What is Barbell Front Raise?
What is Barbell Front Raise? It is a front shoulder exercise performed by standing upright, grasping the barbell with an overhand grip (palms facing down), lifting the barbell from the arms hanging to the ground until the arms reach the head level.
Although the movement may seem simple, you can double your front shoulder development with a few tricks you will learn from our article.
Other names of the exercise;
Shoulders barbell front raise
Barbell front raises
How to Do Barbell Front Raise?
- Use the short Olympic bar to start with. Its weight is about 10 kg. For advanced level, instead of using the big Olympic bar, arrange small weight plates on the small bar. This way you don’t have to deal with balance problems during the lift.
- Stand with your feet about one shoulder width apart and slightly bend your knees and push your hips out a little. In this way, you will prevent the load from falling on your lower back throughout the movement.
- Grasp the barbell with an overhand grip. The distance between the two hands should be about shoulder width apart. If you use a closed or open grip in this movement, you will activate other muscles along with the front shoulder and steal from the movement. For example, the wing muscles will work negatively with an open grip and the upper chest muscles will work negatively with a closed grip. You don’t need to do this as our goal is to work only the front shoulder muscle.
- With your arms fully extended, inhale and then exhale and start raising your arms. The upper and forearm should be in a straight line, do not bend the elbow.
- For 1 to 1.5 seconds, lift the weight until the barbell is at head level.
- When you reach the peak, wait for 1 second and then inhale and start lowering the weight for 1.5 – 2 seconds.
- This trick is important: At the bottom point, your arms will not be completely hanging to the ground, when there is about 20 cm distance between the barbell and your body, stop lowering and start lifting again without waiting. The reason for this is that when the arms are fully hanging down, the load will be on the shoulder joint, not on the shoulder. If you leave a distance in between, the load will always remain on the front shoulder muscle.
- Do the number of repetitions and complete your set. 4 sets of 10 repetitions will be appropriate.
Note: Do not give your body a free swing during the lifting and landing moments. The upper body should remain perpendicular to the ground and motionless. If you cannot maintain this position, the weight is too much. Reduce the weight.
Where Does Barbell Front Raise Work?
Muscles that work primarily;
Deltoids – Shoulder Muscles
Deltoid anterior head: It is the shoulder muscle that faces the front of the body. It starts from the clavicle and connects to the humerus upper arm bone. It is the main load-bearing muscle in dumbbell front raises.
Deltoid middle head: It is the middle shoulder muscle located on the side of the body. It works isometrically during the lift. There is no lengthening or shortening of the muscle length. The heavier the load, the more isometrically they will tear and develop.
Muscles that work secondarily;
Chest
Pectoralis Major Upper: The upper part of the pectoral muscle. It is called the Clavicular head because it connects the pectoral muscle to the Clavicle collarbone at the top. Also known as Upper Pecs. It helps the lift at the beginning of the traction.
Related Posts:
Strengthen Your Shoulder Muscles
