What Are Front Delts?

The shoulder joint is composed of three muscles called the anterior deltoid, posterior deltoid, and lateral deltoid (delts for short).

To be more specific, the anterior is on the front, the posterior is on the back, and the lateral is on the side. Therefore, the anterior delt is also called the front delt.

Benefits of Building Front Delts

It’s important to develop all three deltoid muscles to create proportioned shoulders and avoid injury caused by muscle imbalances. But bringing your front delts up in the process has several benefits.

First, the front delt gives your shoulders more thickness, especially when viewed from the side.

Second, well-developed front delts create a defined separation between the chest and shoulder muscles. This split between the muscles makes them stand out and look more prominent.

And lastly, solid front delts increase your strength on other exercises like the bench press.

• Make your shoulders appear thicker from the side
• Create definition between your shoulders and chest
• Increase strength on pressing movements

How To Work The Front Delt

The primary function of the front delt is moving your upper arm forward. And it does this in a couple of ways.

One action of the front delt is extending your arms as you press out and up. Think of the motion of an exercise like the incline press.

Another action is anterior arm abduction. In other words, lifting your straight arm as you would in a front raise.

Therefore, the most effective way to train the front delt is with incline/overhead presses and straight arm raises to the front.

However, there are many variations of each of these movements. So let’s look at some of the best exercise variations for targeting the front delts.

Front Delt Exercises

To make this list of front delt exercises easier to digest, I’ve divided it into sections based on the equipment used. There are sections for barbells, dumbbells, cables, machines, resistance bands, and “others”.

This segmentation also makes it easier to find exercises that work with your gym equipment. So, whether you work out at a fancy health club or in your backyard, there are at least a few side delt exercises for you.

Barbell Front Delt Exercises

The barbell is arguably the most versatile equipment for training front delts. So let’s begin with barbell front delt exercises.

1. Overhead Press

The overhead press or military press is sort of like the squat of shoulder exercises. So you should absolutely use it in your shoulder-building workouts.

Often, inexperienced bodybuilders overlook this exercise in favor of isolation movements. But make no mistake, the overhead press is fantastic for overall shoulder development.

For this exercise, start in a standing position with the barbell on the front of your shoulders. Then press the bar overhead.

Dumbbell Front Delt Exercises

With a pair of dumbbells, you can replicate many barbell exercises we just covered. So let’s look at the best dumbbell front delt exercises.

8. Dumbbell Shoulder Press

The dumbbell shoulder press is almost the same as the barbell overhead press. However, each arm works independently.

With dumbbells, you must use more stabilizer muscles in the shoulders, reducing how much weight you can lift. But you also get a more natural arm movement and range of motion.

Cable Front Delt Exercises

Next up are the cable front delt exercises. You will need a cable apparatus and a few different handle attachments for these variations.

12. Cable Front Raise

Again, the front raise is ideal for isolating the anterior delts, and the cable front raise is no exception. Start by setting the pulley at the lowest position near the floor.

Next, stand with the pulley between your legs and your back to the cable. Begin with your hands by the front of your thighs. Then lift your hands up and away from your body without bending your arms.

You can use a bar handle or rope attachment for this exercise, whichever is most comfortable.

Machine Side Delt Exercises

If you’re working out at a fitness club, then you probably have access to a few kinds of machines. So let’s look at some machine front delt exercises.

14. Smith Machine Shoulder Press

The Smith machine is essentially a barbell on rails that makes it easier to balance. And the Smith machine shoulder press is a good way to blast your front deltoids.

Resistance Band Front Delt Exercises

Recently, we all found out what it’s like to have our gyms closed down. And if you’re like me, you scrambled to set up a decent home gym.

Luckily, you can train your front delts pretty well with nothing more than a set of resistance bands.

18. Resistance Band Internal Rotation

The resistance band internal rotation exercise is excellent for working the stabilizer muscles in the front of your shoulder. And it is a good warm-up for your rotator cuff.

To perform this exercise, start by looping the band around a sturdy object. Then grasp the end of the band in one hand and step out with your side facing the band.

With your arm bent 90 degrees, rotate your hand inward towards your body while keeping your elbow locked in place at your side. Then switch sides and perform the exercise with your other arm.

Other Front Delt Exercises

Fear not if you’ve read this far and still haven’t found an exercise for you. Here are a few more front delt exercises.

21. Front Plank

The plank is a popular core-strengthening movement. But most people don’t associate it with a shoulder workout.

However, your anterior delts work to maintain your arm position during the plank. And this exercise burns like no other on the list!

22. Plate Front Raise

The plate front raise is a great front delt exercise you can do without dumbbells. I recommend holding the plate on the sides to target more front delts for this variation.

In addition, try doing drop sets since it’s easy to change the weight by grabbing a smaller plate. For example, you could do back-to-back sets with 45, 35, and 25-pound plates.

Front Delt Workout

Now you have twenty-one excellent exercises for hitting front delts. But you might have analysis paralysis from all those options.

So I’m going to give you an example front delt workout. In addition, I’ll explain how to program front delt exercises in terms of frequency and sets/reps.

Front Delt Workout Frequency

The first thing to establish is how often you train shoulders. The answer to that depends on your experience and your goals.

For beginners or people who can only work out a few days a week, a total body 3-day split works well. That means you would do a couple of shoulder exercises each workout three times per week.

More advanced lifters might work single muscle groups in each workout. This routine is called the bro split workout, and it works ideal for growth (despite the name).

In that case, you would work your shoulders for an entire workout once or twice a week. And you want to include at least a couple of front delt exercises in those workouts.