Many hardcore gym rats recall seeing bodybuilding icon Arnold Schwarzenegger pumping out sets of dumbbell pullovers back in the day. That may be the last time most people have seen this move performed anywhere.
This old-school bodybuilding exercise has fallen off the radar in recent years, but the pullover is possibly one of the most underrated exercises in your training arsenal—if you understand how to use it properly, of course. The dumbbell pullover targets a host of muscle groups, including your chest, shoulders, back, and (if you're keeping your posture solid) even your abs.
It’s time to be reintroduced to this move, as Men’s Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S., and fitness editor Brett Williams, N.A.S.M.-CPT, demonstrate in the latest Form Check. First though, Samuel points out that successfully performing the dumbbell pullover actually requires an understanding of how your abs play a role in the pullover more than you probably thought, which goes along with the initial goal of finding a safer shoulder position to perform pullovers.
How to Do the Dumbbell Pullover
Test Your Overhead
A proper dumbbell pullover requires getting into a good overhead position without overarching your back, according to Samuel. Test your ability to do so by putting one hand on your ribcage while raising your other, with the goal of keeping your rib cage down while not allowing your back to arch. If this cannot be accomplished without holding any load, you may want to try another lat-friendly as an alternative, as adding any additional load to the pullover would yield negative results.
If you’re able to get in a good position, it’s time to focus on one of the muscle groups working here: In this case shoulder extension, which is the responsibility of the lat muscles.
The Dumbbell Pullover Setup
In this ab-intensive exercise, start by getting your shoulder blades onto the bench, putting your shins in a perpendicular position with the bench, knees at a 90-degree angle. Focus then on squeezing your abs and glutes to create tension, while keeping a parallel line from the shoulders to the knees, maintaining this position for as long as possible during the movement.
“I also want you to think about keeping your ribcage down,” Samuel says. Finally, raise the weight overhead, setting your shoulder blades and driving them into the bench.
The Dumbbell Pullover Movement
A key thing to remember in the next stage is getting the most out of your lats, which become more powerful when the shoulders are externally rotated. Do this by driving your elbows forward, maintaining the position and tension as you lower the dumbbell backward.
You want to drive your elbows up toward the ceiling as you’re going down as far as possible for the maximum safe range of motion.
Dumbbell Pullover Mistakes to Avoid
There are few other points to be aware of while doing dumbbell pullovers. Don't bend your elbows—you'll take away the lever for your lats and offload the work to your triceps. Avoid flaring your elbows and instead focus on allowing keeping control of a tight, externally rotated position. Also, think about pulling the weight to a top position of a 91-degree angle relative to torso. And don’t forget to concentrate on keeping your ribcage closed the entire set, which keeps the pullover not only a back move but an abs exercise as well. Finally, because there is so much to focus on, high reps are not necessary, think three to four sets of eight to 10 quality reps.
“Take your time as you're doing them and make sure to really squeeze those elbows,” Samuel says. “Especially if you want to really grow those lats you're gonna have a ton of fun with these.”
Want to master even more moves? Check out our entire Form Check series.
