Open up your ribcage and stretch your lats under load.
Keep the elbow angle locked, if it changes mid-rep it turns into a triceps move.
With the elbows locked into a slight fixed bend, the pullover becomes a pure arc at the shoulder: the bar sweeps back behind your head until the lats hit a deep stretch, then the back drags it over your chest again. The chest assists through the first portion of the pull as the bar passes over your face. It is one of the few lifts that trains the lats at full length while you lie flat on a bench.
As set up here, a back exercise, cue the pull from your armpits and keep the arm bend fixed. The chest chips in either way, but where you focus and how you cue it decides who leads.
This version freezes the elbow angle so all the motion happens at the shoulder. The PJR bends and extends the elbows deliberately, which changes the loading and lets the bar travel deeper behind the head.
Moderate. The stretched position behind your head rewards control, and piling on weight just shortens the arc and lifts your lower back off the bench, which is the one thing to avoid.
