Front Plate Raise

How to do it

1. Hold a weight plate at the sides with both hands, arms hanging in front of your thighs.
2. Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart and your stomach braced.
3. Raise the plate straight out in front of you with only a small bend at the elbows.
4. Stop when the plate reaches shoulder height.
5. Lower under control to the thighs.
6. Start each repetition from a dead stop rather than a swing.

Common mistakes

• Leaning back as the plate rises. The lower back arching is the trunk lifting the weight; if it takes a lean, the plate is too heavy.
• Raising well above shoulder height. Above that the shoulder blade rotates and the traps take over, and the front of the shoulder has already done all it can.
• Holding the plate at the top and bottom edges rather than the sides. Gripping the sides keeps the wrists neutral and stops the plate from wanting to rotate out of your hands.
• Adding it to a program already full of pressing. The front of the shoulder works on every press and every incline press, which makes it one of the few areas more often over-trained than neglected.

Muscles worked

Primary

• Anterior DeltoidShoulders