The underhand front raise is a useful exercise for both beginners and experienced users.

It is simple and easy to perform, yet very effective.

Helps your shoulders and chest, and doesn’t need a lot of equipment; all you need is a pair dumbbell.

For those who are still in the process of setting up a home gym, there are several great places to buy dumbbells.

Speaking of which, you can choose whether to go for the more affordable budget dumbbells or more specific ones like small-handle dumbbells for women and adjustable ones – it’s all down to getting a set that works best for you once you get down to doing the underhand front raise or any other workout.

What Is The Underhand Front Raise?

The underhand front raise is an exercise that is performed by holding dumbbells in both of your hands using an underhand grip and lifting them upwards while stretching your arms, and in doing so you work your shoulders, your chest, and your arms.

How To Do The Underhand Front Raise Exercise?

The steps to perform this exercise as follows

• Step 1 – stand upright with your back straight and hold the dumbbells at the level of your thighs
• Step 2 – lift the weights up front until you reach the level of your shoulders.
• Step 3 – go back to your original position where the dumbbells were at the level of your thighs.
• Step 4 – Repeat this pattern for the desired number of reps.

And that’s it. A pretty simple exercise, right? This is an illustration of the exercise

You would ideally want to do this exercise in the form of 3 to 4 sets, each set with 8 to 10 reps.

That means you would repeat the pattern we mentioned 8 to 10 times, and then take a break for 45 seconds to 90 seconds, then repeat the pattern again for 8 to 10 times totaling three or four sets.

Underhand Front Raise Exercise – Muscles Worked

Aside from the obvious benefit of keeping you active and energizing your body, this simple exercise enhances muscle growth in several areas; Your shoulders, your chest, and your arms.

Shoulders

Your shoulders and arms are comprised of a number of different muscles; deltoids, biceps, triceps, etc, the simple act of putting weight on your arms and hands, and pulling them against the force of gravity will affect all the muscles in your shoulder, this effect is intensified with the easy-to-do exercise we explained. 

The underhand front raise exercise works all the areas in your shoulder, specifically the anterior deltoid and the lateral deltoid.

Other exercises you can do to target your shoulders include low rows and Australian pull-ups.

Chest

As we mentioned above your shoulders are not the only group of muscles that are worked when you perform this exercise; the second group of muscles we are going to talk about is the muscles located in your chest area.

This exercise works a number of your chest muscles – the pectoralis major muscle and serratus anterior muscle.

Working these muscles not only helps you get a more healthy and fit body, but also a better-looking body; since the chest muscles look great when they are in a good shape.

If you’ve been wondering how to tone your chest or what muscle to work after chest day, this workout offers you the options we have discussed above. You don’t even have to wait to work your shoulders the day after, or have to work your arms after chest day, with this workout, you pretty much hit these muscle groups in one go.

Underhand Front Raise Alternative Exercises

As you can tell, the underhand raise exercise has a lot of benefits; these benefits could be greatly increased with a few additions to the exercise.

Now we’re going to discuss a few of these additions and modifications.

1. Cable Front Raise

In the first variation, you are going to need a gym cable machine, this variation is fantastic for your front deltoids as it isolates the muscle and works it intensively.

Related Reading: Cable Crunches Guide

To do this exercise should follow the following steps

• step 1 – connect a straight bar to a low cable and the cable machine and adjust the machine with the appropriate weights.
• step 2 – Hold the bar with the underhand grip so that the cable is between your legs and the machine is to your back. You may also switch up your hand position and grip to the overhand position if you would like to do the reverse front raise variation as another alternative exercise.
• step 3 – Bend your elbows a little bit and start moving the bar up until your hands are at your shoulder a level and pause there for a couple of seconds.
• step 4 – Get back to your original position and move the bar up again, repeating this pattern for the desired number of reps.

Like this

For great results ideally, you would want to do this exercise in the form of 4 to 5 sets with 6 to 8 reps each.

Underhand Barbell Front Raise

In the second variation, we have a pretty similar exercise to the first one we mentioned; the difference is instead of using dumbbells, you are going to be using a barbell. This puts pressure on your chest working the muscles we mentioned above.

Just make sure to pick the right bar for the job, could be a short barbell, or an average one, and of course, make sure you’re aware of your bar’s weight, with and without the weight plates.

Related Reading: Underhand Dumbbell Row

To perform this exercise do the following steps

• Step 1 – Stand upright holding the barbell at the level of your thighs with an underhand grip.
• Step 2 – Pull the barbell upwards until you reach the level of your shoulders.
• Step 3 – Go back to her original position and then go back to the level of your shoulders, repeat that pattern until you completed the desired number of reps.

This video illustrates the steps above

You would want to perform this exercise in the form of 3 to 4 sets each with 8 to 12 reps.

Related Readings;

• Rear Delt Fly Exercise
• Dumbbell Pullover Guide
• Neutral Grip Pullups
• Rear Delt Row Exercise
• Bushing Vs Bearing Barbell
• Stopped Working Out for 6 Months – What Happens to Your Body During a Workout Break?

Ben Mayz

Hi there! I'm Ben, main author and chief editor at Fitlifefanatics.com. I have been obsessed with Strength Training and Fitness for 18 years now.
My passion for living a happy fit lifestyle is what made me realize that fitness is what I wanted for my future.
I went on to earn my Masters in Sports Training & Biomechanics.
My passion for Strength training & fitness and my love of helping others is what made me start Fitlifefanatics.
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