Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press

Start

Finish

How to do it

Sit upright with your back supported and the dumbbells at ear height, elbows about 30 degrees in front of your torso, then press up and slightly in until the bells nearly touch overhead.

Muscles worked

Primary: shoulders · Also works: triceps, upper chest

Equipment

Dumbbells

Common mistakes

• Flaring the elbows dead level with the shoulders, which jams the front of the joint
• Stopping halfway down instead of bringing the dumbbells back to ear height each rep
• Pressing the bells apart in a wide arc rather than converging them over the head

Variations

• Neutral-grip seated press
• Seated press with a two-second pause at the bottom

Can't do this one? Swap it for

• Standing Dumbbell Shoulder Press
• Arnold Press
• Machine Shoulder Press

Take care: ABROFIT automatically removes this movement for anyone who has flagged a shoulder problem. If that's you, use one of the swaps above and speak to a physio before loading it.

Related exercises

• Standing Overhead Pressshoulders
• Pike Push-Upshoulders
• Dumbbell Lateral Raiseshoulders
• Shoulder Controlled Rotationsshoulders
• Face Pullshoulders
• Cable Lateral Raiseshoulders