Arnold Press

The Arnold Press, a great shoulder exercise!

It is named after Arnold Schwarzenegger,  7 time winner of the Olympia. I understand that Arnold came up with this exercise while training for the Olympia to ensure he had round, full deltoids.

In reality, performing the Arnold Press will not guarantee round, full deltoids anymore than any other "magic" exercise will. There is no magic pill to make you slim, there is no magic exercise to make you beautiful, you need to perform a variety of exercises to target all the muscles and keep from getting bored.

The Arnold Press is similar to a dumbbell press, you can perform is standing or seated, your preference, the main difference is that when starting the exercise, the dumbbells are held with your palms facing your chest.

I find that I need to use a slightly lower weight when performing this exercise than I would with a regular press.


Press the weights up to start bringing them above your head, turning the weights as you press up, so that your palms will be facing out, away from your body as you get them about halfway up.

Then continue pressing up

When you get to the top, you  do not lock your arms out, they remain with a very slight bend. Notice the palms are facing away from my body now.

Then back down, with complete control ending with palms facing your upper chest again.

Give these a try, they will change things up for you.