Arnold press

The Arnold press starts with the dumbbells in front of your chest, palms facing you, and rotates them outward as you press overhead. You finish in the same position a normal dumbbell press starts in.

The rotation puts the front delt through a longer range than a straight press does. It also makes the movement slower and more awkward, which is why the weight on it is always lower. That is the trade you are making.

Sets, reps and RIR

Single-joint work responds to reps and time under tension more than to heavy load.

RIR means reps in reserve: how many you could still have done when you racked it. RIR 2 is two short of failure.

How to do it

1. Sit upright with back support, dumbbells at chest height, palms facing you and elbows in front of your ribs.
2. Start pressing and begin rotating the hands outward at the same time.
3. Let the elbows travel out to the sides as the palms turn, so you pass through the position a normal press would start from.
4. Finish with the arms overhead and the palms facing forward, without locking the elbows hard.
5. Reverse the whole thing on the way down, rotating back so the palms face you again at the bottom.

Common mistakes

Rotating at the last moment

Twisting the wrists only at the top turns it into a normal press with a flourish. The rotation should be spread across the whole press.

Arching the lower back

Leaning back to get the dumbbells up turns an overhead press into an incline press and loads the lumbar spine. Ribs down, glutes tight.

Elbows flaring at the bottom

If the elbows are already out to the sides at chest height, the starting position is gone and so is the extra range. They belong in front of the ribs.

Treating it as a strength lift

The rotation makes the shoulder least stable exactly where the load is heaviest. This is not the exercise to test a new top set on.

How it differs from the neighbouring variants

A normal dumbbell overhead press lets you use more weight and is the better pick when the goal is to press heavy. The Arnold gives you range and time under tension instead.

The barbell overhead press is heavier still and the most efficient way to load the movement, but both arms are locked to one bar and the shoulders cannot find their own path.

What it suits

Arnold presses work as the first or second shoulder exercise, with eight to twelve reps and one to three reps in reserve. Because the shoulder rotates under load, this is a movement to leave a little in the tank on. If your shoulder complains during the rotation, the plain dumbbell press does most of the same job.

Muscles worked

Primary: Front delts, Side delts.

Secondary: Triceps, Rotator cuff.

Estimate your one-rep max

Epley's formula, from a set you have actually done. It is an estimate, and it drifts above eight reps, so keep the input between one and twelve.

What it is called elsewhere

• Norsk Arnold press
• Svenska Arnold press
• Dansk Arnold press
• Deutsch Arnold Press
• Español Press Arnold
• Italiano Arnold press
• Português Desenvolvimento Arnold
• Русский Жим Арнольда
• Français Développé Arnold

Related shoulders exercises

• Overhead press (barbell)
• Seated overhead press (barbell)
• Push press
• Upright row (barbell)
• Landmine shoulder press
• Face pulls (cable)

athlate logs this exercise, keeps the numbers, and tells you what you lifted last time.