Pullovers

The pullover is listed as an exercise for the latissimus dorsi via shoulder-joint extension (drawing the arm from a front-horizontal position down to the side). On the chest checklist, pullovers are flagged "(S) (Not effective)" — i.e., not an effective sternal-pec exercise. Pullovers occupy the "stretch" and "contracted" positions of the Positions-of-Flexion lats chart (Seated Row/Pullover). Performed with dumbbells or a Body Masters machine. In the Latissimus Dorsi Training checklist, the cable version of this straight-arm movement (cable lat extension / cable pullover) is called out as a good exercise specifically to reduce biceps involvement — since the elbow stays extended throughout, unlike the pulldown/row family which always recruits the elbow flexors secondarily.

EMG evidence (Marchetti & Uchida 2011 and later work) finds the pullover's muscle emphasis runs the other way from the source's classification: pectoralis major (especially the sternal portion) is activated MORE than latissimus dorsi, not less. It's better described as a chest exercise with real secondary lat involvement, not a lat exercise that happens to touch the chest — and the "not effective" flag on the chest checklist doesn't hold up against this evidence. The straight-arm/reduced-biceps-involvement point for the cable version is unaffected by this and still holds. See verification_note in this module's frontmatter.

• Source's original classification: Primary = Latissimus Dorsi (shoulder extension); Secondary = Pectoralis Major; flagged "not effective" for chest.
• 2026 update: EMG evidence shows the opposite emphasis — pectoralis major (sternal portion especially) is activated more than the lats; it's a legitimate chest exercise, not an ineffective one.
• "Stretch"/"contracted" lat positions in the Positions-of-Flexion chart.
• The straight-arm (cable) version is specifically recommended to reduce biceps involvement, since the elbow never flexes.

• latissimus-dorsi — secondary mover per current EMG evidence (was listed as primary by the source).
• pectoralis-major — primary mover per current EMG evidence (the source listed this as secondary and flagged it "not effective").
• lat-pulldown / seated-row — the more reliably lat-dominant alternatives if lat emphasis is the actual goal.

Already a structured record in the exercise spine — ex.dumbbell-pullover (reference/fitness-foundation/spine/chest-iso.json) — modeled with pectoralis major (sternal) and latissimus dorsi as CO-PRIMARY agonists, both "high" emphasis. That record already matches the current EMG evidence in this module's verification_note; it was simply never cross-linked here until now.