maratoolStanding Dumbbell Straight-Arm Front Delt Raise Above Head
How to do the standing dumbbell straight-arm front delt raise above head
- Hold the dumbbells in front of your thighs, palms facing your thighs.
- Keep your arms straight with a slight bend at the elbows but keep them locked. This will be your starting position.
- Raise the dumbbells in a semicircular motion to arm's length overhead as you exhale.
- Slowly return to the starting position using the same path as you inhale.
- 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.
Every exercise for:Shoulders
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
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:
- Standing Front Barbell Raise Over Headbarbell
- Standing Low-Pulley Deltoid Raisecable
- Standing Two-Arm Overhead Throwmedicine ball
- Two-Arm Kettlebell Cleankettlebell
- Back Flyes - With Bandsband
Difficulty
Listed at intermediate level. It assumes you already own the underlying pattern and can hold position under load — if the position breaks before the target muscle tires, drop back to a beginner variation until it does not.
Of the 141 shoulders exercises in this database, 46 are listed at intermediate level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.