Front delts exercise
Arnold PressHow to do it, with form in numbers
- Main muscles
- Front delts, Side delts
- Also works
- Triceps
- Level
- Intermediate
How to do it
How do you do the Arnold Press?
- Sit tall on an upright bench, dumbbells at chin height, palms facing you.
- Press up while turning your palms to face forward.
- Let your elbows open out to the sides as you press.
- Finish with arms almost straight over your shoulders.
- Reverse the turn slowly on the way down.
Cues
- Turn and press together
- Elbows open out as you rise
- Back stays on the pad
Common mistakes
- Twisting the wrists only at the top: turn smoothly through the press.
- Arching your back off the bench: brace and keep it on the pad.
- Locking your elbows hard: stop just short of straight.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
Starting position
Seated on an upright bench with a back pad. Seat about 46 cm high; back pad vertical (90°), accept 80–90° from the floor (same bench as the seated dumbbell press). Head, shoulders and buttocks on the pad, feet flat about shoulder-width apart, knees about 90°. Torso braced, no low-back arch. Closed grip on each dumbbell, wrists straight. The grip starts supinated (palms facing the body) and ends pronated (palms forward).
The movement
One smooth movement. As the press begins, the elbows swing out to the sides and up while the forearms turn; the palms rotate about 180° in total, from facing the body to facing forward. By the time the elbows reach shoulder height they sit about 30° in front of the frontal plane, the dumbbells at ear height with palms nearly forward: the bottom position of the seated dumbbell press. From there the dumbbells press up and slightly in. The way down reverses the path exactly: lower to ear height, then bring the elbows forward and together while the palms turn back to the face. Torso and head stay still on the pad.
End position
(turnaround point): arms almost straight, elbows at about 170–175°, not locked. Dumbbells directly over the shoulder joints, palms facing forward, inner ends about 5 cm apart. Arms close to the ears.
Tempo
About 2 s up (rotate and press together), about 0.2 s at the top (WebMD advises no long pause), about 2.5 s down, about 0.3 s at the start position.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dumbbell height at the start | chin | upper chest to chin | |
| Palm rotation, start to top | 180° | 160–180° | |
| Elbows forward of the frontal plane, at shoulder height | 30° | 20–40° | |
| Elbow at the top | 172° | 165–178°, no lock | |
| Gap between dumbbells at the top | 5 cm | 0–8 cm | |
| Back pad angle | 90° | 80–90° |
The targets our 3D demo was built to, from the references below. Bodies differ, so treat the ranges as a guide for your own build.
For coaches
Use this demo in your clients’ programs
The Arnold Press is in Trainaq’s exercise library. Add it to a workout, and your client sees this demo in the free Trainaq app above the sets they log.
Sources
