Shoulder exercises

Dumbbell Cuban Press

Also known as: Développé cubain avec haltères · Κουβανέζικες πιέσεις με αλτήρες · Cuban Press

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

How to do the Dumbbell Cuban Press

  1. Take a dumbbell in each hand with a pronated grip in a standing position. Raise your upper arms so that they are parallel to the floor, allowing your lower arms to hang in the "scarecrow" position. This will be your starting position.

  2. To initiate the movement, externally rotate the shoulders to move the upper arm 180 degrees. Keep the upper arms in place, rotating the upper arms until the wrists are directly above the elbows, the forearms perpendicular to the floor.

  3. Now press the dumbbells by extending at the elbows, straightening your arms overhead.

  4. Return to the starting position as you breathe in by reversing the steps.

  5. Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.

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

Traps

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.

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Dumbbell shoulder exercises