maratoolSmith Incline Shoulder Raise
How to do the smith incline shoulder raise
- Place an incline bench underneath the smith machine. Place the barbell at a height that you can reach when lying down and your arms are almost fully extended. Once the weight you need is selected, lie down on the incline bench and make sure your shoulders are aligned right under the barbell.
- Using a shoulder width pronated (palms forward) grip, lift the bar from the rack and hold it straight over you with a slight bend at the elbows. This will be your starting position.
- As you breathe out, lift the bar up until your arms are fully extended. Note: The contraction should be felt around the shoulders.
- After a second pause, bring the bar back down to the starting position as you breathe in.
- Repeat the movement for the prescribed amount of repetitions.
- When you are done, place the bar back in the rack.
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 chest adds pushing force at the shoulder.
How this movement works
One joint moves, and it moves the load away from the body. With nothing recruited to assist, the target muscle reaches its own limit rather than the limit of the weakest link in a chain — which makes this useful for adding volume after the heavy compound work, not for opening a session.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
A barbell locks both hands to one bar, so neither side can drift and the load climbs in plate-sized steps. That makes it the simplest way to add weight and the least forgiving thing to bail out of.
Every exercise using:Barbell
These train the shoulders too, using equipment this one does not:
- Smith Machine One-Arm Upright Rowmachine
- Smith Machine Rear Deltoid Rowsmith machine
- Standing Alternating Dumbbell Pressdumbbell
- 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.