Lifting dumbbells in front of you alternately. Lifting dumbbells in front of you. What muscles work during execution, benefits and types of exercise

Exercise lifting dumbbells in front of you, pumps the front deltas and the front half of the middle deltas. Gives shape and relief to the shoulders. isolation exercise.

Front dumbbell raises maximally isolate the load on the front deltas, stimulate their growth in thickness, hone their shape and relief, and also separate them from pectoral muscles and middle deltas.

The front deltas move the arm forward and up. Such a movement is typical for martial arts (hitting from the bottom up, grabbing and lifting the opponent in front of you), weightlifting (lifting the barbell to the chest), gymnastics (exercises on the uneven bars), volleyball (blocking the ball near the net), American football (blocking and pushing the opponent ) and tennis (reception of the ball from below).



Lifting dumbbells in front of you - shoulder exercises (deltas)

1. In the starting position, the dumbbells are in front of the hips and almost touch them. The torso is straight, and the arms are almost straightened (but not completely) and fixed at the elbows until the end of the set.

2. Dumbbells can be held either with an overhand grip (palms pointing at the hips) or a neutral grip (palms facing each other).

3. Inhale and, holding your breath, raise your hands in front of you. Do not allow movement in the elbow joint - do not bend your arms and do not straighten them until they lock at the elbows. All movement is concentrated exclusively in the shoulder joint.

4. While lifting the dumbbells, do not close or spread your arms. The distance between the dumbbells should always be constant: equal to the width of the shoulders or slightly less.

5. Raise dumbbells to shoulder level or higher. Having reached the top point, exhale and slowly lower the dumbbells.

6. Pause briefly and do the next rep.



Lifting dumbbells in front of you - muscles

1. To force the front delts to work at full strength, use relatively heavy dumbbells and raise them to shoulder level or slightly higher. If you want to hit your delts even harder, hold the dumbbells with a neutral grip (palms facing each other, and raise your arms 45 degrees above the horizontal passing through your shoulders.

2. The front beam and the frontal half of the middle beam of deltas begin to do the lion's share of the work from the moment when the arm deviates from the vertical by 45 degrees, and until the moment when the arm is above shoulder level by the same 45 degrees. Moreover, at this upper point, the front deltas are reduced to the maximum. If you raise the dumbbells even higher, then the focus of the load shifts to the trapezium and the anterior serratus muscle. The exercise also engages the upper pectoral muscles heavily, but only until the dumbbells are raised above shoulder level.

3. To further focus the load on the front deltas, hold the dumbbells with an overhand grip.

4. Do not use your body to move the dumbbells out of place at the beginning of the lift by tilting your shoulders back and / or pushing your pelvis forward. Better take dumbbells easier.

5. Variation of exercises: alternating dumbbell lifts, with alternating arms; lifting the bar in front of you; lifting arms in front of you in a block simulator (the handle is attached to lower block). Do all exercises at a moderate pace.

Lifting a dumbbell with both hands in front of you- this is a special isolated exercise that gives a good load on the front deltas, stimulates their growth, perfects the shape and relief, separates the front deltas from the pectoral and middle deltas. Can be performed with a dumbbell, a pancake from a barbell, a kettlebell.

Initial position

Take a dumbbell with both hands by the pancakes or bar. Put your feet shoulder-width apart, take your pelvis back a little, deflection and tension in the lower back. The back is straight, the shoulder blades are brought together, the head is straight. Hands with a dumbbell are below, bend your elbows slightly to protect against injury.

Technique for lifting a dumbbell with two hands in front of you

Take a breath. Raise your arms to shoulder or chin level. Exhale with effort. Hold them at the top for 1-2 seconds, tighten your deltas, then slowly lower them while inhaling. You can lower your arms completely or not completely, which will lead to a constant load on the front delta.

  • Do not help yourself with the body, the exception is on the last reps.
  • It is best when the palms are directed inward, so there is more load on the front delta and its inner part.
  • The dumbbell version is best for the front deltas due to the fact that the hands are brought together as much as possible.

Mistakes

  • Throwing a dumbbell with the help of legs and body.
  • Sharp lowering of the hands down.
  • Performing the exercise by inertia - we throw it up with the help of our legs, we sharply throw it down.

Each of the muscle groups has its own set of exercises, which contributes to the rapid increase in their volume and strength indicators. In this article, we will tell you about the exercise for the deltoid muscles, in particular the anterior and middle bundles - lifting dumbbells in front of you. Technique, recommendations and common mistakes - read about all this below.

Brief description of the exercise

The dumbbell front raise is an isolating exercise that works great on the front bunch of deltas, while also affecting the middle one. Along with basic movements such as the military press, this exercise is a must-have in the training program of an athlete of any level of experience.

