Kettlebell Sumo High Pull

Muscles worked

The prime mover is the trapezius, which shrugs the shoulder blade up, rotates it, and pulls it back down.

Because more than one joint is moving, the work does not stay in one place: the adductors steady the thigh against the pull away from the midline; the glutes finish hip extension; the hamstrings assist hip extension and slow the knee down.

The quadriceps and shoulders take a share of the work as well.

Every exercise for:TrapsAdductorsGlutesHamstringsQuadriceps

How this movement works

The load travels toward you and several joints bend to bring it there. The arms finish work the back starts, so grip and elbow flexors sit in the path of every repetition: when people stall on a compound pull, it is more often the hands giving out than the primary muscle running out of force.

It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.

What you need

A kettlebell's mass hangs below and outside the handle, so it pulls away from the grip and the wrist has to stay packed. That offset is why racked and swinging variations feel nothing like the dumbbell version.

Every exercise using:Kettlebell

These train the traps too, using equipment this one does not:

• Leverage Shrugmachine
• Shoulder Shrugsdumbbell
• Smith Machine Upright Rowsmith machine + machine
• Snatch Shrugbarbell
• Upright Cable Rowcable

Difficulty

Listed at intermediate level. It assumes you already own the underlying pattern and can hold position under load — if the position breaks before the target muscle tires, drop back to a beginner variation until it does not.

Of the 18 traps exercises in this database, 3 are listed at intermediate level.