch (lordotic curve) in their lower backs, and it’s especially present when standing up straight. The same issue applies when we get into a typical plank position.

However, when sitting down, it’s a lot harder to maintain the same degree of back arch. When you’re bending your knees to sit down, your pelvis tends to rotate “under” your body into more of a posterior tilt, making the spine exit extension and edge toward neutral or even a flexed position — that’s part of what makes you “slouch” when you sit.

Using that to our advantage can go a long way in its efficacy for core training. While it can be tough to keep a flat spine using a classic plank, opting for the bear plank almost ends up mimicking a seated position while kneeling. This change in knee angle also affects your pelvic position and brings your lumbar spine into a much more neutral state, which is great news for targeting and activating your abdominals. (2)

Simplified Technique

The bear plank is both a more challenging plank modification because it hits the abs harder than most other plank variations will. Fortunately, it’s also a less challenging modification because it’s relatively easier to perform for most lifters.

A lifter looking to take their core training game to the next level of quality and effectiveness can’t go wrong with the bear plank. Doubling down on the exercise by applying the advanced methods listed later in this article will be gold for keeping your training interesting while providing a continued challenge to trunk strength and stability.

Muscles Worked by the Bear Plank

Any exercise in the plank family will first and foremost target your core muscles. The bear plank, specifically, recruits these crucial stabilizing muscles better than many other exercises due to your overall body position.

Rectus Abdominis

When all four limbs are on the ground, the bear plank primarily focuses on the rectus abdominis muscles — the body part that most people reference when they say “six-pack”. The goal of the exercise is to keep the strength of the muscular contraction consistent and high-intensity.

Transverse Abdominis

The transverse abdominis is the “inner layer” of the abdominal wall. During the bear plank, or any high-effort core bracing, your transverse abs will be firing at maximum capacity to provide stability to your entire trunk, like beams of a house giving stability to the outer framework.

Obliques

Your obliques, on the sides of your abdominals, are responsible for rotating your trunk and thoracic spine, as well as resisting rotation. During the bear plank, your obliques are activated to help prevent tipping over sideways.

Anytime you lift a hand or foot during any anti-rotational bear plank variations, your obliques take on significantly more work. They will be asked to isometrically contract to keep the core from twisting out of position.

How to Program the Bear Plank

The bear plank can be plugged into any number of workout programs, either as a warm-up and activation drill, a focused core training exercise, or as part of a conditioning workout.

High Intensity for Time

The bear plank, and all plank variations, are somewhat unique to other exercises you can perform because they’re typically not done for multiple repetitions. Instead, focus on achieving maximum tension from head-to-toe and holding that tension for a specific time — using your phone’s timer feature comes in real handy for this. Aim for anywhere from five to 30 seconds of fully flexed tension for two to five sets.

Just like you “shouldn’t” use poor form to squeeze out a few extra reps of squats, you shouldn’t allow yourself to gradually apply less and less tension as a set goes on just to hit a pre-set time limit. When you feel the focused tension falling less than 100%, stop the set, rest, and do another.

Variations of the Bear Plank

Once you’ve mastered applying full-body tension with the bear plank, you can adapt that skill and conditioning to other exercises for a variety of results.

Classic Plank

As popular and common as the plank exercise is, the interesting truth is the fact that many people perform it poorly. Positioning the body on your elbows and toes has proven to be a slightly more demanding task than meets the eye, especially with form cues to ensure your abs are working their hardest. For starters, it’s important to remember that the abdominals posteriorly tilt the pelvis.

That means keeping your back flat with your butt squeezed and “tucked in” is far superior to keeping your back slightly (or generously) arched. Doing the latter will negate the purpose of the exercise.

Actively “pull inward” with your elbows in an attempt to move your ribcage down toward the hips. This keeps your core braced while contracting as hard as it can. This is an important cue, as it’s really easy to “hang out and chill” when performing a plank, enabling someone to stay in position for minutes on end. It’s much more effective to hold an intense contraction for 30 seconds or less, than to hold a poor quality position for three, five, or 45 minutes.

Bear-Stance Renegade Row

Doing renegade rows from a bear-stance position isn’t only harder and more intense for the abs, it’s also an easier way for you to assume the right lumbar (lower back) posture. Your pelvis enters anterior (forward) tilt and your body has to find a way to keep your glutes and lower abs engaged enough to overcome this. This isn’t easy in the presence of fatigue.

Making the switch to bent knees with tilt your pelvis posteriorly (backward) just enough to enforce a neutral spine, potentiating more lower ab involvement while leaving the glutes less involved. If the goal is core training, this is an ideal “gym hack.” The inclusion of the row pattern (which shouldn’t use a very weight) will also train your upper back to address posture, strength, and development.

FAQs

Should I begin with the bear plank or the classic plank?

Because the bear-stance plank puts your hips in a more efficient position, it can be a better starting point for many lifters. It’s also relatively harder to “cheat” during the bear plank, unless you rest your knees on the ground or stand up too high.
With the standard plank, it’s common to see lifters dropping their hips and creating a U-shape with their body, losing tension throughout their core. Either movement can be effective when done properly, but it can be redundant and inefficient to perform them both in the same workout.

When should I add weight?

