chest pullover question

[marys742]

Hi!

I have a question about chest pullovers. When I did them last night my shoulders/neck were feeling stressed. What am I doing wrong?

I did Pyramid Upper Body for the first time last night. It's fun! I went very light so I'm not sore at all this morning. Now I want to try it again with heavier weights to see how that goes. But I'm nervous about Pyramid Lower Body.


Thanks,
Mary

 

[hippahips]

Maybe you were using your shoulders to bring the weight up. Cathe's tip is that you lead the movement with your elbows. This activates the muscles in your back.

Don't worry about PLB. You'll love it. I'm hooked to that one myself.

Pinky

 

[kathryn]

You could have been hunching your shoulders, or pushing your neck down into the step/bench. I make sure to keep my shoulders retracted during this (and most other) exercise.

 

[RhiannonW]

I feel the stress in my neck/shoulders too, and I concentrate hard on pulling with the elbows.
Anyone know of any substitutions for this? Could standing up and pulling down be done instead?

 

[kathryn]

>I feel the stress in my neck/shoulders too, and I concentrate
>hard on pulling with the elbows.
>Anyone know of any substitutions for this? Could standing up
>and pulling down be done instead?


The only other move that works the same muscle in a similar way IS a lat pulldown, but you need a machine (or some resistance bands that are fastened near the top of a door) to do it. You could hold a resistance band doubled above your head, and pull down with one arm at a time to get a similar move.