The front raise is a forgotten exercise, often overshadowed by the overhead press and lateral raise. In some circles, it is even classified as unnecessary.
But, in your quest for massive shoulders, ignoring front raises is a mistake. In fact, it can be essential to your shoulder routine if done correctly. Some of the best bodybuilders of all time, including Arnold, Dorian Yates, and Jay Cutler, swore by front raises.
As with any exercise, the key comes down to using proper technique and understanding how to program the movement in the best possible way. In the article, we will go over how to do front raises correctly, form tips, and best variations.
Table of Contents:
- How To Do Front Raises Correctly
- Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Muscles Worked In Front Raises
- Front Raises Variations And Programming Tips
How to Do Front Raises with Proper Form
The technique outlined below is for standard standing dumbbell front raises. However, proper form is virtually the same regardless of the equipment used.
How to do Front Raises:
- Start by grabbing a pair of dumbbells, standing with your feet shoulder-width apart, and slightly bending your knees. Clutch the dumbbells with an overhand grip (palms facing down) as they rest against your thighs to get into the starting position.
- Stand up tall with your chest up, upper back tight, and abs braced. Keep a neutral head position with your chin tucked.
- Begin the upward movement by lifting both arms in front of you away from the body. It's okay to have a slight bend in the elbows but try to keep the arms as straight as possible. With this variation, your palms should face the floor during the entire repetition.
- Continue raising the dumbbells until they reach chin level, or slightly below. From there, pause for a second before lowering the dumbbells back down to the starting position.
This move is a great one to include in your dumbbell shoulder workout.
Best Equipment to use for Front Raises
Front raises are a versatile movement that can be done with various equipment, including:
- Dumbbells
- Cable Machines
- Weight Plate
- Barbells
- Kettlebells
- Resistance Bands
Decide which piece of equipment to use for front raises based on what is at your gym and personal preference.
Common Mistakes To Avoid
It's always important to use proper form, but it is particularly important for front raise success. If you have failed to build muscle using front raises in the past, chances are you have made one of these three common mistakes.
1. Going too heavy:
The front raise is not a “power” exercise used to significantly increase muscular strength. When performing front raises, use a weight you can control through a full range of motion. Going too heavy forces you to use other muscles to lift the weight, defeating the exercise's purpose.
Avoid rocking or using momentum to get the weight up. Feel the muscle you are supposed to be working.
2. Shrugging Your Shoulders:
A common mistake is shrugging your shoulders on the upward part of the movement. This takes some tension off the front delt and into the traps. Keep the shoulders retracted and locked down.
The goal is to keep all of the movement in the arms. Save the shoulder shrugging for the next time you include shrugs in your traps routine.
3. Raising the Weights Too High:
If you have watched the movie Pumping Iron, you probably noticed Arnold performing dumbbell front raises by lifting the dumbbell over his head. Now, we don’t want to criticize the technique of one of the best bodybuilders of all time and we love the Arnold Split, but you don’t need to lift the dumbbells that high.
Once the dumbbells go higher than eye level, other muscles besides the front delts come into play. Additionally, many people experience shoulder pain raising the dumbbells overhead.
Front Raises Muscles Worked
The shoulders are composed of three muscles:
During front raises, the anterior deltoid is primarily targeted through shoulder flexion.
Other Muscles Worked:
The anterior delts can't perform this movement alone. Here's a full list of muscles that work during the front raise:
- Anterior Delt
- Lateral Delt
- Upper Chest Muscles
- Triceps
- Upper & Lower Trapezius
Important Note: One of these other muscles may fatigue before the front delt, causing you to end the set before your anterior shoulder tires. This shows the importance of strengthening all of your muscle groups equally.
How Heavy Should Front Raises Be?
The front raise is not an exercise you should go heavy on and perform for low reps. As mentioned, one of the most significant mistakes people make on front raises is using too much weight, causing form breakdown as other muscle groups come into play.
Research shows you don't have to go heavy to build muscle, particularly with an isolation exercise like front raises. In fact, muscle growth is similar across a wide range of repetitions when the volume is the same1.
We want to stick primarily in the 10-15 rep range with front raises. We are targeting muscle hypertrophy, but you could also go even lighter with weights, target 15-20 reps, and train for muscular endurance.
This is not an excuse to take it easy when doing front raises. Push the sets hard and close to failure, so you can grow your anterior delts with front raises.
Different Ways to Perform the Front Raise
There are many different ways to perform front raises. Here are a few tips to help you switch up the movement.
- Alternate arms: One of the easiest changes involves turning it into an alternating dumbbell front raise, which you do just as the name implies: by alternating arms. Thanks to the brief rest each arm gets, you may be able to do a few more reps and maintain proper form. It's a great move to include in your shoulder and arm workout.