Execution technique

Correct execution technique is the key to success for a great workout. In order to perform this exercise as efficiently as possible, the starting position of the bodybuilder must take the following:

  • straightened body;
  • feet shoulder width apart;
  • arms must be straightened and fixed at the elbows until you complete the set;
  • dumbbells should be held in front of the hips, but not touching them;
  • The grip can be either overhand or neutral.

After the preparatory stage, it is worth moving on to the exercise itself. So, in order to properly perform dumbbell lifts in front of you, follow this algorithm of actions:

  • We take a breath and, holding our breath for a moment, raise our hands in front of us. In no case do not allow false movements in the elbow joint. Until the arms are completely locked in the elbows, you should not allow them to bend or straighten. Finally, do not help the deltas with sharp jerks, as the effectiveness of the exercise drops significantly. Lifting dumbbells while standing should be completely focused on the shoulders.
  • When you perform the exercise, you should not reduce or spread your arms. It is better to keep the distance between the dumbbells constant.
  • When performing, it is worth raising to shoulder level or a little higher. When you reach the end point, exhale and slowly lower the dumbbells to the starting position.
  • After a short 2-second pause, we continue the set.

As you can see, this is an easy exercise. Raising a dumbbell in front of you is not difficult, but following the correct technique will allow you to get the most out of this movement.

In order to avoid mistakes when performing this exercise, you should listen to the following tips:

  • Don't use momentum. In particular, this applies to the deflection of the lower back. To maximize the load on the deltas and stimulate their growth, it is better to make slow and measured movements that are completely controlled by your shoulders.
  • No need to round the chest or slouch. In order to benefit from the movement, it is necessary to keep the chest and shoulders straight. As for the shoulder blades, they should be lowered and taken a little forward.
  • Breathe in at the very beginning of the movement. And this is very important, because breathing is an important component of bodybuilding.
  • The exercise is best performed at the end of a complex of movements on the shoulders. At first, it is better to pay more attention to the basic exercises: military bench press, barbell pull to the chin, tilt dumbbell lifting and others.

On this, perhaps, everything. If you follow the above recommendations, the effectiveness of the exercise will be maximum.

To load the deltas to the limit, stimulating their growth and increase in strength, it is worth using dumbbells with a sufficiently large weight (which you can completely control), raising them to shoulder level or a little higher, as mentioned earlier. If there is a desire to work out the deltoid muscles even harder, then hold the dumbbells with a neutral grip, then raise your arms above the horizontal line by 40-45 degrees.

In the event that the hand begins to deviate from the vertical position by 45 degrees, the anterior and middle bundles experience maximum stress, which contributes to their development. When raising the arms higher, the focus of the load shifts to the front and trapezoid. In addition, the exercise loads the upper chest quite heavily, but only until the dumbbells rise above the level of your shoulders.

To maximize the focus of the load on the front of the delta, hold the dumbbells with an overhand grip. Performing the movement slowly, you will definitely feel every cell of the deltoid muscles. As for variations, you can perform this exercise in the following ways: lifting dumbbells while sitting in front of you, simultaneously raising two hands with dumbbells, or lifting a barbell.

Common Execution Errors

Athletes often overestimate their strength by working with excessive weight. As a result, when performing the exercise, they help themselves with the body at the very beginning of the movement, moving the dumbbells from their place. At the same time, they tilt their shoulders back and make sharp pushes of the pelvis forward. In this situation, there is a risk of injury, and efficiency drops significantly. Thinking that they only load the shoulders, athletes include the muscles of the back, legs and arms. In general, it is better to take dumbbells with less weight.

Don't get hung up on a lot of reps. For one workout, it will be quite sufficient to perform 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions. In other cases, you just "mock" the muscle group in vain.

Variation of lifting dumbbells for biceps

Shoulder workouts go well with leg or bicep day. At this point, each athlete decides for himself what gives him more benefit. In this section, we will talk about training the biceps, and more specifically, about one of the exercises for the biceps muscle - dumbbell curls for biceps. It belongs to the basic exercises, perfectly developing the biceps and

The exercise itself is lifting dumbbells, followed by rotation of the brushes. Thanks to this, it happens maximum contraction biceps, which makes this exercise one of the best for training. Most experienced bodybuilders constantly use the dumbbell curl for excellent arm work, which only confirms the impeccable effectiveness of this movement. In general, any bending of the elbow, when the palms "look" with the back side outward, is extremely effective for the further development of this muscle group.

When performing a straight bar, it somewhat limits the degree of turn of the hand, which does not sufficiently load the biceps muscle. It is in this case that exercises with dumbbells come to the rescue.

