Pull Over Machine

Keep your back against the pad, grip the handles, and stabilize your chest and abdomen with your arms only slightly bent. Because the key is pulling down with your lats while keeping your elbow angle nearly fixed, set up so your torso stays against the backrest from the start.

Move your entire arms through a large arc as you lower the handles and draw them toward your sides. Think less about pressing with your hands and more about closing the space beneath your armpits; this strengthens lat contraction and reduces arm involvement.

Briefly squeeze your lats at the lowest point, then slowly raise the handles while feeling the back of your sides lengthen. Control the return so your shoulders do not shoot up, preserving both the stretch at the top and the squeeze at the bottom.

Pull down as if you are closing your armpits with your entire lats. You are keeping the focus on your lats when you clearly feel the back of your sides lengthen and shorten rather than your arms doing the work.

If you bend your elbows deeply and press like a pulldown, or lift your torso and use momentum, the tension shifts to your arms and lower back instead of your lats. It is also common to force an overly large range and irritate the front of the shoulder, so move within a comfortable range you can control.

Exhale as you pull down and inhale as you return upward. A slow, continuous breath makes it easier to calmly feel the stretched portion at the top.

On a pullover machine, range and pauses matter much more than weight. Use a load that lets you pause for 1 second at the bottom and control the top for 2 seconds, and you will learn the feeling of using your entire lats much faster.