Apply the same principles as any bodyweight exercise — when your current programming (sets and duration) are no longer challenging, you can add a small load to increase the difficulty. With the bear plank, that could mean adding a very light weight vest when you can perform multiple sets of 20 to 30 seconds while maintaining high tension for the duration.
Just like you might go from a set of 12 bodyweight pull-ups to a set of three weighted pull-ups, don’t be surprised if you drop from 30 seconds of unweighted bear planks to sets of five seconds with a weighted bear plank.

Get Down, Knees Up

There are hundreds of abdominal and oblique-focused exercises that might help a lifter get stronger and more conditioned, but it doesn’t have to get too fancy. Taking a basic plank and turning it into a bear-stance can be all that’s needed to step your training up a notch or two. Exercise doesn’t need to be complicated for good things to happen — quality is king. The bear plank is a great example of emphasize simple and effective training being the path to better results.

References

Gontijo, L. B., Pereira, P. D., Neves, C. D., Santos, A. P., Machado, D.deC., & Bastos, V. H. (2012). Evaluation of strength and irradiated movement pattern resulting from trunk motions of the proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation. Rehabilitation research and practice, 2012, 281937. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/281937
Workman, Chad & Docherty, David & Parfrey, Kevin & Behm, David. (2008). Influence of Pelvis Position on the Activation of Abdominal and Hip Flexor Muscles. Journal of strength and conditioning research / National Strength & Conditioning Association. 22. 1563-9. 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181739981.

Featured Image: Susan Niebergall Fitness / Youtube

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January 5, 2023

How to Do the Kettlebell Deadlift for Lower Body Size and Strength

Filed under: Fitness,Training — Tags: deadlift, exercise guide, Exercise Guides, Kettlebell, train, training — admin @ 9:00 am

When a new lifter finally gets a kettlebell in their hands, the swing is typically one of the first exercises they try. But it shouldn’t be. The swing is arguably the most popular kettlebell exercise and it might actually be the movement that’s synonymous with the oddly shaped weight, but the swing isn’t exactly a simple exercise to perform.

person grimacing while doing kettlebell swing — Credit: Bojan656 / Shutterstock

Swings require a base level of muscular conditioning, coordination, and timing to reap major benefits. Beginning your kettlebell experience with the swing is like learning to cook an omelet before you can manage scrambled eggs. Instead, consider the kettlebell deadlift as your introductory kettlebell exercise.

The kettlebell deadlift will build strength, size, and conditioning in your lower body, core, back, and arms. The deadlift also teaches you how to properly hinge at your hips, which is the most efficient way to recruit your glutes and hamstrings for powerful lifts (including, you guessed it, the swing). Here are more reasons to get started with the real fundamental kettlebell movement — the kettlebell deadlift.

Kettlebell Deadlift

Kettlebell Deadlift Demonstration

Watch coach Alex McBrairty showcase picture perfect technique with a kettlebell deadlift. Even though he’s specifically demonstrating a wide-stance, or sumo-style, kettlebell deadlift, the overall form and body positioning will be the same when using a more moderate foot position.

Get a visualization of the movement and then continue learning tips, cues, and more form advice.

How to Do the Kettlebell Deadlift Step By Step

The kettlebell deadlift is a foundational movement. It teaches the hip hinge movement pattern, which coordinates force production through your hamstrings, glutes, and lower back. The kettlebell deadlift is also, quite practically, a safe and efficient way to lift any load off the ground.

Step 1 — Address the Kettlebell

Person in gym preparing to lift kettlebell from the ground — Credit: Rocksweeper / Shutterstock

No, not by tipping your hat and cheerily saying “Hello, bell.” Stand in front of the kettlebell with your feet roughly shoulder-width apart. Position the center of the weight between your toes and midfoot. The weight’s handle should be pointing toward each foot, not front and back.

Form Tip: If you have a larger frame, a long torso, or short arms, you may need to adjust the kettlebell’s starting position. If possible, perform one or two repetitions with a relatively light weight and adjust your stance to achieve a comfortable and powerful starting position.

Step 2 — Grab the Weight and Drop Your Hips

Muscular woman in gym performing kettlebell exercise — Credit: Srdjan Randjelovic / Shutterstock

Drive your glutes backward and bend at your hips to reach toward the weight. Grab the top handle with a palms-down grip using both hands, with your thumbs nearly touching each other. Keep your torso straight and bend your legs until your shoulders are in line above the weight and your hips are below your shoulders. Keep your head neutral — avoid any instinct to look straight ahead, which could strain your neck.

Feel tension in your hamstring and glute muscles. Squeeze the handle and rotate at your wrists and shoulders to point your biceps forward. This should also drive your shoulder blades down toward your hips and put tension on your lat muscles, which improves your upper body stability.

Form Tip: If the kettlebell handle is too narrow to comfortably fit both hands, leave your pinkies running along the outer edge or “horns” of the kettlebell, pointing to the ground. It may feel awkward, but it shouldn’t affect performance of the exercise or impact your grip strength to any large degree.

Step 3 — Drive Up to a Standing Position

Long-haired muscular person in gym lifting kettlebell — Credit: ildintorlak / Shutterstock

Squeeze your grip and pull your shoulders toward your hips to feel tension on your lat muscles. Drive your feet through the ground, pull your shoulders back, and push your hips forward to stand up to a locked out position. Keep your arms straight and bring the kettlebell up along your legs.

