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Arnold Presses


Overview

Arnold presses were popularized by… you guessed it, Arnold Schwarzenegger. This movement offers a larger range of motion than regular dumbbell presses and thus gives a better workout to the front (anterior) and middle (median) deltoids as well as the triceps. Secondary stress is placed on the upper chest and trapezius muscles.

Setup

Grip a dumbbell in each hand and sit on either an upright bench with a back rest or the end of a flat bench. As you sit down, allow the dumbbells to rest on your legs just above the knee. To bring the dumbbells up to your shoulders, give a slight kick upward with each knee to help move the weights one at a time so that you are holding each one just in front of and above your shoulders with your palms pointing toward you.

Movement

Press the weights directly upward while rotating your wrists. Your wrists should go from facing toward the wall behind you, to facing inward toward your head, to finally facing forward to the wall in front of you at the height of the movement. The weights do not need to touch at the top and your elbows to not need to lock at the end of the motion. Lower the weights back downward on each side to the starting position just above the shoulders.

Tips From the Trainer

Many body builders have noted that by not fully straightening their arms at the end of this movement, they are better able to keep the stress of this exercise on the deltoid muscles by not resting at the top. Not fully straightening your arms at the top will likely add greater intensity to your shoulder workout.

When finishing the exercise, the safest way to put the weights down is to raise up your knee toward your shoulder and lower the weight down onto your leg and let your leg lower the weight the rest of the way down. Having a spotter take the weight out of your hands can be more dangerous (unless you have two spotters) because removing one weight at a time can throw you off balance and cause you to drop the other weight.

If you do use a spotter to help you pump out those last few repetitions in a set, have the spotter help you by pressing the weight upward at your elbows. Allowing the spotter to grab your wrists to assist you is much more likely to accidentally move the weight forward or backward and through you off balance. Spotting from the elbows also requires less effort from the spotter to help you move the weight upward.



Dumbbell Workout Kick weights up to your shoulders

Arnold Press Starting position: hands in front

Arnold Presses Midpoint: rotate the wrists

Shoulder Presses Ending position: palms forward