It takes a great amount of effort to achieve a hot bikini body for ladies or a hot-rockin’-masculine body for gents. And even with that fact, still, body builders work really hard for the purpose of aesthetics. They work out for one purpose only, and that is to have that “it” body.
Some people, like me for instance, treat that reason as one of the shallowest ones. Definitely, there must be other reasons why bodybuilding is a must. So, check out what else can you benefit from this exercise.
Now, when we talk about bodybuilding, nothing really comes to mind instantly than the most basic exercise of dumbbell pullovers. Back in the days, way before the time when complicated and heavy bodybuilding equipment came to existence, there were only a few minimal methods of getting an enormous set of muscles like squats and of course the classic, weightlifting and pullovers.
There are actually several ways and means to do the pullover exercise, being one of the most common bodybuilding techniques. But we are going to talk about an important method of pullover which is the Incline Dumbbell Pullover.
What is an Incline Dumbbell Pullover?
It is a type of exercise that focuses on the thickening and tightening of your upper muscles. Many people neglect the important effects of this exercise. So, good thing that you’re here to find out what’s more about this type of workout.
If you are a regular gym goer, or had been to the gym a few times, surely you would notice the equipment used to do the incline dumbbell pullover. The machine equipment used is very intimidating at first, and a little scary, but we believe that you should feel more scared for the things that you might lose if you don’t try this one.
You might think that this is done the same as the other dumbbell pullover exercises, and probably think that all of them have the same effects, but, you are definitely wrong.
So, with today’s list, not only we’ll teach you the proper ways of doing this exercise, but we will also pick out 13 benefits that you can get from this exercise. Yup, you heard it right. Not one, but 13! Discover the things that you could get if you do this workout.
What can I get from doing this routine?
Builds up you upper muscles
Of course, we would definitely start with the primary and the most basic reason why you should include this exercise to your workout routine. The Incline dumbbell pullover is one of the most go-to exercise when your goal is to build up strong and visibly massive muscles for your chest. It is considered as the perfect workout for isolation of your chest, as it is a single-joint movement. Altogether, it hits your back muscles as well. But, it does not stop right there.
It is also a perfect exercise for building up your triceps, biceps and lats. Very seldom that you would find an exercise that targets your triceps and lats all at the same time.
Stretches your flexibility
OK, we are not saying that the incline dumbbell pullover exercise is the direct substitute for your stretching routine, but the stretching included in this routine is effective and good for your flexibility range to your daily living and the range of motion of your shoulders and chest region.
So, when you do this exercise, expect a more flexible body, ability to move flexibly and definitely would lead to a day to day basis of flexibility. This is also a huge amount of help if you are planning to go full blast to your body building. As an increase of flexibility to your chest muscles and shoulders would most likely benefit to your other weight lifting stunts.
Multiplies your strength like no other
Most bodybuilders do the hardest routines not just to achieve the ideal body but, of course, to maintain an incredible-hulk kind of strength as well.
Doing this exercise invites more muscles into the picture and gets rid of fats away. As muscles develops, strength and endurance increases as well. Ideally, as your strength increases, so does your ability to go to the harder step of weight lifting. Most body builders incorporates incline dumbbell pullover as one of the first routines to master for developing strength in their muscles, in order to proceed to other heavier weight lifting tools.
Improves your stabilizer muscles
You might be wondering, then, what are stabilizers? Learn more.
If you have been to the gym with other bodybuilders, you might probably heard them discussing about stabilizers. Stabilizers are muscles that keep you stabled and balanced when moving. Just like the foundation of a house, it is the foundation of your weightlifting strength and endurance.
They are not necessarily involved in the lifting of the weight, but they keep your body steady through isometric muscle contractions. So, you would most likely want to develop your stabilizers as poorly developed stabilizers leads to less improvement of your body building goals.
Easier and less complicated so it’s good for beginners
There is always a first step or a beginning to every high road. Like we said, this is one of the most basic routines done at the first level of your journey to body building. Why? Because it’s easier than the other dumbbell pullovers like the ones done on flat surface as supposed to an inclined one. The pullover movement of your arms is not as far stretch compared to the movement done in other dumbbell pullover routines.
Step by Step Process
To illustrate clearly, this is the part where we are going to teach you the right method of doing this exercise.
- To start off, you must form a triangle grip to grab the dumbbell on the head and you lift it up.