In the locked out position, the weight should be resting near the front of your thighs with your arms locked straight. Take a quick breath in, brace your core, and reverse the motion — driving your hips back and returning the weight to the ground under control.

Form Tip: Aim to stand up straight without leaning back excessively at the top. Flex your glutes, abs, and arms to ensure a mostly straight lockout. This should prevent too much backward “overcorrection,” which can strain your lower back.

Kettlebell Deadlift Mistakes to Avoid

While the kettlebell deadlift is a fundamental and relatively basic movement, there are several technique errors that can be counterproductive. Here’s what to avoid as you perform the exercise.

Pulling with a Rounded Back

This is a capital mistake for any deadlift variation, including the kettlebell deadlift. Having your back in a rounded position as you drive up in a deadlift puts the supportive muscles of your spine in a poor leverage position, which transfers stress to your vertebral discs.

Person in gym lifting kettlebell — Credit: pnarongkul / Shutterstock

A rounded back position also puts your body in an inefficient position to transfer force from your lower body to your upper body, which will affect how much power you can produce.

Avoid it: Stay stiff from your hips to your neck. Before lifting the weight off the ground, flex your core and lat muscles to create tension throughout your entire torso.

Pulling with Bent Arms

Similar to the issue regarding a rounded back, you want to avoid performing any deadlift variation with bent arms. If your arms are less than straight as you lift, you shift stress onto your elbow joints rather than your muscles. You also decrease the amount of force you can transfer from your back and shoulders into your grip, which will decrease your strength.

There’s also a chance of straining your biceps muscle, which will be partially contracted when your arm is bent, compared to a more stable and supported straight-arm position.

Avoid it: Before each repetition, contract your triceps and try to “aim” your biceps forward by rotating at your wrists and shoulders. These small steps should force your arms into a straightened position, or highlight when your arms are bent.

How to Progress the Kettlebell Deadlift

Some lifters may not be able to perform a kettlebell deadlift with good technique due to their limb leverages, current strength levels, or other factors. Other lifters may consider the exercise “too fundamental” and not challenging enough. Rather than neglecting the exercise, some simple adjustments can be made to accommodate lifters of any experience level or capability.

Elevated Kettlebell Deadlift

The most efficient adjustment to the exercise is raising the kettlebell onto a sturdy step or series of weight plates. This reduces the range of motion, making the exercise more accessible for lifters whose limb lengths make the standard exercise technique uncomfortable.

The elevated kettlebell deadlift is also an excellent choice if you only have access to a limited selection of kettlebell weights and the “lightest” available is beyond your current capacity. Gradually increasing an exercise’s range of motion, rather than increasing the weight used, is an effective technique for building strength and muscle. (1)

Kettlebell Deficit Deadlift

Performing the kettlebell deadlift while standing on a slightly elevated platform is another way of manipulating the range of motion, this time making the exercise more challenging.

Placing stable weight plates or sturdy platforms (of identical heights) under each foot will increase muscle recruitment by requiring your body to move through a longer range of motion. When lifting from a deficit, a little elevation goes a long way. Don’t be too aggressive by starting with significant heights. One to two inches (such as a 25-pound weight plate) is an effective way to begin.

Benefits of the Kettlebell Deadlift

The kettlebell deadlift can serve a number of roles in your training plan. Whether it’s part of a kettlebell-only workout or incorporated into other training, this exercise can deliver a range of results.

Lower Body Strength

The kettlebell deadlift can be used to establish a base level of strength in the posterior chain — your lower back, glutes, and hamstrings. Even though the exercise isn’t often performed with very heavy weights, the applied tension will build strength and muscular conditioning in the target muscles. This strength can carry over to other deadlift variations, as well as a variety of lower body exercises.

Lower Body Size

The glutes and hamstrings, in particular, are strongly recruited during the kettlebell deadlift. (2) The quadriceps and back are also involved, and all of these activated muscles will be stimulated for muscle growth during the exercise. Any deadlift variations, including the kettlebell deadlift, can be very effectively used as part of any bodybuilding-style leg day.

Practicing the Hip Hinge Movement

Because the kettlebell deadlift requires a single piece of training equipment, it’s a convenient way to train the hip hinge movement pattern or general deadlift technique. While the kettlebell itself is unique to the movement, the overall body positioning, necessary tension, and step by step technique cues will carry over to barbell deadlifts.

person outdoors performing deadlift — Credit: Tom Yau / Shutterstock

This makes the kettlebell deadlift an efficient way to train the movement without needing to place the body under heavy loads, which can be useful for general mobility training, exercise warm-ups, or technique practice.

Muscles Worked by the Kettlebell Deadlift

The kettlebell deadlift is typically considered a lower body exercise, but like many other deadlift variations, it can only be performed by coordinating actions between your legs and upper body. Here’s a closer look at everything that’s working during a set.

Legs

Your legs are the primary targeted muscle group during the kettlebell deadlift. More specifically, your glutes and hamstrings are strongly recruited to lift the weight and extend your hips into the locked out position. Your quadriceps play a role in the lower portion of the lift, initially bringing the weight off the ground.

Upper Back

The upper back muscles (including your trapezius, rhomboids, and rear deltoids) play a role in controlling your posture during the kettlebell deadlift. Because your hands are close together while holding the weight, your shoulders are pulled slightly forward. Your upper back is activated to resist this action by pulling your shoulder blades into a more stable position.

