Front delts exercise
Dumbbell Front RaiseHow to do it, with form in numbers
- Main muscles
- Front delts
- Also works
- Upper chest
- Equipment
- Dumbbell
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
How do you do the Dumbbell Front Raise?
- Stand tall, dumbbells in front of your thighs, palms facing you.
- Brace your abs and keep a slight bend in your elbows.
- Raise both arms straight in front to shoulder height.
- Pause, then lower slowly to your thighs.
Cues
- Stop at shoulder height
- Body still, arms only
- Shoulders down and back
Common mistakes
- Leaning back to swing the weights: brace and use lighter dumbbells.
- Lifting too high: stop when your arms are level with your shoulders.
- Bending your elbows into a curl: keep the same slight bend.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
Starting position
Standing tall, feet slightly wider than hip-width apart (or a split stance), knees soft. Torso braced and upright, shoulder blades down and back, head in line with the spine. One dumbbell in each hand, closed pronated grip (palms facing the thighs, thumbs round), wrists straight. Hands about shoulder-width apart.
The movement
Both arms rise together in a forward arc in the sagittal plane, elbows and upper arms leading slightly ahead of the hands. Only the shoulders move. The torso does not lean back, the hips do not push forward, the knees do not bounce, the shoulders do not shrug. The way down retraces the arc slowly to the thighs. Sources differ on height: ACE stops at shoulder level and parallel to the floor; ExRx goes to just above horizontal.
End position
(turnaround point): arms raised straight in front to shoulder height, about parallel to the floor: shoulder flexion about 90° (accept 80–100°). Hands still about shoulder-width apart, directly in front of the shoulders. Elbow bend unchanged. Past about 60–70° the dumbbells turn slightly so the inner (thumb) edge points a little up, per ACE. A short pause.
Tempo
About 2 s up, a 0.5 s pause at the top, about 2.5 s down, a light touch at the thighs with no rest.
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
| Measure | Target | Good range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shoulder flexion at the top | 90° | 80–100° | |
| Elbow flexion (held all rep) | 10° | 5–20° | |
| Hands apart | shoulder width | shoulder width to 10 cm wider | |
| Torso lean back from vertical | 0° | under 5° | |
| Shoulder shrug (acromion rise) | 0 cm | under 2 cm | |
| Pause at the top | 0.5 s | 0.3–1 s |
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 Dumbbell Front Raise 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
