Dumbbell pullover
Lying on a bench, one dumbbell in both hands arcs from over your chest to behind your head. Lats and chest through a long stretch.
The movement
Over the chest
01 Over the chest
One dumbbell in both hands over the shoulders, elbows slightly bent.
02 Arc behind the head
Lower the weight in an arc behind the head until the ribs feel the stretch.
How to do it
Setup
- Lie along the bench with your head supported and your feet flat on the floor.
- Press one dumbbell over your chest, both palms flat against the inside of the top plate.
- Bend your elbows slightly and keep that bend fixed.
Execution
- Lower the dumbbell in an arc behind your head until you feel a deep stretch down your ribs.
- Pause without letting the weight drop.
- Pull it back through the same arc to over your chest.
BreathingInhale deep as the weight goes back, exhale as you pull it over.
Form cues
- The elbow bend never changes. The shoulders do all the moving.
- Ribs stay down so the lower back cannot arch.
Common mistakes
- Arching the lower back off the bench to fake a longer range.
- Bending and straightening the elbows, which turns it into a sloppy triceps extension.
- Starting with a weight that cannot be paused at the bottom.
Worth knowing
- The weight travels over your face and head, so lock your grip before the first rep and keep the lowering slow. This is an exercise to build up gradually, never to test.
General guidance, not medical advice. See how Setkit works.
Notes
The pullover loads the one movement nothing else on a bench trains, pulling your arms from overhead back down toward your body. That arc belongs to the lats, with the chest sharing the first half, and it is the only way to work it with just a dumbbell and a bench. No bar to hang from, no anchor point, one weight.
The stretch at the bottom is where the exercise lives. Lowering the weight behind your head lengthens the lats further than rows or even pull-ups reach, and slow reps through that position are what it does that nothing else in a home setup can. Shorten the arc and it becomes a mediocre triceps exercise.
Keep the load honest. A weight you can pause behind your head, in sets of 10–15, trains the stretch. A heavier one just teaches your lower back to arch and your elbows to flare. Add it after your pressing or rowing work, when a long slow burn down the sides of your ribs is exactly what you want, and it also serves as the fallback vertical pull on days the bar is occupied.