maratoolSingle Dumbbell Raise
How to do the single dumbbell raise
- With a wide stance, hold a dumbell with both hands, grasping the head of the dumbbell instead of the handle. Your arms should be extended and hanging at the waist. This will be your starting position.
- Raise the weight until it is above shoulder level, keeping your arms extended. Your torso and hips should remain stationary throughout the movement.
- Return to the starting position and repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.
Muscles worked
The prime movers are the deltoids, which raise and rotate the upper arm at the shoulder joint.
Even with a single joint doing the moving, the muscle is not working alone — the forearms hold the grip, which is often what gives out first; the traps anchor the shoulder blade against the load.
How this movement works
Everything happens at one joint. That gives you direct control over where the tension sits; the trade-off is that the muscle gets no help, so the load that feels hard here is a fraction of what a multi-joint version of the pattern would take. Slow, complete repetitions beat heavy ones.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
Dumbbells let each side work on its own, surfacing a strength difference between limbs that a barbell would quietly cover for, and leaving the wrist free to rotate through the movement.
Every exercise using:Dumbbell
These train the shoulders too, using equipment this one does not:
- Single-Arm Linear Jammerbarbell
- Smith Machine One-Arm Upright Rowmachine
- Smith Machine Rear Deltoid Rowsmith machine
- Standing Low-Pulley Deltoid Raisecable
- Standing Two-Arm Overhead Throwmedicine ball
Difficulty
Listed at beginner level: the pattern is simple enough to pick up without coaching, and a position that goes wrong mid-set is obvious enough to correct on the next repetition.
Of the 141 shoulders exercises in this database, 74 are listed at beginner level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.