Front raises with a barbell

Slightly bend your elbows. You can also grip the barbell with an underhand grip, which will place more emphasis on the inner part of the anterior deltoid. It’s best to raise the barbell to shoulder level or slightly higher. Use this exercise only as an auxiliary one, after you have completed foundational shoulder exercises.

Nuances and Mistakes

1. This exercise can also be performed with a weight plate. The advantage is that when you rotate your wrists with palms facing each other, the load shifts to the inner part of the anterior deltoid (the part closer to the chest).

2. If you use an overhand grip on the barbell, the load will shift even more inward on the anterior deltoid.

3. Your arms should be slightly bent at the elbows. This will help protect them from injury.

4. As an alternative, you can perform this exercise using the lower pulley in a crossover machine. The difference is that with the barbell, the load on the muscles is minimal at the bottom and maximal at the top, while in the crossover, it is consistent throughout the entire range of motion.

5. You should raise your arms to just above shoulder level and lower them all the way down.

6. Try to avoid swinging your torso. You should be lifting the weight using muscle strength rather than the inertia of your body.

7. Choose a weight such that you can perform a minimum of 8 repetitions correctly.

8. The grip width should be slightly narrower than shoulder-width. The narrower the grip, the more the anterior deltoids will contract.