Front Dumbbell Raise

How to do it

1. Stand with a dumbbell in each hand in front of your thighs, palms facing your legs.
2. Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart and your stomach braced.
3. Raise one arm straight out in front of you with only a small bend at the elbow.
4. Stop when the hand reaches shoulder height.
5. Lower under control to the thigh.
6. Alternate arms, or raise both together if the lower back stays still.

Common mistakes

• Leaning back to get the weight up. The lower back arching is the load being moved by the trunk; if it takes a lean, the dumbbell is too heavy.
• Going well above shoulder height. Above that the shoulder blade has to rotate and the traps take over, and the front of the shoulder has already done everything it can.
• Swinging from the bottom. Starting each repetition from a dead stop against the thigh is what makes a light dumbbell hard here.
• Adding it to a program that already presses overhead. The front of the shoulder is loaded by every press and every incline press, so it is one of the few muscles more likely to be over-trained than neglected.

Muscles worked

Primary

• Anterior DeltoidShoulders