Finally

Strong shoulders are a hallmark of men, which is always greatly appreciated by the weaker sex. The development of the deltoid muscles does not take very long, because the bundles are very small. Today, there are many different simulators where you can improve the shape of your deltas. Lifting dumbbells in front of you significantly increases the strength and volume of this muscle group. Good luck with your training!

One of the best shaping exercises for training the anterior deltoid muscle. This exercise is a favorite exercise of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who loved to combine them with the Arnold bench press he invented. It should be noted that the shoulders love voluminous training, so 4-5 exercises on the shoulders come in handy.

The shoulder is a unique joint that can do a phenomenal amount of work. Shoulders can be lifted up and down, spread apart, scrolled, pulled back. No other joint is more capable of such a mass of movements, but this plus has a downside - the shoulders are easy to injure. On the other hand, the muscles of the shoulders are constantly under load, when a person is kept in a minibus, or carries a bag, then it is the shoulders that tense up, so they are used to voluminous daily loads, which results in the need for their powerful training, otherwise pumping up the shoulders will not work.

Work of muscles and joints

Lifting dumbbells in front of you loads mainly the anterior bundle of the deltoid muscles, triceps and quite a bit the middle bundle of the shoulder girdle. Of course, lifting dumbbells in front of you is a rather unusual load for the muscles, so the muscles react very quickly even to small weights. On the other hand, the joints are not adapted to lifting weights in this position, the position of the shoulder in the army press is much more suitable for this.

Since the joints must be protected, because. they will still come in handy during the bench press, then in order to secure the elbow joint, you need to bend the elbow a little, which will immediately “connect” the triceps. The safety of the shoulder girdle depends on how controlled you raise and lower the dumbbell.

Lifting dumbbells in front of you - scheme

1) Place your feet shoulder-width apart, while the center of gravity should go to the heels.
2) Rest the hand with a dumbbell on the quadriceps, turning the hand towards you. Bend your knees and elbows a little.
3) Exhaling, lift the dumbbell up so that the arm and obliques of the abs form an angle of 90 °, this position is the peak contraction of the anterior deltoid muscle bundle.
4) Holding the dumbbell for 1-2 seconds in peak muscle contraction, slowly and under control, exhaling, lower the dumbbell to its original position.
5) Repeat the approach with the other hand, but do not start raising one hand without lowering the other to its original position.

Dumbbell front raises - notes

1) Perform the exercise alternately, which will allow you to better focus on the work of the muscles.
2) Do not spread your arms to the sides to “connect” the auxiliary muscles, the deltoid muscles do not like this, and dumbbell raises in front of you are an exercise for training the deltoid muscles.
3) Don't take dumbbells that are too big with which you can't control the movement, because instead of training the muscles, you will simply swing the weight, injuring the joints.
4) Do not lower your head, always look ahead. In this regard, the exercise is best performed in front of a mirror.

Anatomy

The shoulders are the largest small muscle group. The shoulders consist of 3 deltoid bundles, each of which must be loaded separately. The fact is that the front beam is the largest and strongest, the middle beam is slightly smaller, but it is also capable of performing exercises with quite a lot of weight, and the back beam is the smallest and therefore the weakest. Since each beam is important for the formation of large shoulders, then everything needs to be pumped, but each requires a specific load, so they need to be pumped separately.

Lifting dumbbells in front of you is an exercise for pumping the anterior bundle of deltoid muscles, but if heavy basic exercises, using large weights, allow, by emphasizing the load on the front beam, to “hook” the rest, then dumbbell lifts are a formative exercise and emphasizes the entire load only on the front deltas. Therefore, they like to perform this exercise as tiring, “finish off” the muscles with them and use it during injuries to support the muscles of the shoulder girdle.

The deltoid muscles consist of anterior, middle and posterior bundles. They are involved in all pressing movements. Raising the arm forward, pressing away from you and up - this is their main function. The anterior deltoid bundle works when we open the door, bring our hand out in front of us, or try to shake the barbell in the gym. This muscle is not large, but its development is important not only for aesthetics, but also as an injury prevention. Front raises are a great isolation exercise for the front delt.

The main mover in lifting dumbbells or barbells in front of you is the anterior bundle of the deltoid muscle of the shoulder. Stabilization of movement occurs due to the inclusion of the middle bundle of the deltoid. If the athlete spreads the dumbbells slightly to the sides during movement, an additional inclusion of the rear delta is possible. But such a technique in fitness is not desirable, as it transfers the load from the target muscle.

As stabilizers, quadriceps, hamstrings, buttocks, abs, and calf muscles are involved. Heavy dumbbells are quite difficult to lift while keeping the body upright. Therefore, the athlete should fix the starting position due to the static tension of the listed muscles.

