Straight Arm Dumbbell Pullover

Muscles worked

The prime mover is the pectoralis major, which drives the upper arm forward and across the body.

Because more than one joint is moving, the work does not stay in one place: the triceps straighten the elbow to finish the movement; the lats keep the upper arm drawn in toward the torso; the deltoids stabilise the shoulder and add force at the top of the range.

Every exercise for:ChestTricepsLatsShoulders

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 bench fixes the torso angle and gives you something to drive against, which is what lets the load go up without your position wandering.

Dumbbells let each side work on its own, surfacing a strength difference between limbs that a barbell would quietly cover for, and leaving the wrist free to rotate through the movement.

Every exercise using:BenchDumbbell

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

• Alternating Floor Presskettlebell
• Barbell Bench Press - Medium Gripbarbell
• Bench Press - With Bandsband
• Bodyweight Flyese-z curl bar
• Bosu Ball Push Upexercise ball

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 105 chest exercises in this database, 22 are listed at intermediate level.