The Cross Bench Pullover

When I was 15 years old, I was a competitive swimmer who loved to lift weights. I was looking for exercises that could carry over to the pool - the cross bench pullover became one of my go-to exercises in the weight room. Since then, I've noticed that, outside of the super-squats program, it is rarely a recommended exercise.

I never really understood why this exercise fell out of fashion. I suppose that some genius hooked up some sensors to a bodybuilder's chest, realized that it wasn't making the pec swole, wrote a few articles for Flex, and that was that - an exercise that used to be an absolute staple among bodybuilders and pencil-necks alike who wanted to add inches to their chest size was now regulated to the status of "old school odd lift of questionable value".

The cross-bench pullover is a great exercise. Its value lies in the stretch it provides for the lats, the ribcage, the shoulders, and the t-spine. It can be done strictly with less weight, straighter arms, and greater stretch, or it can be done loosely with more weight, more elbow bend, and less range of motion - either way, it's an exercise worth revisiting.