Alternately lifting dumbbells. Raise dumbbells in front of you. Broad shoulders are the key to success

August 11, 2020 Admin Home page » Anterior delta

Full description of the exercise, lifting dumbbells in front of you, muscles involved, starting position, technique, other exercises for the anterior deltoid, common mistakes and important tips + training video.

This is a classic example of an isolation exercise for deep development of the anterior deltoid muscle, therefore this exercise is aimed at “sharpening” the anterior deltoid, and not all deltoid muscles, therefore, critical weight as in basic exercises is excluded.

Technique for lifting dumbbells in front of you

Take a deep breath and, as you exhale, lift the dumbbell in front of you to eye level, while the elbow at the top point should not be lower than the level of your shoulders, otherwise the effectiveness of the entire movement will be lost. When the dumbbells rise to shoulder level, they should be shifted slightly inward until the end of the movement, increasing the isolated load on the muscle being trained.

You should not linger at the top point, but having reached the peak of contraction of the anterior deltoids, return to the starting position, avoiding the dumbbell touching the quadriceps.

For maximum muscle contraction, lift the barbell above head level by about 10 cm, in this position the muscle experiences the so-called “super stress” and awakens the deepest parts of the anterior deltoids.

What muscles does lifting dumbbells in front of you use?

Raising dumbbells in front of you engages the deltoids. And as already mentioned, one of the bundles is anterior.

He is the one responsible for raising his arm in front of him. The rest act as stabilizers of the humerus. We are talking about the middle and rear beam.

The assistants are:

• Pectoral muscles. Namely their upper part. Depending on your grip, it will turn on more or less.

Also, in addition to the main muscles, the muscles that stabilize our body are involved in the work. These include:

• Abdominal muscles. They hold our spine.
• Back muscles. They are a counterweight that prevents us from falling back.
• Leg muscles. Namely the quadriceps, gluteal and biceps femoris muscles. They are responsible for stabilizing our legs.

Lifting dumbbells in front of you: working muscles
All together they work in static tension. And our task is to consciously strain them, but at the same time not lose concentration on the main muscle group.

Common mistakes

1) When lifting dumbbells, the torso leans back strongly, don’t do this, you throw up the weight due to the swinging of the body and

pull with the help of the chest muscles, thus stealing most of the load from the delta;

2) After lowering the weight from the top point, the dumbbells touch the quadriceps, reducing delta tension + the dumbbell springing from the hip facilitates the initial stage of the movement (it’s good, it becomes easier, but our task is not easy, but to work the muscle and give it muscle growth).

Recommendations for implementation

1. Before training your shoulders, be sure to do a general warm-up. This will protect your muscles and joints from injury.
2. Do 1-2 warm-up approaches before working.
3. Keep your arms bent throughout.
4. Avoid any head movement. Take care of your cervical vertebrae.
5. Do not use rocking motions to lift the dumbbells up. This technique will only lead to injury. Without giving you the slightest benefit.
6. To change the load, try increasing or decreasing the distance between the dumbbells. In the classic version, the dumbbells are slightly brought together. You can spread them wider than your shoulders. But you need to understand that this way the load will begin to go to the middle delta too.
7. When working with two dumbbells, do not knock them at the top.
8. Don't use heavy weights that you can't lift with proper form.

All these points will help keep your shoulders in working condition. And achieve good results in the shortest possible time.

Important Tips

1. Try not to allow your torso to sway, this will make the exercise easier, but will remove the load from the front deltoid, which means the effectiveness of the exercise will decrease.

2. At the beginning of the movement from the bottom point, you can turn your palms towards each other in advance and do the exercise in this manner, in this case the load will transfer to the inner part of the front delta.

3. Another type of exercise is when, in the process of moving the dumbbells upward, the hand turns and the palm looks inward; when they drop to the lowest point, the dumbbell turns to its normal starting position, i.e. the grip below is directed towards the body.

4. It doesn’t matter if you raise or lower the dumbbell, keep your elbows slightly bent, this removes the load from the elbow joints and concentrates the entire load on the front deltoids.

5. If you can’t balance your torso and it continues to sway, lean your back against the wall, it will not allow you to lean back and you will immediately feel how hard it is to lift each dumbbell.

6. Raise the weight slightly above the shoulders, this is how the contraction peaks and muscle failure is achieved.

And finally, I’ll say, DON’T BE LAZY TO STRETCH YOUR MUSCLE, at one time I pulled my anterior bundle and suffered from pain for a long time for 6 months. It’s a terrible feeling when it’s very problematic to abduct your shoulder, do a bench press, do simple arm curls, pull-ups and parallel bars, so I had to take less weight and come up with analogue exercises. Better spend the extra 5 minutes, but believe me, it's worth it!

Advantages and disadvantages of this exercise

By performing lifts in front of you, you can count on a number of benefits:

• Isolated work on the anterior deltoid.
• Working on each shoulder separately, thereby reducing the imbalance in their development.
• Strengthening the anterior delta, which will affect the increase in strength in basic exercises.
• Opportunity to work on the relief of the anterior delta
• Anatomically, this movement will be very comfortable for our shoulders.
• Variety of exercises. This allows you to avoid the training routine.
• Availability of the exercise. Since one or two dumbbells are enough.
• Due to the general strengthening of the muscles of the shoulder girdle, the chance of injury is reduced.

