Dumbbell Shoulder Press
- Dumbbells
- Medium exercise
- Shoulders
For the dumbbell shoulder press, you sit against a near-upright backrest and press the dumbbells from ear height up over your shoulders until your arms are almost straight. It mainly trains the front and side delts, with the triceps helping [1].
ShouldersTriceps
Drag to pause
- Main muscle
- Shoulders
- Supporting muscles
- Triceps
- Equipment
- Dumbbells and a bench with backrest
- Reps
- 8–12 for muscle building
- Sets
- 3
- Rest
- 2:00
- Weight step
- 1 kg up to 10 kg, then 2 kg (2.5 lb, then 5 lb)
How to do it
- 1
Set the backrest near upright, back and head against the pad.
- 2
Press from ear height, forearms vertical, up and slightly in.
- 3
Stay flat on the pad and don't clank the dumbbells at the top.
Tempo of one rep
The figure shows a calm rep of 4.4 s. Tempo matters less than you’d think for growth; reps lasting 0.5 to 8 s build similar muscle [2].
Common mistakes
- Back coming off the pad.
Arching turns the press into a forward push, and your lower back takes part of the load. Keep your back, hips and head against the bench, feet flat on the floor.
- Dumbbells drifting forward.
With your hands ahead of your elbows, the weight pulls your arms forward and your wrists bend back. Keep your forearms vertical under the dumbbells and your wrists straight.
- Shrugging toward your ears.
Your upper traps then lift the dumbbells before your arms press. Keep your shoulders down, then press.
- Clanking the dumbbells at the top.
The clank takes tension off your shoulders at the top. Press up and slightly in until the dumbbells are over your shoulders, without touching.
Sets and reps
How Tarvo plans the dumbbell shoulder press as a medium exercise, by goal and experience. Rest is the time between two sets.
| Goal | Reps | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| Muscle building | 8–12 | 2:00 |
| Strength | 6–8 | 2:00 |
| Both | 6–10 | 2:00 |
| Experience | Sets |
|---|---|
| New to it | 2 |
| Some experience | 3 |
| Experienced | 4 |
How Tarvo progresses your shoulder press
Dumbbells go up in fixed steps: 1 kg (2.5 lb) up to 10 kg (25 lb), then 2 kg (5 lb). Until you reach the top of your rep range, you add one rep.
Once your first set hits the top of the range and the others are no more than two reps below it, you move to the next pair. Tarvo works out from your strength how many reps you can do with it.
If the jump is so big that you couldn’t even reach the bottom of your range with the heavier pair, you first add reps beyond the range, one per session and five at most. After that, the jump comes anyway.
Your next shoulder press
Enter what you did last time. Tarvo works out your target for the next session with the same rule as in the app.
All on target, with two left. So the same weight, one more rep.
Variations
Lateral RaiseThe side delts on their ownQuestions
Is the shoulder press better seated or standing?
You can lift more seated; standing, the dumbbell max was about 10 percent lower [1]. Tarvo shows the seated version against a backrest.
Dumbbells or barbell for the shoulder press?
Seated, dumbbells worked the front delts about 11 percent harder than the barbell [1]. Each side also works on its own.
How low should the dumbbells go?
To about ear height, forearms vertical under the dumbbells. Your elbows stay slightly in front of your body, not behind your shoulder line.
How many sets of shoulder press for muscle growth?
Three sets of 8 to 12 reps with 2:00 min rest if you already have some experience. Together with your other shoulder exercises, Tarvo plans about 12 hard sets for the shoulders per week, a number in the range that works well [3].
What muscles does the dumbbell shoulder press work?
Mainly the delts, especially the front and side, plus the triceps [1].
Sources
- [1]Saeterbakken, Fimland (2013). Effects of body position and loading modality on muscle activity and strength in shoulder presses. J Strength Cond Res. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govStudy of the shoulder press. Standing, the dumbbell max was about 10 percent below seated; seated, dumbbells worked the front delts about 11 percent harder than a barbell.
- [2]Schoenfeld, Ogborn, Krieger (2015). Effect of repetition duration during resistance training on muscle hypertrophy. Sports Med. doi 10.1007/s40279-015-0304-0Meta-analysis. Reps lasting 0.5 to 8 seconds built similar muscle; much slower reps built less.
- [3]Pelland, Remmert, Robinson, Hinson, Zourdos (2024). The Resistance Training Dose-Response: Meta-Regressions Exploring the Effects of Weekly Volume and Frequency on Muscle Hypertrophy and Strength Gain. SportRxiv (Vorabfassung). sportrxiv.orgMeta-regression of 67 studies. More sets bring more growth with diminishing returns; secondary muscles fit best counted as half.
Keep going
Tarvo sets your next shoulder press target.
From your last session, set by set. You just check them off.
One email when Tarvo launches. Nothing else. Privacy
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