Main structure worked
rib cage
This exercise was developed by Peary Rader, 1909 to 1991, who was one of the most influential figures in the Iron Game. Among his many contributions, Rader founded IRON MAN magazine, in 1936. He remained owner and publisher until he sold the magazine in 1986. (It was Peary who, in the 1980s, published Stuart’s first articles, and gave him his start as a writer.)
This is another stretching and forced breathing exercise, which, like the breathing pullover, may enlarge your rib cage, deepen your chest, and help improve your posture. It may be especially effective for teenagers, and trainees in their early twenties, but is worth a try at any age. There’s no science to confirm this, however. I believe the Rader chest pull helped me, and other people have reported benefits, too. Especially when I was a teenager, I used the breathing pullover and the Rader chest pull.
Stand at about arm’s length from a vertical bar, with your feet hip-width apart. Alternatively, use a sturdy, stable object that can be grasped at about head height. An upright on a power rack, or a door jamb, will do the job. If you use an upright of a power rack, or a vertical bar, keep your hands together. If you use another object, keep your hands close together.
While keeping your arms straight, take a deep breath and simultaneously pull down and in with your arms. Don’t contract your abdominal muscles. Keep them relaxed. If you tense your abs, this will flatten your chest and defeat the purpose of the exercise. Done correctly, the Rader chest pull will raise your chest and produce a pull and slight discomfort in your sternum. If you don’t feel this, you’re not doing the exercise properly.
You may get a better effect if you bend your arms slightly, because this will let you pull harder. The harder you pull, the better the effect on your rib cage, so long as you’re pulling in the right way.
Rader recommended that you tense the muscles at the front of your neck and then pull your head back. This should be done at the same time as you pull down and in with your arms. This neck involvement provides further stretching and lifting of your rib cage. But don’t apply this tip until after you’ve learned to apply the other instruction.
Starting position of the Rader chest pull.
Once you get to grips with it you’ll feel a considerable stretch in your rib cage. It may take a while to get the exercise right. You may have to fine-tune the height you place your hands, the spacing between your hands, the distance between your feet and the base of the object you hold, and the angle of pull you use. Persist until you get it right.
Hold your breath for as long as comfortable, and throughout the entire time you should be able to feel the pull and slight discomfort in your sternum. Don’t, however, hold your breath until you’re almost ready to burst, because you need to be able to perform up to 20 reps for a single set. How long you can comfortably hold your breath will depend on the state of your breathing prior to performing the chest pull, and your general conditioning. With practice, over time, you’ll be able to hold each pull for a longer time, for a comparable level of discomfort. Somewhere in the range of four to six seconds per pull will be fine.
You can perform the Rader chest pull after an exercise that gets you heavily winded, or when you’re not winded. As with the breathing pullover, rib cage work can be done much more frequently than other weight-training exercises. It’s not high-intensity systemically-demanding work.
Go easy to begin with, especially if you’re not doing the Rader chest pull when winded. The forced and exaggerated breathing may make you feel dizzy unless you work into it over a few weeks. Your chest may get very sore, too, if you don’t work into the exercise gradually. Exercise caution and good sense.