How To: Standing Plate Front Raises

Are you looking for variety in your life?

Ha, who isn’t!

There’s only but so many times you can fuck or get fucked by the same person before you get bored and start desiring for something else to spice things up, at least occasionally.

Well, the same goes with the gym.

While it’s good to perform the same exercises each and every workout so you can progressively overload and develop actual strength and muscle, there are times when it’s good to throw something new into the mix to break up the monotony. One such exercise is the front raise if you’ve been doing a lot of shoulder pressing for the anterior deltoids. Concerning the front raise, it can be performed with a barbell, dumbbells, kettlebells, or at a cable station. But the most badass looking variation is the plate front raise, which requires nothing more than a weight plate, as its name implies.¹That is, it has the potential to look badass if you’re using a big boy plate and not something like a 5 or 10 lbs one! It too works the anterior deltoids to help strengthen the shoulders while also involving the core and lower traps to a lesser degree.

INSTRUCTIONS

1). Grab a weight plate with both hands at the 3 and 9 o’clock positions.

2). Bring your shoulders down and back and stand with your feet spread about shoulder-width apart and a slight bend in your knees.²Here, your arms should extend down in front of your body with a slight bend in the elbows.

3). Brace your core as if someone were getting ready to punch you in the stomach and breathe out as you raise the plate from your hip to shoulder level while maintaining a slight bend in your elbows.

4). When your arms are parallel to the ground, pause for 1 second and then breathe in while lowering your arms to the starting position in a controlled manner.³Here, you can add an extra movement to increase the intensity by reaching for the wall then retracting your shoulders before lowering the weight.

5). Once the plate is lowered and resting on your upper thighs again, pause for 1-2 seconds before beginning the next rep.

NOTE (1): Don’t elevate your shoulders while raising the plate. If you’re shrugging, then the weight is too heavy. As noted, your shoulders should be down and back throughout the entire movement.

NOTE (2): Don’t bounce!!!⁴i.e. use your lower body to help drive the weight up.

For a workout routine that possibly includes plate front raises, as well as other exercises geared specifically to your goals, training experience, injury history, and available equipment, then find out more HERE

Glossary: arms, barbell, dumbbell, exercise, goal, gym, intensity, muscle, routine, traps, workout

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Monster Longe

Monster Longe is a personal trainer in San Diego. He has been lifting weights for +25 years and training clients in the gym and online for about half of that time. When not working with clients or making content that's easy to read, understand, and apply to everyday life, he enjoys long walks and leaving buildings crushed and entire city blocks decimated in his wake.

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