maratoolStanding Front Barbell Raise Over Head
How to do the standing front barbell raise over head
- To begin, stand straight with a barbell in your hands. You should grip the bar with palms facing down and a closer than shoulder width grip apart from each other.
- Your feet should be shoulder width apart from each other. Your elbows should be slightly bent. This is the starting position.
- Lift the barbell up until it is directly over your head while exhaling. Make sure to keep your elbows slightly bent when performing each repetition.
- Once you feel the contraction, begin to lower the barbell back down to the starting position 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
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:
- Standing Low-Pulley Deltoid Raisecable
- Standing Palm-In One-Arm Dumbbell Pressdumbbell
- 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.