What muscles does the kettlebell pullover to glute raise work?

The lats pull the bell from behind your head to above your chest, with the triceps holding the elbows and the chest contributing to the same motion. The hip lift is driven by the glutes with the hamstrings assisting, and your abs work throughout to stop the ribs flaring over the dome.

Are pullovers for lats or chest?

The sources disagree and both have a point. The lat and the lower part of the chest both pull the arm from overhead down toward the body, which is the whole exercise, so both are working. If you want the lats without the argument, do a row or a pulldown instead.

How far back should the kettlebell go?

As far as your shoulders let it go with your ribs still drawn down, and no further. Nothing underneath is going to stop it for you here, so the limit is the point where your back would start to arch further to buy you the next few inches.

Why do my hamstrings cramp when I lift my hips?

Usually because your feet are too far from your body for the hip lift, which asks the hamstrings to supply hip extension from a position they are poor at working in. Walk your heels in until your shins are close to vertical at the top.

Do you need the dome, or will the floor do?

The floor works and it changes both halves. Your arms stop at your own height instead of traveling below it, so the pullover gets shorter, and your hips start higher, so the lift gets shorter too. Anything low, stable and narrow enough to sit under your shoulder blades gives you the version demonstrated here, and a step or the edge of a bench is easier to stay still on than a dome.

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Kettlebell · intermediate · back

Kettlebell pullover to glute raise

Also called Kettlebell pullover to hip raise, Pullover to bridge, Kettlebell pullover bridge, Pullover hip raise combo, Dome pullover to glute bridge.

The summary

With your upper back resting on a low dome and your feet flat on the floor, you take a kettlebell back over your head and pull it to above your chest, then lift your hips. The lats do the pulling over, because bringing your arm from overhead down toward your body is what a lat does, with the triceps helping hold the elbows. The hip lift is driven by the glutes with the hamstrings assisting. Your abs work across both, stopping your ribs from flaring as the bell goes back. The support under your shoulders is what makes it worth pairing them: it gives the arms somewhere to travel to at one end and the hips somewhere to go at the other.

How to do it

Step oneRest your upper back on a low dome or step with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
Step twoLower the kettlebell back over your head in a pullover motion until you feel a stretch in your lats.
Step threeReturn the kettlebell above your chest, then simultaneously raise your hips off the ground into a glute bridge.
Step fourLower your hips back to the ground, then repeat the pullover.

What usually goes wrong

Your ribs lift and the arch in your back deepens as the bell travels back.

WhyYou are reaching further by opening your spine rather than your shoulders. When the arms run out of range, the ribcage is the next thing that can move, and lying back over a dome has already put you in a small arch before the bell has gone anywhere.

FixDraw your ribs down toward your hips and hold them there before the bell moves. Stop it at the point where they would start to lift, and let that be the bottom of the rep whatever your arms could have reached.

You are hunting for a deeper stretch and your shoulders feel pinched at the bottom.

WhyForcing the range past what your shoulders currently give you. Your shoulders are above the floor here, so nothing stops the bell at the bottom except you, and gravity is helping it down.

FixTake the bell only as far as you can control it back from, under your own power, with no bounce at the bottom. Range that you cannot reverse is not range you own.

Your arms and shoulders are what tire, and you never feel your back working.

WhyThe bell is too heavy for the lever it is on, so your elbows bend and your arms take over what your lats were meant to do.

FixGo lighter and keep a small, fixed bend in your elbows for the whole arc. A bell that is out at arm length is much heavier than it looks on the rack.

The two halves blur together and neither feels like much.

WhyYou are lifting your hips while the bell is still moving, so the pullover never finishes and the bridge never gets a top position.

FixFinish the pullover with the bell settled above your chest, then lift the hips as a separate exercise and hold the top for a beat. Two exercises sharing a rep, not one blurred one.

Is the pullover a back exercise or a chest exercise

This has been argued for decades and the published sources genuinely do not agree. Some list the lats as the primary mover with the chest assisting. Others list the chest as primary and the lats as secondary, and say the emphasis depends on how you do it.

The reason nobody can settle it is anatomical rather than a matter of opinion. The lat and the lower part of the chest both do the same job at the shoulder: they bring the arm from overhead down toward the body. A pullover is that exact motion, so both muscles have a legitimate claim on it and both are working.

What that means for you is simple enough. Do not choose this expecting it to be a back exercise that also happens to hit the chest, or the reverse. If you want the lats specifically, pulling exercises where you row or pull down against resistance leave much less room for argument. Do this one because you like it and because it works the shoulder through a range most exercises never visit.

What the dome under your back is for

Almost everything written about the pullover assumes a bench, and the reason is range. With your torso raised, the arms can travel well below the level of your chest at the bottom, which is the long, stretched position the exercise is prized for. Flat on the floor, the ground stops your arms at your own height and that position never happens.

The dome buys back most of it, and it costs you something in exchange. It is rounded rather than flat, so it does not hold you the way a bench would, and it is short, so only your upper back is on it and your head hangs off the end. Both are reasons to keep the bell lighter than you would use lying down, not reasons to skip it. A step or a low bench edge under the shoulder blades does the same job with less to think about.

It also cancels the pullover's best-known fault. On a bench, letting your hips lift is listed as an error. Here, lifting your hips is the second half of the exercise, so the only thing to get right is doing it after the pullover has finished rather than during it.

What it is for

The kettlebell pullover to glute raise combines a lat-focused pullover with a glute bridge, targeting the lats and the posterior chain in one exercise. The upper back rests on a low dome rather than the floor, which is what lets the bell travel behind your head far enough to load the lats at length.

Questions people ask

What muscles does the kettlebell pullover to glute raise work?: The lats pull the bell from behind your head to above your chest, with the triceps holding the elbows and the chest contributing to the same motion. The hip lift is driven by the glutes with the hamstrings assisting, and your abs work throughout to stop the ribs flaring over the dome.
Are pullovers for lats or chest?: The sources disagree and both have a point. The lat and the lower part of the chest both pull the arm from overhead down toward the body, which is the whole exercise, so both are working. If you want the lats without the argument, do a row or a pulldown instead.
How far back should the kettlebell go?: As far as your shoulders let it go with your ribs still drawn down, and no further. Nothing underneath is going to stop it for you here, so the limit is the point where your back would start to arch further to buy you the next few inches.
Why do my hamstrings cramp when I lift my hips?: Usually because your feet are too far from your body for the hip lift, which asks the hamstrings to supply hip extension from a position they are poor at working in. Walk your heels in until your shins are close to vertical at the top.
Do you need the dome, or will the floor do?: The floor works and it changes both halves. Your arms stop at your own height instead of traveling below it, so the pullover gets shorter, and your hips start higher, so the lift gets shorter too. Anything low, stable and narrow enough to sit under your shoulder blades gives you the version demonstrated here, and a step or the edge of a bench is easier to stay still on than a dome.