Core

Your abs and lower back work in unison to provide a safe, strong, and stable body position during the kettlebell deadlift. Your core is the key to transferring force from your lower body through your upper body to move the weight. Your lower back, in particular, is heavily activated to achieve a fully upright, locked out position.

Grip

Many kettlebell manufacturers design their handles to be slightly thicker than the average barbell or dumbbell. Training with thick-handled implements can increase the activation of forearm muscles, which can benefit grip strength development.

How to Program the Kettlebell Deadlift

Few lifters will have access to kettlebells heavy enough to perform extremely heavy, low repetition training. There are still effective ways to fit the kettlebell deadlift into your training plan for optimal results.

Moderate Weight, Low to Moderate Repetition

The kettlebell deadlift can be ideally trained for size and strength using a classic set and rep scheme of three to four sets of five to eight reps. A moderate load should be used to avoid muscular failure. This keeps the emphasis on crisp technique and a high rate of force production rather than cumulative fatigue from a long time under tension, which could compromise technique.

Light Weight, Moderate Repetition

The kettlebell deadlift can be performed as a type of warm-up movement using a relatively light weight for two to three sets of eight to 10 reps. With this approach, you can drill the hip hinge movement and prepare your hips, hamstrings, glutes, and involved muscles without excessive fatigue.

Kettlebell Deadlift Variations

The kettlebell deadlift can deliver a range of benefits from just a few simple modifications and variations. Here are some of the most basic and most efficient variations to trigger more results.

Kettlebell Suitcase Deadlift

Performing a single-arm kettlebell deadlift may sound like an intuitive variation, but more importantly than using only one arm is keeping the weight next to your body rather than in front of it.

Shifting the weight from in front of your body to alongside your leg creates a more intense challenge to your core. This lights up your obliques (side abs) and spinal erectors (lower back) to prevent your body from leaning toward the weight as you perform the exercise.

Kettlebell Stiff-Leg Deadlift

By keeping your legs stiff or nearly straight (not entirely locked out), you shift muscle recruitment to more strongly emphasize your hamstrings, glutes, and lower back. This technique adjustment will slightly reduce the amount of weight you can lift, but will increase the stress put on the target muscles.

With the kettlebell stiff-leg deadlift, it’s essential that you maintain a stiff lower back and not round forward to reach the weight, which would increase strain on your vertebrae.

Kettlebell Single-Leg Single-Arm Romanian Deadlift

This might win the award for longest exercise name, but the results are also award-worthy. The “KBSLSARDL” is a performance-based movement focused on using perfect technique and full-body tension rather than lifting heavy weight or targeting one specific body part.

Holding the weight in one arm while supporting your entire body on one leg turns the exercise into a total-body test of strength and stability. Muscles from your ankle to your neck to your grip will fire nonstop as you fight to remain in control of the weight.

FAQs

Is the kettlebell deadlift very different from the dumbbell deadlift?

Both movements can either be alternatives to, or progressions toward, the standard barbell deadlift. The key difference, beyond the specific implements (one kettlebell versus two dumbbells), is that the dumbbell deadlift is typically performed with the weights held at your sides. This can reduce some strain on the lower back by shifting your center of gravity and dispersing stress.
The kettlebell deadlift is performed with the weight in front of your body, which is more similar to the conventional barbell deadlift. The exercises are otherwise very similar and can be used nearly interchangeably, as your needs require.

I only have access to one kettlebell. How should I use the kettlebell deadlift?

This is a common situation with home gym-based lifters who may have limited equipment. If you only have a single, fixed-weight kettlebell, you can incorporate the kettlebell deadlift with adjusted programming methods.
Manipulate the sets and reps depending on your current strength level relative to the weight you have available. If you can perform more than 10 repetitions, consider adding an additional set or reducing rest times to make the exercise more challenging. You can also perform the kettlebell deficit deadlift as a more challenging progression.
If you can perform fewer than five repetitions with your weight, consider using the elevated kettlebell deadlift while progressively decreasing the height. You can also perform multiple sets of one to two repetitions, to build strength while maintaining good technique.

Pick Up the Kettlebell

The kettlebell swing is highly effective and versatile exercise, but you need to walk before you run. Or, more accurately, you need to deadlift before you swing. Take the time to master this fundamental movement and it will serve you will for building a base of muscle, strength, and conditioning, as well as fine-tuning your hip hinge to boost your barbell lifts.

References

Whaley, Orrin & Larson, Abigail & DeBeliso, Mark. (2020). Progressive Movement Training: An Analysis Of Its Effects On Muscular Strength And Power Development: 881 Board #7 May 27 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 52. 210-211. 10.1249/01.mss.0000675840.15637.df.
Martín-Fuentes, I., Oliva-Lozano, J. M., & Muyor, J. M. (2020). Electromyographic activity in deadlift exercise and its variants. A systematic review. PloS one, 15(2), e0229507. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0229507

Featured Image: Srdjan Randjelovic / Shutterstock

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December 29, 2022

How to Do the Dumbbell Pullover for Upper Body Muscle and Mobility

Filed under: Fitness,Training — Tags: dumbbell pullover, dumbbell workout, exercise guide, Exercise Guides, train, training — admin @ 5:57 pm

Maybe you first saw the pullover performed in low-res videos of Golden-era bodybuilders. Now, it’s common to see in commercial fitness centers, rehabilitation facilities, and home gyms. The dumbbell pullover is a classic back and chest exercise that’s experiencing a renaissance — and for good reasons.

