How to do the Dumbbell Pullover
Step by step
- Lie on a bench holding one dumbbell over your chest with both hands cupping the top end.
- Keep a soft, fixed bend in the elbows for the whole set.
- Lower the dumbbell in an arc back behind your head until you feel the lats stretch.
- Pull it back over your chest along the same arc, driving with the lats.
- Stop over the chest and repeat, keeping the elbow angle unchanged.
The thing people get wrong
Keep a soft elbow that never changes - if the elbows bend and straighten, it turns into a triceps move and stresses the shoulder.
Coaching cue
Stop lowering when you feel the stretch under your armpits, not when your shoulders start to ache.
Stay safe
Cup the dumbbell securely with both hands; it passes right over your face at the top of every rep.
Make it easier or harder
- Easier: Use a lighter dumbbell and go less far behind your head.
- Harder: Pause two seconds in the stretched position each rep.
Muscles worked
- Primary: Lats
- Secondary: Chest
Daily Coach builds this into a real weekly plan. It picks the exercises for your equipment and experience, swaps around injuries you tell it about, and tracks what you actually lifted.