Shoulder exercises

Dumbbell Arnold Press

Also known as: Développé Arnold avec haltères · Πιέσεις Άρνολντ με αλτήρες · arnold press · arnolds

Primary
Shoulders
Equipment
Dumbbell
Level
Intermediate
Type
Compound
Suggested rest
1.5 min

How to do the Dumbbell Arnold Press

  1. Sit upright holding the dumbbells in front of your shoulders, palms facing you.

  2. As you press up, rotate your wrists so your palms face forward at the top.

  3. Extend your arms almost fully overhead.

  4. Lower slowly, rotating your wrists back to the start.

Sets and reps

GoalSetsRepsRest
Muscle growth3–48–121.5 min
Muscular endurance2–315–201 min

When you hit the top of the rep range on every set, add 4 kg (10 lb) next session and work back up.

Starting points from training research. Stop each set 1–3 reps short of failure.

Muscles worked

Primary

Shoulders

Secondary

Triceps

Three heads, three jobs: the front delts press, the side delts raise your arms out and give width, the rear delts pull back. Train all three.

Alternatives

Same muscles, similar movement: swap in one of these if the Dumbbell Arnold Press doesn’t suit your gym or your joints.

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Dumbbell shoulder exercises