- Change your grip: Another easy way to switch things up is simply changing your grip. We explained the palms down variation, but using an underhand or neutral grip will target the delts differently, or may just be more comfortable.
- Use different equipment: Swapping equipment, like using a barbell in place of dumbbells is another great way to change things up. Barbell front raises is the variation you can use the most weight with. Your upper body will thank you for including this in your next workout.
- Combine it with another move: Finally, you can combine this exercise with another, like in the front raise to lateral dumbbell raise. By adding the lateral raise movement, involving first raising your dumbbells in the front, moving them to your sides, and then moving them back to the front before lowering down, you're now effectively hitting your front and lateral delts.
3 Best Front Raise Variations
Looking for more variations? These 3 might be just what your back and shoulder routine needs!
The 3 best front raise variations are:
- Low Pulley Cable Front Raise
- Prone Incline Dumbbell Raise
- Seated Dumbbell Front Raise
1. Low Pulley Cable Front Raise:
A low pulley cable attachment keeps constant tension on the front delt shoulder muscles throughout the full range of motion. Keep your elbows slightly bent throughout the movement, and for a little extra stability, try a standing split stance position. Focus on retracting your shoulder blades slightly throughout the movement.
2. Prone Incline Dumbbell Raise:
Lying with your chest on an incline bench makes it almost impossible to cheat with this shoulder exercise. The front incline dumbbell raise is a great move for focusing on your mind-muscle connection.
3. Seated Dumbbell Front Raise:
Similarly to the face-down incline variation, seated dumbbell raises prevents excessive form breakdown.
Front Raise Programming Tips
Hre are a few programming tips to keep in mind when performing front raises. Also, remember to play around with different front raise variations and grip positions until you find one that feels the best.
- You only need to do front raises once a week. The front delts get a ton of work during all pressing variations.
- Since the front raise is an isolation exercise, it makes sense to program it toward the end of the workout.
- Dumbbell front raises can be performed as a superset with dumbbell side raises. Since each variation works a different part of the shoulder muscle fibers, the two movements complement each other.
- Drop sets work great for dumbbell front raises. On your last set, perform as many reps as you can with a given weight, and with minimal rest, pick a lighter set of dumbbells and perform additional reps.
Sample Shoulder Workout
Prepare to feel the shoulder burn! We recommend including these moves in an upper body day, arm workout, or a chest and shoulder workout.
- Overhead Barbell Press: 4 sets x 6-8 reps
- Seated Dumbbell Lateral Raise: 3 sets x 8-10 reps
- Dumbbell Front Raise: 3 sets x 10-12 reps
- Cable Lateral Raise: 3 sets x 12-15 reps
- Reverse Pec Deck: 3 sets x 8-10 reps
Do Front Raises Hurt Your Shoulders?
Shoulder pain and shoulder joints injuries are widespread when lifting weights.
Do front raises hurt your shoulder joint more than other exercises? It depends. The shoulders are susceptible to pain during many different exercises. The most common culprits are the bench press, overhead press, upright row, and dip.
However, most shoulder pain occurs from poor technique. This is why it is imperative to get your form buttoned up.
One of the issues with the front raise, specifically, is shoulder impingement syndrome.
Shoulder impingement is when a tendon inside your shoulder rubs on a nearby bone as you lift your arm. The rubbing leads to swelling and inflammation, causing pain and discomfort.
Impingement can occur with both front and lateral raises. It is not something everyone experiences, but it can be painful if it happens. In most cases, a combination of rest, ice, and NSAIDs is enough to get the pain to subside.
Avoid things that worsen the pain. If it continues, it makes sense to seek medical advice.
Are Front Raises the Best Exercise for your Front Delts?
If we could only pick one exercise to train the front part of your shoulder, it wouldn't be the front raise. The best option would be a barbell or dumbbell overhead press variation.
However, the good news is that you don't have to pick just one. Front raises are an excellent secondary exercise to include after a heavy pressing movement, like the OHP.
And, for those of you who have elbow pain during heavy pressing exercises, the front raise may, in fact, be the best option to train your front delts.
Looking for more great muscle-building shoulder moves? Check out the 9 Best Barbell Shoulder Exercises!
Prepare to maximize your gains with our exclusive 12-week hypertrophy training program. Choose between a 4 or 5 day training split and gain 2-12 pounds of muscle over 90 days...
References:
- Schoenfeld, Brad J., et al. “Strength and Hypertrophy Adaptations between Low- vs. High-Load Resistance Training.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, vol. 31, no. 12, Dec. 2017, pp. 3508–3523, 10.1519/jsc.0000000000002200.
Kyle Hunt
Author