As you can see, the exercise is great for people who have a goal to develop deltoids. To the disadvantages

I can only mention one thing:

• Compared to the SEATED DUMBBELL PRESS, this exercise is very inferior.

That's why I don't use it in my regular training program. But on the other hand, lifting in front of you fits perfectly into periods of lighter training and relief work. It is mainly used in sets with basic exercises.

Damn, lumpy. Three workouts that require just one weight plate

Many people have pancakes from their father’s old dumbbells or barbells collecting dust at home. In the meantime, even one old pancake is a powerful training aid that will allow you to pump up your entire body.

How to build a program and choose exercises with only one pancake, “Soviet Sport” figured out.

Crossfit with a barbell or dumbbell plate

Training:

A barbell weighing 10-15 kg is ideal for performing circular functional training. This kind of training will not build you a lot of muscle mass, but it will make your muscles prominent and noticeable. It will help you get good abs, get rid of excess weight, be a good workout for the cardiovascular system and just fantastically increase your endurance.

Program:

Exercise 3 times a week - at home or outside. Then take one day off and start again.

Day 1 – do as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes: 10 thrusters (plate throws from squats), 20 push-ups (if you have a pull-up bar, replace push-ups with pull-ups), 30 crunches.

After this, if you have any strength left, you can do 3-5 sets of squats with a weight plate - resting 30 seconds between sets (the number of repetitions in each round is 15-20)

Day 2 – Do 5 rounds in as little time as possible. Each round – 20 burpees, 30 jumping jacks, 30 prone leg raises, 50 military jumps (legs apart, palms clapping overhead), 10 scissors (from a prone position, raise your legs and arms, try to touch your toes with your hands) .

The danger of frontal lifts for deltas

Shoulders are most susceptible to injury because... They are fragile, complex joints, and, moreover, they receive negative load when athletes perform basic training. Recovering from injuries is extremely difficult and time-consuming, and not yet complete. Therefore, shoulder training should be approached carefully and carefully.

When performing a frontal lift, do not forget about the external rotation of the shoulder that can cause subacromial syndrome.

Due to the narrowing of the space during lifting of the projectile between the upper arm bone (humerus) and the acrominal. Within this space, the acrominal can rub or be hit by the bursa and tendons, causing numbness, shoulder weakness, and pain. To avoid injury, it is recommended to turn the thumb upward at the top point.

Video: Swing dumbbells in front of you

Broad shoulders for a man have always been a sign of strength, courage and beauty. That is why everyone for whom sports and the gym have become a part of their life focuses a lot of attention on working out the deltoid muscle.

Today we will talk about such an exercise as lifting dumbbells in front of you, we will analyze in detail the technique of performing the exercise, and also dwell on common mistakes during training.

Common mistakes and recommendations when performing dumbbell lifts

Most novice athletes make the following common mistakes when performing an exercise:

• The torso is strongly tilted back, resulting in the rise occurring while rocking. This risks the fact that the main load from the shoulders will go to the pectoral muscles.
• When the arms and dumbbells are lowered, they hit the hips, which leads to a decrease in tension in the anterior deltoid muscle. The muscle must be in good shape all the time, otherwise muscle growth will be slow.

To achieve maximum efficiency, we recommend that you adhere to the following rules:

• When lifting and lowering, keep your arms slightly bent at the elbows.
• When you start lifting dumbbells, you don’t need to jerk or try to throw the dumbbells.
• Lowering the dumbbells should be smooth and controlled. There is no need to completely relax your arms and make sudden lowerings.
• Do not lift the dumbbells above chin level. In this case, the load will transfer to the trapezius muscles.
• You need to lift dumbbells without the help of your leg and core muscles.
• Make sure that your arms are always symmetrical when lifting and lowering.

Strong and toned shoulders make any man athletic, handsome and attractive. The deltoid muscle bundles are not as large compared to the biceps, so you will not have to spend much time on their development. By regularly doing dumbbell lifts in front of you, you will get wide and sculpted shoulders.

Anatomy exercises

Raising dumbbells in front of you is an effective exercise for pumping and fully working out all the deltoid muscle bundles. When performing the exercise, you need to raise your arms forward; accordingly, the main load will fall on the anterior bundle of deltoid muscles. In addition, the middle delta is also involved in the exercise: it helps stabilize the position of the arm when lifting weights. Exercise also has an effect on:

• pectoral muscles (mainly the upper part);
• biceps;
• trapezius muscles;
• abdominal muscles;
• serratus muscle.

Lifting dumbbells requires stabilization of the core, so the abdominal, back and leg muscles are also involved a little.

The exercise is quite universal. Absolutely all categories of people can perform it (men and women, beginners and professional athletes, children and older people). This exercise is only not recommended for those who have recent injuries (less than one year) to the shoulder or abdomen. Lifting dumbbells, especially with heavy weights, is a rather traumatic exercise. Therefore, it is not recommended to perform it if you are feeling unwell. If you feel weak and dizzy while performing the exercise, it is better to stop the exercise to prevent injury.

Weight selection and warm-up exercises

This movement is recommended for beginners to start with 2-5 kg. At the same time, a couple of kilos are recommended for girls, and 5 for men. In fact, this is not how weight is chosen at all. You need to take the lightest dumbbells that are available and perform a set of the exercise with your back pressed against any support. If you managed to do 10-12 repetitions without any problems, and you have the strength to continue, you should add another kilogram. They move like this until they reach a weight that can be lifted for 10-12 repetitions enough to feel a burning sensation in the front delts.