This guide covers step-by-step instructions, benefits, unique considerations, variations, and programming for the dumbbell pullover.

Dumbbell Pullover

Dumbbell Pullover Instructional Video

Here’s Dr. Merrick Lincoln instructing the traditional form for the dumbbell pullover. Review the form and hear specific tips before practicing the movement on your own.

How to Do the Dumbbell Pullover Step By Step

The dumbbell pullover is an overhead shoulder extension exercise performed lying on a bench. These step-by-step instructions ensure proper form.

Step 1 — Set Up a Strong Foundation

Step 1 - A person properly positioned on the gym bench for a pullover. — Credit: Merrick Lincoln, DPT, CSCS / YouTube

For the traditional dumbbell pullover, five stable points of contact are required — The back of your head, shoulder blades, and glutes must remain in contact with the bench, and both feet must be touching the floor. If your bench is too tall, placing your feet on the bench frame or atop weight plates is acceptable.

Form Tip: Position your head as far up the bench as possible. By placing your head high on the bench, you reduce the likelihood of the bench impeding shoulder range of motion during the pullover.

Step 2 — Retrieve Your Dumbbell and Brace

Step 2 - A person securely grasping a dumbbell with both hands on the gym bench for a pullover. — Credit: Merrick Lincoln, DPT, CSCS / YouTube

The pullover requires a spotter due to movement of the dumbbell over your face and head. A spotter is an individual who assists with the movement and provides physical assistance in the event of form breakdown or failure.

A spotter is also helpful, because they can pass you the dumbbell when you are ready to begin. Otherwise, you will need to transfer the dumbbell from atop your thigh to above your chest, which can be awkward positioning. Whether or not you choose to recruit a spotter, you will cradle the inside top half of the dumbbell in your palms with thumbs and fingers wrapped around the handle.

Form Tip: Grasp the dumbbell securely before bringing it over your face or before giving your spotter the signal to release it. The handle of the dumbbell should sit between the base of your thumbs and body of the hands. With one palm on each side of the dumbbell, create a “closed” grasp by overlapping your thumbs behind the handle and overlapping fingers in front.

Step 3 — Lower to the Bottom Position

Step 3 - A person securely holding a dumbbell in the bottom position of a pullover. — Credit: Merrick Lincoln, DPT, CSCS / YouTube

Begin with dumbbell above your upper chest with your arms vertical and elbows unlocked or slightly bent. Brace your abdominal muscles and maintain the five points of contact with the bench and the floor. Lower the dumbbell toward the floor with control. End the downward movement when you reach the greatest amount of shoulder flexion (stretch) that you can tolerate and control.

Form Tip: Achieve a tolerable stretch across your shoulders at the bottom position. The goal is to move through your full available range of overhead motion, not simply bringing the weight as close to the ground as possible.

Step 4 — Raise to the Top Position

Step 4 - A person securely holding a dumbbell in the top position of a pullover. — Credit: Merrick Lincoln, DPT, CSCS / YouTube

Reverse the movement by pulling the dumbbell through the same arc of movement. The repetition is complete when your upper arms are vertical. Keep your head locked in neutral and your gaze directed at the ceiling — don’t follow the weight with your eyes or head. Allowing your head to tilt into extension (looking overhead) promotes undesirable extension throughout the entire spine.

Form Tip: Maintain the same degree of arm bend throughout each repetition. If your elbows are bending and straightening during the exercise, you’re shifting muscular stress away from your chest and back and onto your triceps.

Step 5 — End the Set Safely

Step 5 - A person securely holding a dumbbell on his thigh at the end of a pullover set. — Credit: Merrick Lincoln, DPT, CSCS / YouTube

If you are using a spotter (recommended), indicate the set is complete. The spotter should take the dumbbell with both hands. (1) If you are training solo (at your own risk), bring the dumbbell to your thigh.

Form Tip: Avoid dropping the dumbbell on your face or chest. Unless you’re itching for a visit to the hospital and likely plastic surgery, safety is priority number one. Ensure the spotter has full control of the dumbbell before you let go. If training alone, maintain a secure grip until the dumbbell rests on your thigh.

Dumbbell Pullover Mistakes to Avoid

The pullover appears simple and sounds self-explanatory — Lie on your back and “pull the dumbbell over,” right? Well, yes, but a plethora of technique faults plague this exercise. Avoiding these errors to improve the effectiveness and safety of the dumbbell pullover.

Excessive Elbow Bend and “Flaring”

During the traditional dumbbell pullover, slight elbow bend allows the lifter to hold the dumbbell while moving their upper arms in the sagittal plane (i.e. parallel to the body’s midline). When lifters allow excessive elbow bend, the difficulty of the pullover is reduced, because the dumbbell is now closer to your shoulders.

More often than not, excessive elbow bend is also associated with “flared,” or outward-pointing, elbows. This position reflects internal rotation of the shoulder and may increase stress on the inside of the elbow (i.e. ulnar collateral ligament stress) during the pullover.

