Standing Dumbbell Press

How to perform

1. 01Standing with your feet shoulder width apart, take a dumbbell in each hand. Raise the dumbbells to head height, the elbows out and about 90 degrees. This will be your starting position.
2. 02Maintaining strict technique with no leg drive or leaning back, extend through the elbow to raise the weights together directly above your head.
3. 03Pause, and slowly return the weight to the starting position.

Form cues

• —Brace your core before the first rep and keep it braced.
• —Drive through the full range — do not cut the lockout short.
• —Control the lowering phase — that is where most of the growth stimulus lives.

Common mistakes

• —Using momentum instead of the target muscle.
• —Cutting the range of motion short to add load.
• —Adding weight before the movement pattern is clean.