--- title: "Front delt exercises with a barbell" description: "Standing and seated military press, behind the neck, barbell front raises. Video technique, plus why progress here is slow." locale: en url: "https://hi.fitness/exercises/muscles/front-delts/barbell" count: 23 type: combo muscle: FRONT_DELT equipment: BARBELL --- # Front delt exercises with a barbell A barbell puts more weight over your head than any other implement, and it is the easiest thing to write down afterward. You pay for that on the first rep: the bar has to get past your head, so the movement is not a straight line up. It is a short move of the torso out of the way and back under the load. The list splits into two halves worth telling apart. First, the press variations: standing, seated, close and wide grip, behind the neck, off an incline bench. Second, the Olympic lifts, where the shoulder mostly catches the weight overhead and holds it there instead of pressing it up off the shoulders. ## Why is overhead pressing so technical? In a bench press the bar travels in a straight line and nothing stands in its way. Overhead, your head stands in its way. To keep the path vertical, your torso has to lean back for a moment, let the bar through, and come back under it, all with the load resting on your collarbones. That is where the two usual problems come from. The first is pushing the bar forward in an arc to get around your head without moving your torso, which parks the weight far in front of the shoulder and ends the set sooner than it should. The second is a lean that stops being brief and turns permanent, so the press becomes a standing incline press with your spine bent into an arch. A lot of that is solved by the setup: hands a little wider than your shoulders, elbows slightly in front of your torso, bar at chest height. From there the vertical path is simply the shortest way up, and you have to think about it less. ## What are the snatch and the clean and jerk doing here? The snatch, the clean, the jerk and the snatch balance are on this list because the front delt really does work in them. It works mostly by catching the weight overhead and stabilizing it, though, not by pushing it up. The drive comes from the hips and legs, and they decide how much goes on the bar. These are very good exercises for a different goal. If you want a movement that tires your shoulders out, pick one of the press variations. If you are after power, technique and the jerk itself, the Olympic lifts are worth doing on their own terms, but they are also one of the few things in the atlas that are hard to learn from a description and a video alone. Find someone to watch your first reps. ## Common mistakes - **The bar swings around your head** - The path is vertical and close to you. Your head moves back out of the bar's way, not the bar out of your head's way. A forward arc puts the weight in front of the shoulder, in the worst leverage available. - **Arching the low back instead of pressing** - If the last rep only goes up because your ribs flare forward, the weight is too heavy. Your spine stays neutral. - **Behind the neck without the range for it** - That version asks for a lot of freedom in the joint. If you have to push your head forward just to get the bar behind your neck, press from the front instead. ## Progress the movement 1. **Start with a bar you can actually press** - Overhead is the one lift where an empty Olympic bar is already a real weight. A lighter bar or a fixed-weight barbell is a normal place to start, not a step backward. 2. **Add less than you would on anything else** - 2.5 kg a side is nothing in a squat and can be a jump of more than ten percent overhead. Fractional plates and magnetic add-ons exist mostly because of this lift. 3. **The push press is a different exercise** - In a push press the drive comes from your legs. When the strict press stalls, moving to a push press is not the next weight on the same list. It is another movement and another line in your log. ## All Front delt exercises with a barbell - [Barbell Standing Military Press](https://hi.fitness/exercises/barbell-standing-military-press) - Front delts · Barbell - [Barbell Seated Military Press](https://hi.fitness/exercises/barbell-seated-military-press) - Front delts · Barbell - [Barbell Standing Shoulder Press](https://hi.fitness/exercises/barbell-standing-shoulder-press) - Front delts · Barbell - [Seated Shoulder Press Barbell](https://hi.fitness/exercises/seated-shoulder-press-barbell) - Front delts · Barbell - [Barbell Clean and Press](https://hi.fitness/exercises/barbell-clean-and-press) - Front delts · Barbell - [Barbell Front Raise](https://hi.fitness/exercises/barbell-front-raise) - Front delts · Barbell - [Barbell Standing Close Grip Military Press](https://hi.fitness/exercises/barbell-standing-close-grip-military-press) - Front delts · Barbell - [Barbell Standing Wide Grip Military Press](https://hi.fitness/exercises/barbell-standing-wide-grip-military-press) - Front delts · Barbell - [Barbell Seated Behind Neck Military Press](https://hi.fitness/exercises/barbell-seated-behind-neck-military-press) - Front delts · Barbell - [Barbell Behind Neck Push Press](https://hi.fitness/exercises/barbell-behind-neck-push-press) - Front delts · Barbell - [Barbell Z Press](https://hi.fitness/exercises/barbell-z-press) - Front delts · Barbell - [Barbell Incline Shoulders Press](https://hi.fitness/exercises/barbell-incline-shoulders-press) - Front delts · Barbell - [Barbell Incline Shoulders Press (Inside Squat Cage)](https://hi.fitness/exercises/barbell-incline-shoulders-press-inside-squat-cage) - Front delts · Barbell - [Barbell Power Jerk](https://hi.fitness/exercises/barbell-power-jerk) - Front delts · Barbell - [Barbell Split Jerk](https://hi.fitness/exercises/barbell-split-jerk) - Front delts · Barbell - [Barbell Snatch](https://hi.fitness/exercises/barbell-snatch) - Front delts · Barbell - [Barbell Split Clean](https://hi.fitness/exercises/barbell-split-clean) - Front delts · Barbell - [Barbell Snatch Balance](https://hi.fitness/exercises/barbell-snatch-balance) - Front delts · Barbell - [Barbell Snatch from Blocks](https://hi.fitness/exercises/barbell-snatch-from-blocks) - Front delts · Barbell - [Barbell Behind the Back Push Press Single Arm Balance](https://hi.fitness/exercises/barbell-behind-the-back-push-press-single-arm-balance) - Front delts · Barbell - [Barbell Lying Row](https://hi.fitness/exercises/barbell-lying-row) - Front delts · Barbell - [Prone Front Raises Barbell on Bench](https://hi.fitness/exercises/prone-front-raises-barbell-on-bench) - Front delts · Barbell - [Front Shoulder Stretch with Bar](https://hi.fitness/exercises/front-shoulder-stretch-with-bar) - Front delts · Barbell