You need to use your shoulders (deltoids) many times during your everyday routine, probably more than you realize. Be it opening a jar, grabbing a box of a shelf, or picking your child up, your shoulders strength plays a critical role.
Many exercises help gain shoulder stability, strength, and endurance. One of the most effective shoulder exercises is the shoulder front raise. In addition to the deltoids, this exercise also engages (works on) smaller surrounding stabilizing muscles such as the serratus anterior (the muscles above the ribs), trapezius (upper back), chest (pectorals), and upper arms.
If you perform the front raise’s movements wrong, you face the risk of getting your shoulders injured. That’s why you should do this exercise with a pair of light- to medium-weight dumbbells.
Read on to learn how to avoid dumbbell front raises exercise mistakes to ensure that you do the dumbbells front raise exercise correctly.
Avoid These Common Dumbbell Front Raise Mistakes
Here are the most common mistakes that the trainers usually make during the front raise workout.
# 1
Swinging Your Weights
Unlike a movement like a dumbbell clean, the dumbbell front raise involves a steady, controlled movement mode. Doing this exercise slowly to keep the targeted muscle constantly engaged all through the movement is the name of the game.
Swinging the dumbbells up provides you a false sense of accomplishment but allows limited recruitment of the shoulder’s front muscle. We don’t want to let our ego get bigger than our muscles.
How To Correct It?
To start with, practice the movement prep with lighter dumbbells until you master the exercise pattern – slow, steady & controlled movement. Once you are comfortable, then you can increase the weight.
# 2
Shrugging Your Shoulders
I have seen people at times shrug their shoulders without even knowing that they’re doing it.
Shrugging the shoulders upward to initiate the movement is wrong. That creates a lot of tension in your traps and also limits the activation of your deltoids.
How To Correct It?
To fix this common mistake:
(i) Use lesser weights, and
(ii) Envisage as pulling your shoulder blades down into your back pockets all through the lifting movement.
# 3.
Wrong Feet Placement
Your foot position provides a foundation for the exercise. You require a strong foundation for quality movement. While standing with your feet too close together will not provide you the adequate support, and standing with your feet far apart is uncomfortable and involves your lower back – which is wrong.
How To Correct It?
To avoid this mistake, set your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
# 4.
Raising The Dumbbells Too High
Raising the dumbbells higher than your shoulders can lead to pain, both during and post-exercise. The correct position is a straight line from your shoulders to your fingers – not too high, not too low, but just right.
How To Correct It?
Instead of facing a mirror, stand sideways to the mirror. That will help you get a closer look at what you are actually doing.
# 5
Bending the Elbows Too Much
Whereas a slight bend in your elbows is normal and also recommended for dumbbell front raise exercise. But bending them too much will shift the load to other parts of your arm and lead to discomfort.
How To Correct It?
The weight is probably too heavy and causing too much bending at the elbow. Try with lower weight for an ideal movement pattern.
# 6
Not Engaging the Core
Every single movement we perform, whether walking down the street or putting away groceries, originates from our core. So is the front raise. Not engaging your core during the front raise can make you arch your back, and that can lead to injury – particularly, lower back pain.
How To Correct It?
Whenever you do any upper body exercise, make sure to engage your core. You can achieve this by pulling your belly button toward your spine.
Watch this video to learn how to do the Shoulder Front Raise exercise with dumbbells:
About Author: Renu Bakshi, AKA Fitness Buffhq, is ISSA Certified Elite Trainer. He passed 
Personal Fitness Trainer Course, Nutrition Health Coach course & Specialist Exercise Therapy course from ISSA, USA obtaining + 97% marks. He shares his experience and knowledge about nutrition and effective workouts to get you in the best shape of your life, no matter how old you may be. The author says: “For me, age is just a number!”
