Dumbbell Pullover
The dumbbell pullover is a lying movement where you lower one dumbbell in an arc behind your head and pull it back over your chest. It trains the chest and lats together, with the triceps helping to stabilise. Pick it for a big overhead stretch that presses and rows don't give you.
Muscles worked
The dumbbell pullover trains the chest and lats, with triceps helping.
Weekly sets for chest
Hard sets per week that Swole.fit plans for chest, counting every exercise that trains it. Start a cycle near the growth line and climb toward the recovery limit before a deload.
How to do the dumbbell pullover
- 01Lie on a flat bench, either along it or across it with your upper back supported and hips low.
- 02Hold one dumbbell over your chest with both hands cupping the inner plate, elbows slightly bent.
- 03Breathe in and lower the dumbbell back behind your head in an arc, keeping the elbow bend constant.
- 04Stop when your upper arms are roughly in line with your torso or you feel a strong stretch through your lats and chest.
- 05Pull the dumbbell back over your chest along the same arc and exhale near the top.
Coaching cues
- Arms move as one long lever
- Ribs down as the weight goes back
- Pull from the armpits
Common mistakes
- Bending the elbows more as you lower turns it into a tricep extension, so lock the elbow angle in place.
- Flaring your ribs and arching hard to get deeper fakes the range, so brace your abs and stop where your shoulders allow.
- Holding the dumbbell loosely by the handle is risky overhead, so cup the inner plate firmly with both palms.
How Swole.fit programs it
Log it once and the app plans the next session for you.
- Most sets land between 8 and 15 reps, the range the plan steers compound lifts toward for size.
- Week one starts around 2 to 3 reps in reserve. Each week you train a little closer to failure, ending around 0 to 1 in reserve before a deload week.
- Hit the top of the range on every set and the next session adds the smallest real jump in weight, rounded to the plates, dumbbells or stack you actually have.
- Sets for this exercise count toward your weekly volume for every muscle it trains: a full set for the primary muscles, half a set for the helpers.
The full method, with the maths, is in how mesocycles work.
Dumbbell Pullover alternatives
Same muscles, different tool. Swap in one of these when the equipment is taken or your joints want a change.
Log it. Let the app plan the next one.
Track your dumbbell pullover free. Swole.fit picks the next weight, counts your weekly sets and tells you when to deload.