- Next, you lie your back and shoulders flatly upon the the surface of the incline bench. You would want to bent you legs evenly below and firmly position your feet on the floor.
- When you are already in the right position, you pop the dumbbell back to your chest and you may start counting.
- Drag the dumbbell lower behind your head nice and low, forming an arc, and drag back and forth through the same direction. You must be feeling the squeeze on your chest together as you do the reps.
OK, we know that that does not sound as the easiest step but, we all also know for a fact that there is no easy way in bodybuilding. So believe us when we say that these steps are the least complicated of all pullovers.
Gives you high endurance
When you know incline dumbbell pullover, you also know about enduring every heavy weight lifting and maintaining balance through each heaviness.
We can guarantee to you that endurance is developed through your bones and muscles when you do incline dumbbell pullover. Muscles worked pretty hard in a maintained speed per reps carrying the same weight of that dumbbell. Not only it trains the muscles and bones for hard work, it also gives them the avenue to practice and execute sustainability.
Gives you healthier bones
No explanation is needed for this. A lot of people believe that body building and weight lifting can be two of the undeniable causes of breaking and weakening of the bones. However, we beg to disagree! Incline dumbbell pullovers give you major increase of strength to your bones. Improvement does not come from rest or by lack of movement but by training and agility.
As you do the reps and sets of this exercise, you are also training your bones to be more enthusiastic and strong. Allowing you to have more ability and strength to go to the next level of other weight lifting exercises. However, we strongly advice to do this workout together with a balanced diet.
Boosts your mental health
Not kidding here. We are basically on the serious tone. Bodybuilding or weight lifting, preferably pullovers exercise can boost our mind and mental well-being when done in a regular basis. These sets of training help you reduce your stress, anxiety and depression. Maybe not necessarily in the most substantive effect but in a way that gives you more confidence when you build up a good body image.
This is really helpful for people with low self-esteem. Especially, if it is anchored by reasons such as obesity or extreme thinness and lack of noticeable body assets. Developing your body gives you positive vibes to yourself and how you view your body image.
This is a great stress relieving routine
Generally, there are many causes of stress. But stress’ major source is your body’s reaction to physical and emotional changes around you. It has been long found out that basic exercise is a great stress reliever. But so does weight lifting! By doing this exercise, it increases your Endorphins or your happy hormones. So you may always get away from stress.
Helps fighting depression
Just like stress, depression is a medical condition that comes from a variety of sources as well. But among anything else, depression is the mental and physical reaction to the happenings of your surroundings. Some symptoms like, weight gain or weight loss, lack of focus, lack of energy and anger or anxiety, and all other depression-causing reactions may affect your way of living big time. So might as well treat it with weight lifting.
This exercise can treat depression in the most natural way.
- It improves your mood;
- reduces frustration;
- increases your self-esteem;
- It improves your sleeping patterns, especially if you have difficulty in sleeping;
- your breathing pattern;
- and lessens your worries and negative distractions.
It basically gives you back the control to your life.
Improves your nutrition
If you want to maintain a good health, the best way to do is to include proper body training with you diet and balanced rest. We really do believe that it’s not enough to just have exercise but you need to increase some other areas to your health; such as strength, endurance and agility to be really physically fit.
Lets you live a happy life
There is nothing to argue when it comes to the fact that you can definitely live a happy and cultured life if you enjoy all those benefits mentioned above. If you incorporate this exercise to your daily routine, it is not hard to experience a positive view of your everyday life. We would really want to see you enjoy the perks and happily living a life free of stress and all sorts of negativity when you include this exercise to your usual routine.
Some alternatives for incline dumbbell pullovers?
Now, as promised, we are also going to list down few quick alternatives, if for some reason you could not do this exercise but still want to target your chest, shoulders and all those other benefits listed above.
So, here they are:
Push ups
Push-ups is helpful for those who do not have the equipment at home. And you can do this everywhere, like when you’re traveling or on a vacation and you still want to do some muscles-pumping.
Chest and Triceps dip
If you want to focus on broadening your shoulder muscles, you rest you elbows evenly on the bars. This is a great alternative as well, as you wouldn’t necessarily need an equipment for this. You’ll just have to have two strong, elevated bars to perform this exercise.
Bench Press
So, that is basically everything you need to know about the benefits, the proper guide and the alternatives of incline dumbbell pullover exercise. If you are a beginner, then all the better! Don’t be afraid to try out this routine first, before you try the others.
Go and hit the gym, and may you have an awesome workout!
