Muscles Targeted: Standing front dumbbell deltoid raises are great for working the front head of your deltoid muscle. Since you have 3 main heads of the deltoid, you want to hit all of them by using different exercises at different angles in order to target the entire region of your shoulders. This allows you to achieve overall development of the muscle which provides a look of complete symmetry and a physique that is proportional. By working all 3 heads of the deltoid, you also ensure safety due to possible injuries when a specific area of the deltoid is under trained which leads to an underdeveloped muscle. If you don’t currently train your rear deltoids, you may have issues with your rotator cuffs due to the muscle not being trained correctly. Always focus your attention on using different exercises to hit the front, middle and rear deltoids when you are training your shoulders and include different exercises in your routine to accomplish this.
Exercise Advice: Grab a light pair of dumbbells and position your feet firmly on the floor with a shoulder width stance and your knees slightly bent. Let the dumbbells hang naturally down to your sides. Slowly raise both dumbbells up at the same time and bring your arms to about chin level which is the top position of this exercise. Pause slightly at the top and then slowly lower your arms back down to the starting position to complete one full repetition. The key on this exercise is to always use a slow and controlled tempo throughout the entire range of the movement and really feel your front deltoids working. At the top position, you should feel maximum tension on your deltoids. Since this is more of a shaping movement, the overall weight of the dumbbells is not a major concern. Its better to use a lighter pair of dumbbells and do the exercise correctly versus using too heavy of a weight and being sloppy on your form. An athletic stance is very important, since you will be bringing the weight up and out in front of you and you can become a little off-balance if your lower body is not securely planted on the floor.
Things To Avoid: You really want to avoid swinging the weight up and down on this exercise which will cause you to lose form. Your tendency might be to just get the weight up, which will cause you to bend at the waist and arch your back, which is something you want to avoid. Also, do not hunch your shoulders over. You want to maintain a straight back and good posture when doing standing front dumbbell deltoid raises. Keep your shoulders back and focus on placing 100% of the tension on the front deltoids. If you start to lose your technique, decrease the weight and grab a lighter pair of dumbbells to ensure your form is correct. The last thing you want to do is use too heavy of a weight and end up injuring yourself. The height that you raise the dumbbells is also important. Avoid raising them way above your head since this will place too much tension on your trapezius muscles and your rotator cuffs. Raise the dumbbells to about chin level, pause for a brief moment and then slowly lower the weight back down to the starting position.
Reps and Sets: Since the standing front dumbbell deltoid raises are considered more of a shaping movement, your overall repetitions on this exercise will be on the higher range of around 12-15 reps per set. If you’re a beginner, shoot for a total of 3-4 sets for your shoulder workout by incorporating different exercises to hit all 3 heads of the deltoids. If you’re more advanced, your goal should be a total of 9-10 sets per workout by doing around 3 sets for each head of the deltoids (front, middle and rear). Total time for your shoulder workout routine should be in the range of 45-60 minutes. Anything longer than 1 hour and you will be overtraining your muscles. Remember to train at a high intensity for a short period of time and then allow enough rest to make sure your muscles recover and grow!
Other Exercises To Use: A few great exercises to include with the standing front dumbbell deltoid raises are the seated barbell deltoid military presses and the lying rear deltoid raises. This will allow total overall development for all 3 heads of the deltoids.