A person in a blue shirt doing a two dumbbell pullover. — Credit: MDV Edwards / Shutterstock

Avoid it: Focus on keeping your elbows pointing forward and/or up during the dumbbell pullover. While elbows should always remain “unlocked,” the pullover should never feel like a triceps extension (“skull crusher”).

Losing Contact with the Bench

Although allowing your hips to rise from the bench may give the impression of increased range of motion, back and hip extension does not equate to shoulder mobility. Unlike a competition-style bench press, arching is counterproductive to the pullover because it ultimately removes tension from latissimus dorsi. (2)

Worse still, excessive arching may allow a heavy dumbbell to destabilize your position, which could result in a “glutes over dumbbell” tumble over the back of the bench.

A person on the bench for a dumbbell pullover, with an arched back. — Credit: Vladimir Sukhachev / Shutterstock

Avoid it: Anchor yourself to the bench by digging your heels into the floor and aggressively bracing your abdominal muscles.

Not Allowing the Dumbbell to “Hang”

A common mistake is to attempt to hold or orient the dumbbell horizontally during the repetition rather than vertically. This requires unnecessary action of the wrist flexors and does little to improve the pullover. At worst, this error could cause premature grip fatigue.

long-haired person in gym doing flat bench dumbbell pullover. — Credit: Vladimir Sukhachev / Shutterstock

Avoid it: The dumbbell should hang naturally from your hands throughout the pullover. (1) Although you should maintain a firm grip on the dumbbell, avoid turning or tilting the dumbbell during your set.

How to Progress the Dumbbell Pullover

Lifters new to the pullover should start light when first learning the exercise. Like any exercise, the pullover must be progressed to ensure ongoing benefits. Begin by progressing traditional variables like adding reps and weight. Then, at some point, consider the simple technique modification discussed below.

Increase the Repetition Volume

As an accessory exercise, the pullover is typically programmed in the moderate repetition range (i.e. eight to 12 reps) or a higher repetition range (i.e. 12 to 16 reps). Yes, this is a broad recommendation, but it means you can likely progress for some time by adding a repetition here and there as able. Once you’re able to complete your repetition target, simply add one more rep the following workout. In the short term, progressing volume is likely most appropriate for those focused on hypertrophy. (23)

Increase the Weight

Once you reach the top of your target repetition range and feel you could do more, it is time to increase the weight of your dumbbell. Alternatively, if your primary goal is building strength, progressing weight is likely to be your best short-term strategy. (23) Since small jumps in weight dramatically increase the resistance experienced by the shoulders at the bottom of the pullover, incremental weight progression is best.

Keep Constant Tension

The dumbbell pullover traditionally begins and ends when the dumbbell is above the chest. (1) However, most of the key muscles of the pullover are offloaded at this point in the range of motion, because the dumbbell is no longer creating demand for the shoulder extensors (i.e. lats, pecs, etc.). A minor tweak to pullover technique increases the difficulty of the early portion of the movement.

A person doing overhead pullovers. — Credit: Wavebreakmedia / Shutterstock

Although “constant tension” is just a catchy misnomer (no muscle experiences constant tension during dynamic exercise), we can intensify the pullover by ending the repetition and beginning the next rep while the shoulder extensors are still working. Rather than pull the dumbbell over your chest, simply reverse the movement when the dumbbell passes above your forehead.

Benefits of the Dumbbell Pullover

The dumbbell pullover trains the shoulders through an arc of overhead motion. Due to its ability to place substantial tension on already lengthened muscles, this simple exercise offers exciting benefits.

Accelerated Muscular Growth

Mechanical tension, or the end-to-end pulling force experienced by muscle tissue, is generally accepted to be a primary driver of muscle growth (hypertrophy). (3)(4) Muscles experience mechanical tension as a result of muscle contraction and stretch-induced contributions. These forces combine and, when great enough, trigger a cascade of cellular events that ultimately result in muscle growth. (3)

A strong body builder with big muscles holding an EZ bar. — Credit: Lebedev Roman Olegovich / Shutterstock

Training at long muscle lengths increases the stretch-induced contributions to mechanical tension. Growing evidence suggests that training muscles in their lengthened position results in higher rates of muscle hypertrophy. (5)(6)(7) Unfortunately, no long-term hypertrophy study to date has focused on the pullover. However, the architectural properties of latissimus dorsi and pectoralis major, two primary muscles of the pullover, suggest that training at long lengths may be particularly effective. (4)(8)

Unlike lat pulldowns, pull-ups, and chin-ups, the resistance torque of the dumbbell pullover is maximized in the overhead position. This is also the position where the average lifter’s lats and pecs are at or near their longest lengths — Altogether, the dumbbell pullover appears to impose ideal demands for “stretch-induced hypertrophy.”

Improved Flexibility

The dumbbell pullover trains the shoulder extensor muscles at long muscle lengths — in the “stretched” position. In addition to the potential hypertrophy benefits, regular resistance training is known to promote changes in muscle structure and improve flexibility. (9)(10) In the short-term, a single bout of resistance training results in immediate increases in shoulder flexion range of motion. (11) Improved shoulder flexion may be desirable, because even dedicated gym-goers can suffer from limited range of motion. For example, competitive powerlifters — those who focus primarily on the bench press, squat, and deadlift — may demonstrate substantial limitations in shoulder flexion. (12)

Person in white lying on gym bench holding a dumbbell overhead. — Credit: BalanceFormCreative / Shutterstock

Although research on the direct effect of the dumbbell pullover on shoulder flexibility is limited, evidence is mounting to support its efficacy. Morton and colleagues compared the effects of five weeks of resistance training or static stretching on flexibility. The resistance training group completed four weekly sets of the dumbbell pullover. (10)

While both groups showed improved shoulder flexibility, the resistance training group showed a trend for superior shoulder extension gains. (10) While training durations greater than five weeks may be necessary to substantiate the effect or show statistically significant findings, it appears the dumbbell pullover is at least equivalent to stretching for shoulder flexibility.

