The dumbbell pullover might be the most controversial exercise in the world of bodybuilding. According to most experts it’s one of the most effective chest and back exercises. At the same time, slight adjustments in your pullover technique can shift its target to different body parts. Some old-school lifters even call it the “upper body squat”, because no other upper body exercise stretches and works so many muscles at once.
Dumbbell Pullover Benefits
Its effectiveness in activating different upper body muscle groups has been known for decades. In fact, together with the squats, this exercise is one of the oldest tricks in the book of bodybuilding. The pullover can give you that great feeling of pump in your chest, it stretches the lats, builds up the serratus, and has even been attributed with the ability to stretch your rib cage.
The only known downside of dumbbell pullovers is that they can overload your shoulders. And although years ago everyone was doing it, nowadays it seems almost forgotten.
In this article we’re going to try to prove the critics wrong, and reintroduce the dumbbell pullover into your routines in all of its former glory.
The Early History of Dumbbell Pullovers
In the early 1900s, the pullover was promoted as the best exercise for developing a deep chest by Alan Calvert, founder of the Milo Barbell Company and Strength magazine. It quickly became a staple exercise for upper body development.
In fact, back in the 1920s, the most popular bodybuilding method involved drinking gallons of milk and performing heavy, high-rep squats combined with light, high-rep dumbbell pullovers. Needless to say, the combo of big lifting and big calories turned this recipe into a success story. Everyone was doing it.
Back then the bodybuilding trend was to perform low volume workouts that included one or two upper body exercises. The pullover (or breathing dumbbell pullover, as it was known) was included in this type of training more often than not.
The widespread belief was that it helped in expanding the rib cage, presumably as a result of the intentional deep breathing between reps, which stack up to the deep breathing necessary for performing the squats earlier in the workout.
Although there’s no good evidence that pullovers can actually expand an adult’s rib cage, plenty of lifters reported great results from combining the squats with pullovers, backed up by sturdy amounts of milk.
The Road From Favorite to Forgotten
During the period of popularization of bodybuilding in the 1950s and ’60s, the dumbbell pullover retained its status of an essential exercise for upper body sculpting. Since a thick, barrel chest was the ideal back then, the dumbbell pullover fit perfectly into their plans.
By the 1970s and ’80s, the gyms were better equipped and had greater variety of specialized machines for targeting specific bodyparts. Even the pullovers got their own mechanized variation in the Nautilus pullover machine invented in the early ’70s by Arthur Jones.
However, the greater reliance on machines was also the reason for the drop in popularity of some old-school free weight classics, such as the dumbbell pullover. As a result, its popularity diminished in the ’90s. Since then, its reputation has been tarnished by various “exercise scientists” who managed to kill its good name by saying that it was ineffective, and dangerous for the shoulders.
On the other hand, this is the complete opposite to the testimonials from legends, who have nothing but praises when it comes to the pullover, and for all the different reasons.
Arnold credits his epic chest to performing dumbbell pullovers. On the other hand Dorian Yates and Mike Mentzer worked their lats on the classic Nautilus pullover machine. The heavy pullovers have been part of Ronnie Coleman’s back training, while Frank Zane attributed his serratus development to doing pullovers from a young age.
You must admit that this is an impressive list of names of people with enough gravity to make any armchair fitness expert blush. It’s up to you to choose whose lead to follow.
The main argument against pullovers is the fear of shoulder injuries. After all, this exercise puts you in an awkward position, moving a heavy weight with your arms extended over your face. So if you don’t have enough strength in your shoulders and good shoulder mobility it can be straining.
However, by working on your shoulder and upper back mobility you can overcome this problem. To test if you’re ready for the pullover, check whether you can do overhead presses or chin-ups through a full range of motion without pain.
Once you are certain that you have sufficient shoulder mobility you can try your hand at this classic move.
Muscles Worked by Dumbbell Pullovers
The dumbbell pullover is a true upper body attack from all angles. It works:
- Pectoralis major and minor – your chest. The pecs work hardest when you pull the dumbbell from behind your head back over your chest, drawing your arms toward the middle of your body.
- Latissimus dorsi – your lats. They run from your lower spine and hips up to your upper arm, and their job is to pull your arms down and back. With your arms overhead, the pullover puts them under a big stretch.
- Serratus anterior – the finger-like muscles on the side of your ribs. They hold your shoulder blades against your rib cage and are important for pushing and throwing.
- Triceps – especially the long head, which crosses the shoulder joint.
- Abs and obliques – they work as stabilizers to keep your torso from arching as the weight moves over your head.
Together, they help make your chest look wider and add thickness to your back and shoulders.
Dumbbell Pullover Technique
To perform the classic dumbbell pullover, we recommend lying on a bench with your full back. The cross-bench variation, with only your upper back on the bench, is a classic too, but lying lengthwise gives your lower back more support and is the safer choice when you’re starting out.
Hold a light dumbbell vertically above your chest, with both palms pressed against the inside of the top plate. Keep both arms straight and start lowering the weight slowly towards your head. Maintaining the muscle to mind connection is the key to performing a successful pullover. You should feel all your upper body muscles stretching.
