Barbell Front Raise

How to Perform the Barbell Front Raise

Stand upright holding a barbell with an overhand grip at arm's length against your thighs, hands shoulder-width apart.
Set your feet shoulder-width apart, brace your core, and keep a slight bend in your elbows.
Raise the barbell in front of you by lifting from the shoulders, keeping the slight elbow bend fixed.
Continue raising until the bar reaches shoulder height, with your arms parallel to the floor.
Pause briefly at the top, feeling the contraction in your front delts.
Lower the bar slowly and under control back to the starting position at your thighs.
Repeat for the prescribed number of reps without swinging or using momentum.

Swinging the weight up using body momentum

Keep your torso stationary and lift with your shoulders only; reduce the weight if you need to swing.

Raising the bar above shoulder height

Stop at shoulder height; going higher shifts the work to the upper traps and can impinge the shoulder.

Locking out the elbows completely

Maintain a slight bend in the elbows throughout to protect the joint and maintain tension on the delts.

✓Effectively isolates the anterior deltoid for targeted front shoulder development.
✓Allows bilateral loading for heavier front delt training than dumbbell variations.
✓Simple movement pattern that is easy to learn and perform correctly.

●Use a lighter weight than you might expect — front raises are a strict isolation movement.
●Focus on lifting from the shoulder, not the arms, to maximize anterior deltoid activation.
●Keep your shoulders down and away from your ears throughout the movement.

Strength

3-4 sets of 8-10 reps

Hypertrophy

3-4 sets of 12-15 reps

Endurance

2-3 sets of 15-20 reps

Join 2,000,000+ lifters tracking their workouts with Stronger. Available on iOS and Android.