Improved Overhead Strength and Stability

Compared to other common free weight exercises, the pullover requires your shoulders to work through a greater range of motion and results in significantly greater shoulder joint torques when similarly loaded. (13) Informed by the specificity principle, these features may result in superior strength and stability adaptations, especially through the overhead range of motion.

Back view of a person holding a dumbbell overhead. — Credit: Max kegfire / Shutterstock

The pullover works the abdominal core along with the shoulders. Combining overhead exercise with core training is recommended for integrating strength into whole-body movements and resisting challenges to shoulder position. (14) Programmed appropriately, the pullover appears to be a strong exercise selection for targeted shoulder strengthening and robustification.

Muscles Worked by Dumbbell Pullover

The primary action resisted by the dumbbell pullover is shoulder extension. (1) Therefore, the exercise trains the muscles that extend the shoulder. Identifying these muscles may appear simple, but few exercises demonstrate the complexities of functional anatomy better than the pullover.

In basic anatomy, we learn muscle actions from “anatomical position” — a position with your arms at your sides. But the dumbbell pullover occurs through overhead range of motion, and since muscle actions may change as joints move away from anatomical position, referencing an anatomy textbook to determine the muscles that extend the shoulder worked during the pullover may be misleading. Moreover, different parts of broad or fan-shaped muscles may be biased throughout certain ranges of motion. In extreme cases, one part of a muscle may have an entirely different action than other parts of the muscle. (15)(16)

Close up view of the back and shoulder muscles. — Credit: YAKOBCHUK VIACHESLAV / Shutterstock

Until a long-term training study consisting exclusively of dumbbell pullovers is conducted, we lean on anatomical modeling and electromyography studies to infer the answer to the question, “What muscles are trained by the pullover?”

Latissimus Dorsi

The latissimus dorsi is a broad, fan-shaped muscle spanning from the low- and mid-back, pelvis, and back of the ribcage up to the arm. (2)(8) Latissimus dorsi is active during the Pullover. (17)(18)(19) The lower fibers, or iliac part, which attaches to the pelvis, are most effective for producing shoulder extension, the movement resisted by the pullover. (8)(16)

Pectoralis Major

Positioned prominently on the chest, the pectoralis major is another large, fan-shaped muscle. It’s commonly divided into two parts — the upper clavicular head and the middle to lower sternocostal head. Each part contributes disproportionately to various shoulder actions.

For pec training, movements like bench press, pec flye, and incline press are common. However, the sternocostal head of pectoralis major is active during the pullover. (18)(19) Available data suggest the lower fibers of pectoralis major act to extend the shoulder through the overhead range of motion. (16) Therefore, the sternocostal pectoralis major is considered a primary target of the pullover.

Posterior Deltoid

The posterior deltoid, or “rear delt,” extends the shoulder. It’s active during the pullover. (19) From a mechanical standpoint, studies suggest the posterior deltoid is a more efficient shoulder extensor during the pullover than the latissimus dorsi or pectoralis major. (15)(16) This is because posterior deltoid demonstrates more “leverage” to produce extension (i.e. a greater extension “moment arm”) throughout the arc of motion trained by the pullover. (15)(16) While the pullover might not be your first pick when it comes to posterior deltoid training, don’t underestimate its potential to build the back of your shoulders.

Triceps Brachii

The triceps brachii’s primary action is to extend the elbow. In addition, the long head of triceps brachii extends the shoulder. Ultimately, the triceps prevent excessive elbow flexion and assist with the principle movements of the pullover. The muscle controls the movement into shoulder flexion during the downward phase and extends the shoulder during the upward phase. (17)(18)(19)

Serratus Anterior and Abdominals

The serratus anterior is composed of small projections that run diagonally alongside the ribcage. It acts on the shoulder blade. The lower portion of serratus anterior has been shown to be particularly active in the bottom half of the pullover. (20)

Close up view of the Serratus Anterior on a shirtless person. — Credit: ShotPrime Studio / Shutterstock

The abdominal muscles are active during the Pullover to resist excessive arching of the trunk, which would otherwise be caused by the dumbbell traveling overhead. (18) It’s fair to categorize the pullover as an anti-extension abdominal exercise.

How to Program the Dumbbell Pullover

As a single-joint movement, the dumbbell pullover is typically categorized as an accessory exercise. Traditionally, accessory exercises are performed after multi-joint (“compound”) exercises. When programming accessories, avoid extremely heavy loads and one-repetition maximum attempts. Rather, focus on multiple grueling, moderate-to-high repetition sets.

Moderate Weight, Moderate Repetitions

Those wishing to build muscle and strength with the pullover should consider three to four sets of eight to twelve repetitions. Performed after chin-ups or heavy lat pulldowns, pullovers allow you wring out a bit more hypertrophy work without taxing your grip.

