Band Front Raise
A front raise against a resistance band under your feet: you lift your straight arms in front of you to shoulder height, training the front delts.
- Primary muscles
- Front delts
- Secondary
- Side delts, Serratus
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Logged as
- Band × reps
Loads from YouTube only when you press play. The video is by an independent creator.
Why do it
It needs nothing but a band, so it suits home workouts, travel and shoulder warm-ups before pressing. The band adds tension as it stretches, so the raise starts light and gets heaviest near shoulder height, and it pulls your arms down quickly if you don't control the lowering. Most people already get a lot of front delt work from presses, so treat it as a small extra rather than a main lift.
How to do it
Stand on the middle of a band and hold one end in each hand in front of your thighs, palms facing your body and arms straight.
Raise your arms in front of you until your hands are at shoulder height.
Keep your torso still and your shoulders down; do not swing.
Lower your arms slowly. Log the band you used; a stronger band counts as progress.
Common mistakes
Swinging to get the arms up
Rocking your torso uses momentum instead of your shoulders. Keep your torso still, as the steps say, and use a lighter band if you can't.
Bending the elbows as the band tightens
Near the top, your elbows tend to bend to shorten the lever. Keep your arms straight for the whole rep and pick a lighter band if they won't stay that way.
Letting the band snap your arms down
The band pulls hard on the way down. Lower slowly so the front delts keep working on the way back.
No tension at the bottom
With your feet close together on the band, it hangs slack at the start. Widen your stance on the band or hold it shorter to add tension.
Sets, reps and progression
How many sets you do and how close to failure you take them depend on your goal and your week, not on the exercise. These guides cover it:
Alternatives that train the same thing
Same movement, a different angle or piece of equipment.
