Front Incline Dumbbell Raise

How to do it

1. Set an incline bench to about forty-five degrees and lie face down against it, chest on the pad.
2. Let both arms hang straight down with a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing each other or down.
3. Set a small bend at the elbows and hold it.
4. Raise both arms forward and up in front of you until they reach about shoulder height relative to your torso.
5. Squeeze briefly at the top.
6. Lower under control until the arms hang straight again.

Common mistakes

• Lifting the chest off the pad. The pad fixes the torso; coming off it lets the back extend and hides how far the arms actually travelled.
• Raising past the point where the shoulder blade starts to rotate. As with any front raise, the front of the shoulder has done what it can by about shoulder height.
• Going heavy. Face down, nothing helps — no lean, no leg drive — and the honest load is well below a standing front raise.
• Letting the arms drift out to the sides. Forward is a front raise; out to the side is a lateral raise, and lying at an angle makes the difference easy to blur.

Muscles worked

Primary

• Anterior DeltoidShoulders