Low to Moderate Weight, High Repetitions

Pullovers are a greater exercise to begin or end your upper body workout. As an opener at the beginning of your workout, pullovers prime your shoulders for subsequent overhead lifts. As a finisher to end your training session, pullovers provide a dose of “pump work” and a potent stimulus for hypertrophy. Two to four sets of twelve to sixteen repetitions will do the job.

Pullover Variations

Classic exercises tend to accumulate many variants over time, and the pullover is no different. Pullover variations tend to switch out the resistance implement (e.g. dumbbell for a barbell) or the support surface (e.g. bench for a Swiss ball). Four of the most common pullover variations are shown below.

Cross-Bench Dumbbell Pullover

The cross-bench dumbbell pullover is performed by orienting the body perpendicular to the bench and performing the exercise from a bridge position.

Not only does this setup facilitate activity of the glutes but it also encourages a stable pelvis position and allows the solo lifter to place the dumbbell conveniently on the bench before and after exercise completion.

EZ-Bar Pullover

Without access to a full run of dumbbells? Having trouble securely holding the dumbbell during the pullover? If so, you may wish to try the EZ-bar pullover.

The EZ-bar allows incremental loading with “change plates.” The semi-pronated inner grips on the bar may be easier to hold for those with stiff forearms, tight shoulders, or smaller hands.

Single-Arm Pullover

Those training for shoulder stability may wish to consider the single-arm dumbbell pullover. By training unilaterally, you’re challenging your shoulder to control movement in an additional plane.

Owing to the natural tradeoff between stability and maximum load, expect to drop the weight 60 to 80% for the single-arm dumbbell pullover.

Cable Pullover

Cable pullovers are performed with a pulley or cable column set to a low position, while holding a triceps rope, strap, or short bar. The cable pullover changes the line of the resistance. Instead of encountering maximum resistance torque at or near the bottom position as in the dumbbell pullover, the shoulders experience maximum resistance torque earlier in the movement during cable pullovers.

The cable resistance also increases the productive range of motion of the exercise. Rather than ending the repetition with vertical arms, continue “pulling over” until the cable gently grazes your forehead.

FAQs

Is the dumbbell pullover a back exercise or a chest exercise?

It’s both. The pullover also hits muscles in the shoulders, arms, and trunk. (16)(17)(18)(19)(20)
If you’re using a training split, you will need to decide how to categorize the pullover. Some like to include it in “chest day,” because Pullovers hit the lower portion of pectoralis major. (16) Others put pullovers on “back day,” as it can be used to train latissimus dorsi before or after grip-intensive exercise such as rows, lat pulldowns, or pull-ups. The good news? There is no wrong answer.

Can I just do straight-arm pushdowns instead?

The straight-arm pushdown, also called “stiff-arm pulldown” or “lat prayer,” is a shoulder extension exercise performed standing with a cable machine or high pulley. This exercise may be appealing for several reasons. There’s is no need to occupy a bench, the upright position allows you to monitor your form (and your “pump”) in the mirror, and changing weights is easier on the cable stack. But for lifters seeking hypertrophy, the crux of the question is not convenience or even the “feel” of the exercise. It comes down to inherent differences between exercise biomechanics.
The pullover and pulldown are different exercises, each with its own unique resistance profile and muscular activity pattern. (18) Anecdotally, lifters tend to “feel” their lats more during pulldowns than pullovers. The reverse seems to be true for “feeling” pectoralis major. Indeed, the pulldown shows greater muscle activity in the latissimus dorsi than the pullover, and the pullover shows greater muscle activity in all parts of pectoralis major than the pulldown. (18)
Does this mean the pullover is better for back and the pulldown is better for chest? Absolutely not. This misconception stems from a common misunderstanding of exercise electromyography (EMG) studies. Higher EMG does not equal a “better exercise,” because we cannot predict long term training outcomes from EMG studies alone. (24)(25) Moreover, EMG is not a valid indicator of mechanical tension, a key driver of muscular adaptations. (24)(3)
In short, many features must be considered when determining exercise selection. These include, but are not limited to training goals, personal preferences, and how the exercise fits into the program as a whole.

How can hit my lats or pecs harder in the pullover?

Presently, there is no definitive pullover technique modification to bias one agonist muscle over another. Although some have claimed flaring the elbows during the pullover favors latissimus dorsi and keeping elbows straight favors pectoralis major, either technique compromises the exercise.
Flaring the elbows outward results in shoulder internal rotation, which takes tension off latissimus dorsi. (26) — Not desirable if you wish to take advantage of increased tension in the muscle, stretch-mediated hypertrophy, and flexibility benefits of the exercise. (4)(8)(9)
Keeping your elbows completely straight seems to make it easier to “feel” or contract your pecs at the top of the repetition, but it also requires extreme shoulder abduction at the bottom of the repetition (think of your biceps touching your earlobes). I do not recommend either option.

The Perplexing Pullover

The pullover exercise is a conundrum. It’s performed in hardcore bodybuilding gyms and rehabilitation clinics, alike. It’s an exercise for building muscle and enhancing range of motion. It’s a back exercise and a chest exercise. It’s loved and hated.

Despite its complexities, the dumbbell pullover has stood the test of time. Maybe now is the time to focus on pullovers in your training program?

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