How high should you raise the dumbbells on a front raise?

To shoulder height, with the arm level with the floor. Going higher hands the job to your traps, because the front of the shoulder loses leverage past that point.

Are front raises worth doing?

They are the most skippable shoulder exercise for most people, because every press already loads the front of the shoulder heavily and nothing loads the middle or rear heads the same way. If you press regularly, your training time is better spent on lateral raises and rows.

Should you raise both dumbbells together or alternate?

Either. Alternating lets you watch one arm and usually keeps the torso quieter, since you have less weight moving at once. Both at the same time finishes the set faster. The thing that matters more is whether your body leans back to help.

Palms down or palms facing each other on a front raise?

Both are in normal use and nobody has compared them properly. Palms facing each other tends to feel easier on the shoulder joint for people who find the palms-down version pinches. Use the one that lets you raise the arm without discomfort.

Why do front raises feel heavier than they look?

Because the dumbbell is at the end of a straight arm, which is the worst possible arrangement for lifting anything. A weight you can press easily overhead can be impossible to raise in front of you, and that is the exercise working as designed rather than a sign of weakness.

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Dumbbell · beginner · shoulders

Dumbbell front raise

Also called Front delt raise, Anterior raise, Dumbbell front raise.

The short answer

The front raise lifts a dumbbell straight out in front of you with an almost straight arm, and the front head of the deltoid is the muscle doing the work. The upper part of your chest assists, because the fibers running from your collarbone also help bring the arm forward. Your traps rotate the shoulder blade so the arm can rise. It is the one shoulder movement that loads this direction on its own, and also the one most people can skip.

How to do it

Step oneStand upright holding a dumbbell in each hand in front of your thighs with palms facing your body.
Step twoKeep a slight bend in your elbows and your back straight.
Step threeRaise one or both dumbbells forward and upward until your arms are parallel to the floor.
Step fourPause briefly at the top, then slowly lower the dumbbells back to the starting position.

What usually goes wrong

Each starts with what you would notice.

Your neck and upper back are working, and the dumbbells end up above your eyes.

WhyYou are raising past shoulder height. Beyond that point the front of the shoulder has poor leverage and the traps take over lifting the arm the rest of the way.

FixStop when your arm is level with the floor and your hand is roughly at shoulder height. Hold it there for a moment rather than reaching higher.

You lean back and your hips push forward as the dumbbells come up.

WhyThe load is being thrown rather than lifted, and your torso is providing the throw.

FixStand with the ribs set down and start each rep with the dumbbells resting against your thighs. If nothing moves without a lean, use a smaller dumbbell.

Your shoulders lift toward your ears as the arms come up.

WhyThe trap is helping raise the arm because the front delt on its own cannot manage the weight.

FixKeep the collarbones level and let the arm travel underneath a still shoulder. This will feel like much less weight than you were using, and that is correct.

Your elbows bend more and more as the set goes on.

WhyFolding the arm brings the dumbbell closer to your shoulder, which makes the same weight easier. It is your body finding a way around a load it cannot lift straight.

FixSet a small fixed bend at the elbow and keep it identical for every rep. If it will not hold by rep 6, that is the rep where the set actually ended.

Front raise or overhead press

These both drive the arm forward and up, so they work the same head of the shoulder. What separates them is how much you can load.

A press lets the triceps contribute and puts the weight over the joint, so you can handle a serious dumbbell. A front raise holds the weight at the end of a straight arm, which is the least efficient arrangement possible, so the usable load is small. Comparisons of shoulder exercises consistently put pressing above raising for the front of the shoulder.

The practical conclusion is unusual for a comparison section: if you have to choose, this is not a close call. Press.

Front raise or lateral raise

The same dumbbell, the same straight arm, and the only difference is the direction it travels. That difference decides everything.

Forward is shoulder flexion, and the front head does it. Out to the side is abduction, and the middle head does it. Neither reaches the back of the shoulder, which needs rowing or pulling.

The reason the lateral raise earns a place and the front raise struggles to is not the movement, it is what else you do. Every press you perform already loads the front head heavily. Nothing you press loads the middle head the way a lateral raise does. So one of them fills a gap and the other one adds to a pile.

The front head is the one already getting work

Front raises are sold as the way to build the front of your shoulder. The problem with that pitch is not that the movement fails, it is that the front of your shoulder is not the part being neglected.

Every pressing movement in your training drives that head hard. Bench press, incline press, overhead press, dips. Reviews that pool the shoulder research put the front head at its highest during pressing and flye work, not during raises. So adding an isolation exercise for it is the one slot on a shoulder day with the weakest case.

There is still a version of this that makes sense. If you barely press, or you want to load shoulder flexion on its own without the triceps taking a share, this is the movement that does it and nothing else with a dumbbell does. That is a narrow argument and it is the honest one.

It will not change the shape of anything, and we would not know if it did. Nobody can promise you a look from an exercise.

What it is for

The dumbbell front raise is an isolation exercise targeting the anterior deltoid. Raising the arms forward directly challenges the front shoulder head, building definition and strength in the front of the shoulder.

Questions people ask

What muscles does the front raise work?: The front head of the deltoid does the work. The upper part of your chest assists, since the fibers running from your collarbone also help bring the arm forward. Your traps rotate the shoulder blade so the arm can rise at all.
How high should you raise the dumbbells on a front raise?: To shoulder height, with the arm level with the floor. Going higher hands the job to your traps, because the front of the shoulder loses leverage past that point.
Are front raises worth doing?: They are the most skippable shoulder exercise for most people, because every press already loads the front of the shoulder heavily and nothing loads the middle or rear heads the same way. If you press regularly, your training time is better spent on lateral raises and rows.
Should you raise both dumbbells together or alternate?: Either. Alternating lets you watch one arm and usually keeps the torso quieter, since you have less weight moving at once. Both at the same time finishes the set faster. The thing that matters more is whether your body leans back to help.
Palms down or palms facing each other on a front raise?: Both are in normal use and nobody has compared them properly. Palms facing each other tends to feel easier on the shoulder joint for people who find the palms-down version pinches. Use the one that lets you raise the arm without discomfort.
Why do front raises feel heavier than they look?: Because the dumbbell is at the end of a straight arm, which is the worst possible arrangement for lifting anything. A weight you can press easily overhead can be impossible to raise in front of you, and that is the exercise working as designed rather than a sign of weakness.