Front Raise

What front raises actually train

A front raise is a shoulder isolation exercise where you raise a dumbbell forward from your thigh to shoulder height with a slight bend in the elbow.

The anterior head of the deltoid does the work, with a contribution from the upper chest and some assistance from the upper traps towards the top.

This exercise deserves an honest assessment rather than a description, because the most useful thing to know about front raises is that most people do not need them.

The anterior deltoid is heavily involved in every pressing movement. Coratella and colleagues examined muscle activity across the deltoid heads during pressing variations and found substantial anterior deltoid contribution throughout, increasing as bench angle steepens. Overhead pressing loads it hardest of all. Incline pressing loads it heavily. Flat pressing, dips and push-ups all involve it.

So a person doing an overhead press, an incline press and a flat press across a week has already given the front delt a great deal of work at loads far heavier than a front raise allows. Adding direct front delt isolation on top of that is, for most people, volume applied to the part of the shoulder that needed it least.

Contrast that with the lateral and posterior heads, which receive comparatively little from pressing and genuinely require direct work.

There are cases where front raises earn their place. Someone whose programme contains very little pressing, someone rehabilitating around an injury who cannot press but can raise, or a physique competitor with a specific front delt weakness all have reason to do them. Those are real situations. They are just not the common one.

Setting up and executing

Stand with a dumbbell in each hand resting at the front of your thighs, feet about hip width, abs braced.

Set the shoulders down rather than shrugged, and fix a slight bend in the elbows.

Raise one or both arms forward in a controlled arc, palms facing down or turned slightly inwards.

Stop when the arms reach shoulder height and pause for a beat.

Lower slowly over two to three seconds, stopping before the dumbbells rest on your thighs.

Alternating arms usually allows better control than raising both at once, and makes it harder to use the hips.

The mistakes that cost you the most

Swinging with the hips is the standard front raise fault. A small hip thrust to start the weight moving means the load is too heavy for the deltoid to lift on its own, which is the only thing this exercise is for. Stand still and drop the weight.

Raising too high shifts the work to the upper traps as the arm passes shoulder height. Stop level.

Doing them at all when your pressing volume is already high is the strategic mistake. If you press overhead and on an incline every week, your front delts are well served, and the time would be better spent on lateral or rear delt work.

Bending and straightening the arms through the rep turns the movement into a partial curl and press. Fix the elbow angle at the start.

And letting the dumbbells rest on your thighs between reps removes the tension at the bottom, which on a movement with a very limited loaded range is worth keeping.

Sets, reps and rest by goal

Two sets is usually enough, given how much front delt work comes from elsewhere.

For muscle gain, two sets of ten to fifteen with a minute of rest. For strength, three sets of eight to twelve with ninety seconds, though nobody trains front raises for strength. In a fat loss phase, two sets of twelve to twenty with forty five seconds.

Keep the loads honest. Front raises done with weights heavy enough to require a swing are not front raises.

Slow the descent to two or three seconds. Since the loaded range is short and the weights are light, tempo is one of the few variables worth manipulating.

Schoenfeld and colleagues found a dose response between weekly hard sets and hypertrophy, but the relevant number is total anterior deltoid volume across the week, not front raise volume specifically. Every set of overhead pressing counts towards it. Add these on top only if that total is genuinely low.

Refalo and colleagues found stopping a rep or two short of failure produces comparable growth to going to failure, which is a reasonable approach here since the last reps are where the hips start helping.

Where it fits in your split

At the end of a shoulder or push session, if at all.

On push, pull and legs they go at the end of push day. On a bro split they come towards the end of shoulder day. On an upper and lower split they are rarely necessary. On a full body programme, skip them and press instead.

The honest programming advice is to audit your pressing volume first. Count the weekly sets of overhead pressing, incline pressing and flat pressing. If that number is reasonable, the front delts are covered, and lateral raises and rear delt work are a better use of the same time.

If you want a fuller shoulder without much pressing, or if pressing is unavailable to you for some reason, then front raises become a sensible substitute rather than an addition.

Where they do have a clear role is as a light finisher. Two sets at the end of a session costs three minutes and adds a little volume without much fatigue.

Variations worth knowing

The cable front raise keeps tension from the bottom of the range, which a dumbbell does not, and is the better version if you are doing them at all.

The plate front raise, holding a single plate with both hands, is more comfortable for many people and controls the arm path naturally.

The barbell front raise allows more load with both hands on one bar, at the cost of a fixed hand spacing that some shoulders dislike.

Alternating front raises, one arm at a time, usually allow better control and make hip swing harder to hide.

The incline front raise, lying face down on an inclined bench, loads the bottom of the range where a standing version gives you nothing.

And the overhead press is the compound that trains the same muscle with far more load, and is the answer for most people asking whether they should do front raises.

What the evidence says

Coratella and colleagues examined muscle activity across the deltoid heads during pressing variations and found substantial anterior deltoid involvement throughout, increasing with bench angle. That is the central reason front raises are usually redundant in a programme containing pressing.

Research on lateral raise mechanics and deltoid activation supports the broader point that the deltoid heads respond to different movement directions, and that the lateral and posterior heads receive comparatively little from pressing while the anterior head receives a great deal.

Kolber and colleagues reviewed shoulder injuries associated with resistance training and identified raising loaded arms above shoulder height among positions worth treating carefully, supporting the guidance to stop level.

Pallares and colleagues found full range training beat partial range training, though here the loaded range is inherently short with a dumbbell, which is the argument for the cable version.

Schoenfeld and colleagues on volume supplies the framework in which front raise sets should be counted alongside pressing sets rather than separately, and Refalo and colleagues on proximity to failure supplies the stopping rule.

Common questions

Do I need front raises?

Probably not. The anterior deltoid works hard in every overhead press, incline press and flat press, usually at loads far beyond what a front raise allows. If your programme has reasonable pressing volume, the front delts are covered and your time is better spent on lateral and rear delt work.

When are they actually worth doing?

When pressing volume is low, when an injury prevents pressing but allows raising, or when a specific front delt weakness needs addressing for physique reasons. Also as a light two set finisher if you enjoy them and have the time to spare.

Palms down or palms facing each other?

Either works. Palms down is the traditional version, and a neutral or slightly turned in grip is more comfortable for many shoulders. Try both and use whichever lets you raise cleanly without shrugging.

How high should I raise?

To shoulder height and no further. Past that point the upper traps take over and the deltoid contribution drops, so the extra range is not buying you anything.

Dumbbells, cable or plate?

Cable, if you are doing them at all, because it keeps tension at the bottom where a dumbbell has none. A plate held in both hands is the most comfortable option for many people. Dumbbells are fine and the most available.