How to do Front Raises
Strengthen up your shoulders and shore up your upper body with our guide on how to do front raises.
If you’re concerned about creating stronger, more stable shoulders and keeping injury at bay, then learning how to do front raises is key.
They’ll work key muscles in this often very delicate area to ensure you have a stable foundation for those bigger lifts, like the bench press.
Check out our guide on how to do front raises today.
How to do front raises
- Stand up straight with a dumbbell in each hand and your arms by your side
- Keep your back in a strong neutral position and your arms straight and begin to raise both dumbbells up in front of you with your palms facing down, but with your wrists twisted so your thumbs are pointing up slightly
- Stop when your hands are level with your shoulders
- Slowly lower the dumbbells down again until they’re touching the front of your legs
Tip: Don’t go for a heavy weight on this, the shoulder joint is very delicate and you need to start off by training lighter weights
Tip #2: Try not to shrug the weight up. If you start doing this the weight is too heavy. Drop the load for something lighter and aim to keep your shoulders as still as possible throughout.
What muscles do front raises work?
Your shoulder joint is supported by the three heads of the deltoid, which are the posterior (back), medial (side) and anterior (front) heads [1].
By lifting the weight up directly in front of you and slowly lowering it, you’re triggering the anterior head of your shoulder. As this muscle is responsible for lifting your arms in front of you, it takes the majority of the strain in this exercise [2].
On top of that, learning how to do front raises will work the medial head, along with a range of muscles throughout your arm.
When you start to work the front raise in your upper body workouts, you may find you benefit from stronger military and bench presses, due to greater shoulder stability.
[Related Article: Best Arms Workout for Women]
