Shoulder Workout: Seated Dumbbell Press

Seated dumbbell presses are excellent shoulder exercises as they target all three sections of your deltoid muscle. The deltoid, often referred to as "delts", is a triangular muscle that wraps around the top section of your shoulders. These are the muscles responsible for raising your arms to the side, forward and backwards, as well as assist in the rotation of your shoulders.

To perform this move:

• Sit on a bench and keep your back straight. You may find that folding the bench into a chair allows you to support your back better on the backrest.
  
• Grip a suitable sized dumbbell in each hand and push the dumbbells up until your upper, back section of your arms (triceps) is parallel to the floor. The weights should be sitting at the same level as your ears.
  
• UPWARD: As you inhale, slowly bring the dumbbells up, straightening your arms and pushing the dumbbells inwards together (see photo below).
  
• DOWNWARD: As you exhale, in a controlled movement bring the dumbbells back to the starting position before going for another rep.

REMEMBER: In this exercise it is easy for your lower back to arch; do not allow this to happen. Keep your back straight at all times. Whilst performing this move, look forward with your chin up and keep your shoulders squared to avoid rounding your back forward.

This move can be performed either seated or standing and arms may also be alternated to hold the dumbbell with palms facing each other.

The finishing movement of the seated dumbbell press exercise

Author: Dimi Ingle
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