How To Do Stability Ball Overhead Lat Pull

Chris Freytag Performing an overhead lat pull on a stability ball wearing black yoga pants and a blue shirt

Stability Ball Overhead Lat Pull is a great way to strengthen your lats and core and challenges your stability by having you try to do the work while lying back on the stability ball. The Overhead Lat Pull is commonly done while lying on a weight bench or even on the floor. These stable surfaces let you put all the effort into the lats. On other hand, if you learn how to do Stability Ball Overhead Lat Pull you are strengthening core muscles as your body works to maintain a still position on the ball.

When you learn how to do Stability Ball Overhead Lat Pull choose weights that allow you to reach your arms behind your head slowly with just a slight bend in the elbow. Start a bit lighter to test this out and move to heavier weights when you are confident. Keep your shoulder blades pulled down toward your tailbone and keep your ribs pulled in and down, especially when the arms are lowering back.

The stability ball is the difference-maker in this move. By balancing your body on the ball instead of doing it on a stable surface like a weight bench, you are teaching the muscles of the core to engage in order to keep you from rolling around or even falling off the ball. A tip for the first time you try this is to keep your feet wide in order to assist your stability. As you feel stronger and more confident, draw your feet and legs closer together to work your core even harder. The stability ball is an excellent tool! Be sure to choose a ball according to your size. The taller and bigger you are, the bigger the ball should be. Since your body is on top of the ball for this exercise be sure it is not too small for your frame.

After you try the Overhead Lat Pull, check out our “Use The Ball, Lose the Belly Core Workout. Also, check out our full body workout Stability Ball Total Body Toner.

Here are the steps to performing Stability Ball Overhead Lat Pull:

1) Hold a pair of dumbbells close to your chest and place your shoulder blades and head on top of the ball with the rest of your body in a table top position. Feet should be hip distance apart.

2) Raise dumbbells together straight above chest, palms facing in.

3) Slowly lower arms behind the back of your head, keeping only a slight bend in your elbows.

4) Squeeze your lats as you pull arms back to start position above chest.

Targets: back, core