There are variants of exercises that enhance the effect of the main exercise. The French press is one of the main movements to stimulate our triceps. What if we add an extra touch that is rarely seen in the gym, but that provides an extra stimulus to our back of the arm?
Pullover press: mix of French press with pullover
French press: brief description
In gym weight rooms it is common to see people doing the French press. This exercise is performed lying on a flat bench carrying the dumbbells, bar, pulley or any load to the forehead or to the sides of the face by means of an elbow flexion.
Pullover: short description
We also often see people doing a barbell or dumbbell pullover in weight rooms. In this exercise what we move are the shoulders instead of the elbowsbringing the load down to the ground as our pectorals and lats stretch.
Pullover press: a different and more complete stimulus
The pullover press consists of mix the two previous exercises giving a new stimulus to our triceps. This back of our arms responds to both elbow and shoulder movement. Therefore, if we vary the position of the shoulder, we will directly influence the stimulus that our triceps receives.
The triceps consists of three heads (hence its name) that vary their activation according to the position of our shoulders. We can quickly visualize this with various exercises where the elbow movement is the same, an extension, but where the shoulders are in a different place. In this article we develop this somewhat complex topic in greater depth.
When we perform a triceps kick or tricep dips, the elbows are behind our trunk. In a triceps lat pulldown, the elbows are close to the trunk. In a French press the elbows are in front of our trunk. Therefore, the movement in those exercises is the same, but the arms are placed in a different place.
That’s where the pullover press becomes an interesting exercise since in the triceps activation influences both elbow extension and shoulder flexion. Two movements that come together in this variant of the French press and that you can introduce on your triceps days to test how you are doing.
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