Try This Exercise: Banded Abduction Dumbbell Front Raises

How to do this exercise: Do a front raise with two appropriately weighted dumbbells, dumbbells will be perpendicular to the floor with your palms facing each other, while simultaneously pushing against a resistance band until dumbbells are completely over your head. Lower and repeat.

Any resistance band can be used just make sure the tension / distance you are stretching the band doesn’t allow you to go much beyond an ” I ” configuration. If you’re starting to do a ” Y ” you should either pick a stronger band (if you’re using a closed band) or decrease the distance that you’re grabbing the bad with.

This is a great exercise:

  • To use at the beginning of a workout to warm up your shoulders and rotator cuff muscles if you’re going to be doing a lot of overhead work (Overhead press, push press, etc.). Aim for 1-2 sets of 12+ reps keeping the dumbbell weight and band resistance on the lighter side.
  • In general for improving mobility of your shoulder as well as getting proper firing of your rotator cuff muscles while doing overhead movements – not something a lot of people do well
  • To use at the end of a workout to leave your shoulder feeling completely cooked. You don’t need much weight for this exercise to humble you. Aim for 3 sets of 10-12 reps keeping the dumbbell weight and band resistance on the heavier side.

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Stop Doing Planks For More Than 30 Seconds

Planking longer than 60 seconds isn’t necessary, use these plank variations to do a plank for less time and equally as hard - or harder.