Shoulders · Dumbbell

Dumbbell Lateral Raise To Front Raise

Side, then front, full delt sweep in one rep.

Dumbbell Lateral Raise To Front Raise exercise demonstration
ShouldersDumbbell

How to do it

  1. Stand with a dumbbell in each hand at your sides, slight bend in the elbows.
  2. Raise both dumbbells out to the sides to shoulder height for a lateral raise.
  3. Lower halfway, then raise both dumbbells out in front to shoulder height for a front raise.
  4. Lower under control and repeat the side-then-front sequence.

The one cue that matters

Stay strict on both halves. No swinging, let the delts move the weight every rep.

Muscles worked

This combo sweeps the delts through two planes in a single rep, out to the side for the lateral head, then forward for the front, with the half-lower between them keeping the muscle under tension the whole time. Doubling the work per rep means fatigue arrives fast at light loads, making it a brutal time-efficient shoulder finisher. It earns its place when you want a complete delt pump without cycling through separate exercises.

FAQ

What weight should I use for the lateral to front raise combo?

Lighter than your normal lateral raise weight. Every rep is effectively two raises with only a half-lower between them, so fatigue stacks fast. If you swing on the front raise half, drop down.

Why lower only halfway between the lateral and front raise?

The half-lower keeps tension on the delts through the transition instead of giving them a rest at the bottom of every rep. That continuous tension is what makes the combo more brutal than doing the two raises separately.

Which part of the shoulder does this actually hit?

The lateral raise half targets the side delts, the front raise half targets the front delts, so a full rep covers the two heads you can see from the front. Rear delts still need their own pulling or reverse-fly work.

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