Important: arm and shoulder training cannot consist only of swings. For harmonious development, you need to perform dumbbell presses up, train chest, triceps, and back. This movement is performed as an isolating, one of the exercises of the training plan.

This movement is recommended for beginners to start with 2-5 kg. At the same time, a couple of kilos are advised to girls, and 5 to men. In fact, the weight is not chosen at all. You need to take the lightest dumbbells that are available and complete the set of the exercise, pressing your back against any support. If you managed to do 10-12 repetitions without any problems, and you have the strength to continue, you should add another kilogram. They move like this until they come to a weight, the rise of which for 10-12 repetitions will be enough to experience a burning sensation in the front deltas

Warm-up approaches are taken 4-5 kg ​​less than the main one, then the weight is gradually added. It must be borne in mind that the exercise is performed at the end of the bench or bench press workout, so the athlete is already warmed up. But this is not a reason to skip the warm-up approach, since only it guarantees the safety of the main work, and allows you to absolutely avoid injury.

Important: a general warm-up and joint warm-up should precede any chest or shoulder workout. Often athletes neglect this, because they think that the shoulders are easier to swing than the legs, and therefore you can warm up in the process. It is better not to skip rotations in the shoulder joints and rehabilitation exercises, otherwise the training may result in injury.

The most important thing is to take a starting position in which the body is stable and swinging can be avoided. In normal fitness, it is not recommended to do this movement with cheating, as throwing weight above the shoulder line can lead to injury.

You should stand up straight, contract the abdominal muscles, slightly bring the lower ribs to the pelvis, firmly rest your feet on the floor, and tighten the quadriceps and buttocks. Dumbbells are taken either with a direct grip or with a palms up grip. The movement goes like this:

  1. Lifting weight due to the effort of the front deltas to shoulder level;
  2. Lowering on exhalation without "dumping" the weight;
  3. Dumbbells along the entire trajectory are at the same distance from each other. You don’t need to “spread” them too much to the sides so that the middle deltas are included in the work;
  4. Lifting with rotation of dumbbells around the axis of the bar is only allowed for a variety of training and with light weight;
  5. Beginners can lift dumbbells one at a time if there is no stability and it is impossible not to include legs when lifting weights;
  6. If it doesn’t work out to keep the trajectory relatively the same on the right and left, it’s worth doing a similar exercise - lifting with a barbell while standing

The pace of execution should not be high, it is enough to work out on average, only 11-15 repetitions. This exercise is not suitable for testing strength, moderate weights and pace are needed.

Contraindications

It is believed that there are only two of them:

  • Abdominal operations (rehabilitation takes six months);
  • Shoulder injuries

In fact, there are more of them. No need to perform swings and lifts with spasms trapezius muscle, exacerbation of pain in osteochondrosis or arthrosis. It makes sense to refuse auxiliary exercises, and if the athlete is having trouble recovering from heavy bench presses.

This movement does not need to be included in the plan “instead of” dumbbell presses and barbell shoulders if the goal is to completely unload the joint. With recovery problems, it makes sense for an athlete to choose complete rest for a few days, or pressing movements with light rubber, but not swinging with weights.

No need to wave dumbbells as it will. It is worth following a few simple rules to get the best result:

  1. Bringing dumbbells forward is allowed only due to the strength of the target muscle group. Lifting should not be performed by “dumping” the weight and subsequent inertial forward movement;
  2. Lifting dumbbells does not need to be done through the sides in an arc, the work is straight ahead;
  3. It is necessary to control the posture, and the position of the spine. The back is straight, the shoulders are not pulled up to the ears;
  4. Nodding of the head, tilting the neck forward, swinging the head back during the exercise are not allowed. cervical the spine remains neutral despite the load;
  5. You do not need to bring the dumbbells upstairs, as many do;
  6. Rotation in the hip and knee joint, “throwing” the weight forward and swinging are not allowed;
  7. You need to lower it smoothly, without resetting;
  8. Beginners should lift dumbbells in a neutral position, do not use the technique when the little finger is above the thumb

The exercise should be performed in the usual controlled manner. Sometimes it is advised to do it to women to reduce the fat layer on the arms and shoulders. But this is not entirely true. Fat burning depends entirely on whether a calorie deficit has been created. If this goal was not achieved, the exercise will not help. Therefore, losing weight is often advised to increase household activity, or do cardio after a workout to increase energy expenditure.

Dumbbell front raises should be done at the end of a bench press workout, or after shoulder exercises. This is a muscle isolating movement, so the weights should be moderate, the technique completely controlled, and the volume should not exceed 3-4 working approaches. Periodically, you can vary your workout by performing a movement with a barbell instead.