Lower the weight with almost locked arms behind your head as far as you can. Test your limits, but don’t push it too far. It should feel comfortable. Then pull it back to the starting position.
Performing several sets with lighter dumbbell allows you to check out your body system and see how your shoulders, chest and lats are taking the strain of the exercise. It also allows you to discover the focal points of the exercise. Do another test set using light barbell or EZ-curl bar. The mechanics of the movement are the same, just that you hold the bar with pronated grip.
Repeat the tests with different hand positions, varying the grip from wide, to close and neutral. If any of the light weight tests result in shoulder pain, or awkward feeling in the shoulder, you should avoid doing it, especially with heavier weights.
The Cross-Bench Straight-Arm Pullover
Once you’re comfortable with the basic version, you can try the old-school cross-bench pullover, which was a favorite of Arnold’s era. It gives your chest and lats an even bigger stretch – and it’s hard, so start light.
- Stand a dumbbell on one end at the edge of a flat bench. Lie across the bench, at a 90-degree angle to it, so only your shoulders and upper back are supported. Keep your feet flat on the floor and let your head hang slightly off the bench.
- Grab the dumbbell with both hands, palms facing up against the inside of the top plate, with your thumbs and fingers forming a diamond shape around the handle. Lift it over your chest. This is your starting position.
- With your arms straight (elbows soft but not bending during the rep), slowly lower the dumbbell in an arc over and behind your head. As the weight goes back, let your hips drop toward the floor for a deeper stretch.
- Stop when your upper arms are in line with your torso – roughly when your arms are next to your ears. Don’t try to lower the dumbbell all the way to the floor behind you; that’s how you hurt your rotator cuffs.
- Pull the dumbbell back over your chest, raising your hips as you go. Take a deep breath as you lower the weight and breathe out forcefully as you bring it back up.
Always move slowly and with control. Lowering the weight stretches your chest, lats and serratus, while pulling it back works your lower pecs, lats and abs.
Do Dumbbell Pullovers Work the Chest or the Lats?
The dumbbell pullover is a classic bodybuilding exercise that can work both the chest and the lat muscles, depending on the way of execution. In fact the pullover additionally works the serratus anterior, triceps, and core muscles. Below you can read how to execute the pullover to target primarily the chest or the lats.
Use Dumbbell Pullovers to Pump Up Your Pecs
The dumbbell pullover earned its reputation as one of the best chest builder exercises. It’s only natural, because this complex move incorporates all the benefits of dumbbell flyes and cable crossovers in all of their variations. It provides both shoulder extension and shoulder adduction.
However, if you want to add pullovers in your chest routine, we recommend using them as a finisher exercise after other muscles are already fatigued. The main reason for this is that the pullover requires the participation of a great many muscles, despite the fact that the primary focus is on the pecs. Its execution also requires a good mind-muscle connection, which makes it a poor choice for starting your chest day.
We recommend performing 3-4 sets with 8-15 reps of barbell or dumbbell pullovers at the end of your chest day. Make sure that you squeeze the pecs at bottom position to initiate the movement and try keeping them tensed throughout the rep.
Use Dumbbell Pullovers to Target Your Lats
With slight variation you can also use the pullover to isolate the lats, greatly eliminating the help of the other muscles. This makes the pullover a perfect isolation exercise for developing the back. If you want to target your lats, bend your elbows slightly and keep them pointing forward, instead of letting them flare out. Focus on pulling with your elbows, while keeping the forearms and hands relaxed to eliminate triceps contribution.
When the pullovers are used as lats pumping exercise perform them as the first exercise on back day. They will pre-fatigue the lats and contribute to improving the mind to muscle connection.
Perform 4 sets with 8-12 reps of dumbbell pullovers with your elbows slightly bent. Slowing down the rep speed will help you focus on isolating the lats.
How to Add Pullovers to Your Routine
- For chest: 3–4 sets of 8–15 reps with straight arms, as the last exercise of your chest day.
- For lats: 4 sets of 8–12 reps with slightly bent elbows, as the first exercise of your back day.
- For both: superset pullovers with dumbbell flyes on chest day, or with pull-ups on back day.
Start light, move slowly and stop if you feel any pinching in your shoulders. Do that, and the old-school “upper body squat” may become one of your favorite exercises too. So, what do you think of the dumbbell pullover?
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Great discription, thanks
This is a great exercise to add to u to our daily work out. I’ve been doing this for a couple years and you can feel it in your chest back and arms. Give it a try but start light so you don’t hurt yourself. Good luck!
I’ ve been doing this exercise for 15 years never once did I feel it in my shoulders ,though triceps and lats may take over .Can you please explain which part of shoulder kicks in while performing this move?.Great article on a classic exercise.
Thank you.
When we say shoulders we mean ligaments and rotator cuffs. Going to low during the descending movement with heavier weight can damage the ligaments. The actual deltoid muscles are not so much involved.
Ronnie Coleman’s body is completely ruined. Not exactly someone to emulate for long term joint health.