The act of pulling your arms from an overhead position toward your upper body (or raising your body with your arms when your hands are secured in one place, as in chinning) is extremely important in gymnastics (rings, horizontal bar, uneven bars, and parallel bars). In addition, the movement used in the pullover is very important in all overhead forward throwing actions involving both arms (basketball, soccer throw-ins, medicine ball throwing), pulling down rebounds in basketball, the hit and follow through phase in high volleyball spiking, hand balancing (tandem), and in all pulling-up actions (rope climbing, pull-ups).
Wrestlers need this movement in many holds and swimmers require this very important action in various phases of the pulling phase in different strokes. For bodybuilders this exercise is very important for development of the muscles noted, for increasing the size of the chest by expanding the rib cage, and for improving breathing capabilities. The latter is also especially important for athletes.
