All About the Dumbbell Pullover

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How-to

1. Lie on a weight bench and hold a single dumbbell with your arms extended overhead, shoulder-width apart, palms facing forward. You can also do this move standing up if you prefer.

2. Slowly lower the dumbbell behind your head until your forearms touch your upper arms.

3. Raise the dumbbell back to the starting position.

Muscle Worked

Primary Muscle Groups

Chest

Your chest helps you move your arms across your body and up and down while stabilizing the shoulders

Lats

Your latissimus dorsi, also called the "lats," help you to move your arms and keep your shoulders stable.

Secondary Muscle Groups

Middle Back

The middle back helps you rotate your torso

Shoulders

Your shoulders are ball-and-socket joints which connect your arms to your torso

Triceps

The triceps are the muscles on the backs of your upper arms

Upper Back

Lie on the floor and place a foam roller below your traps and above your shoulder blades.

Pro Tips

• Although some people perform this exercise using two dumbbells, a single dumbbell allows you to ensure that your arms move at the same time so you stay on balance.
• If you really want to challenge yourself, swap out your weight bench for a large exercise ball. This will help you improve your core strength.
• Start light if you’re a true beginner to this movement, then increase your weight as you progress. This will allow you to use a full range of motion in this exercise.

Equipments

Bench

A weight bench is a piece of equipment that you sit on to weight train

Dumbbell

Dumbbells are hand-gripped bars loaded with equal weight on both ends

Benefits

• Dumbbell pullovers help to create stronger lats. Back strength is something that a lot of people new to lifting weights struggle with, so this move can help.
• Beginning to train your back helps you move up to more challenging moves that engage the lats, like pull-ups or muscle-ups.
• Because you hold your spine in a lengthened position, the dumbbell pullover is a great move to establish good posture or to improve poor posture.

Warm Up & Cool Down

Warm Up

A tabletop chest opener is a good way to warm up your chest and spine with a gentle twisting motion for your dumbbell pullover.

1. Get on to your hands and knees in a tabletop position. Shift one hand into the midline of your body, so you are balancing your weight between both knees and one hand in a triangular position.

2. Bend your other elbow and bring that hand behind your head, then drive the elbow back to open up your chest. Next, swing the elbow hold your head down and under your supporting arm to make a thread-the-needle motion, twisting through your mid spine.

3. Hold for 15 seconds, or continue back and forth for reps.

Cool Down

To cool off after your dumbbell pullover, try a behind-the-back chest stretch.

1. Sit cross-legged and grasp both elbows with the opposite hands.

2. Hold for as long as you need in this position to open up your chest.

FAQ