Dumbbell Front Raise
Front raises are primarily performed to place more emphasis on the anterior head of the deltoid (shoulder muscle).
The pectoralis major assists in raising the arms. In particular, the fibers that run from the clavicle to the upper arm, also known as the “upper chest.”
Besides the deltoid itself, various muscles around the shoulder joint are used to stabilize it. Smaller stabilizing muscles such as the four rotator cuff muscles, as well as the larger trapezius, which pulls the shoulder joint upward.
In the arms, the biceps and triceps have a stabilizing role in keeping the position of the forearm relative to the upper arm unchanged. The muscles in the forearms then stabilize the wrist joint to control the dumbbells or barbell.
Core muscles such as the abdominal muscles and muscles along the spine keep the torso upright. Depending on the execution (standing, seated with or without back support), their involvement may be greater or smaller.
In this variation, the front raises are performed with dumbbells.
Dumbbell front raise execution
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1
Stand with the dumbbells in your hands. Keep your arms beside your body and your thumbs pointing forward (palms facing inward, “neutral grip”)*.
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2
Keep your arms slightly bent beside your body.
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3
Raise one arm straight forward and upward. Maintain the same slight bend in the arm. Keep your palms facing inward*. Keep the rest of your body as still as possible.
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4
Finish at the height just before your shoulders start to feel pinched. Slightly above shoulder height should be a safe height for most people.
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5
Hold the weight here for 1–2 seconds.
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6
Lower the arm back to the starting position in a controlled manner over 2–3 seconds
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7
Repeat on the other side.
Dumbbell front raise
Muscles involved:
Shoulder joint:
- Deltoid (primarily anterior head)
- Rotator cuff (subscapularis, supraspinatus, infraspinatus, and teres minor)
- Trapezius
- Levator scapulae
Chest:
- Pectoralis major (primarily upper portion)
Arms
- Triceps
- Biceps
- Forearm muscles
Abdomen:
- Rectus abdominis (straight abdominal muscle)
- External oblique (external oblique abdominal muscle)
- Internal oblique (internal oblique abdominal muscle)
- Transversus abdominis (transverse abdominal muscle, “corset muscle”)
Lower back and spine:
- Erector spinae
- Lumbar multifidus
- Quadratus lumborum
Dumbbell front raise technique
“For the front of the shoulder”
The deltoid pulls on the upper arms from three directions. Front raises are usually performed by people who want to train the front of the shoulder with them. The exercise often begins with the thumbs pointing forward (neutral grip), and the arm is rotated inward, ending in a pronated grip (thumbs pointing inward). Two important points can be made here:
- Front raises are not the exercise that activates the front deltoids the most.
- Rotating the hands and therefore the shoulders inward activates the front of the shoulder even less.
The barbell shoulder press (and even the barbell behind-neck press) would activate the anterior head of the shoulder more. According to relatively limited EMG data, the bench press itself also appears to demand more from the anterior head of the shoulders than front raises.
*This already assumes that the hands are kept in a neutral position throughout the exercise. The palms remain facing inward. Performing the exercise with a pronated grip (palms facing backward, thumbs pointing inward) shifts the emphasis more toward the lateral head of the deltoid.
This is also an advantage of using dumbbells over a barbell that forces a pronated grip. Another advantage of dumbbells, provided you perform the movement alternately with each arm, is that the lower back and glutes do not have to work as hard to keep your back straight.
Arms bent or straight
The more straight your arms are, the farther your hands are from you, and the heavier the weight they are holding becomes. Front raises with straight arms can therefore be heavier than using a slightly heavier weight with bent arms. Normally, you want to make the exercise more challenging through proper execution, which would mean straightening the arms as much as possible.
However, the more you straighten your arms, the greater the stress on the elbow joint and the muscles that must stabilize it. Bending the arms slightly more can make it easier to focus completely on the upper arms.
Raise, don’t swing
Because you move the weight mainly forward during the first part of the exercise, the muscles do not yet have to work as hard. Gravity starts pulling harder as the weight rises. The endpoint of the exercise is therefore the most challenging. Unfortunately, this point is often neglected.
A common mistake with front raises (and lateral raises as well) is performing the exercise ballistically. The arms are thrown forward with a swinging motion, and momentum then helps bring the arm farther upward. At the top, the weight is barely held and is simply allowed to fall back down. Sometimes you even see the legs being used to build momentum and, with the dumbbell version, people starting “with a run-up” by first moving the dumbbell slightly backward.
This is not a way to make the shoulder muscles work. It is a way to raise a weight with as little effort as possible. The shoulders then only have to work at the top of the movement, while the lowering phase (eccentric phase) is almost completely neglected.
Instead, raise the weight in a controlled manner. You should be able to hold the weight still for a few seconds at any point in the movement; if not, you are training with too much weight. At the top of the movement, actually hold the weight for 1 to 2 seconds. Then lower it back in a controlled manner over about 3 seconds. Keep the rest of your body as still as possible to prevent “cheating.”
Alternatives
- Barbell shoulder press
- Barbell behind-neck press
- Barbell front raises
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