Front delt exercises with a resistance band

What is a band best at around the shoulder?

Everything that comes before the heavy work, and everything that comes after it. External rotations, Y and T raises and the stretch into a front rack are movements where control and small, even resistance are what count, not load. A band gives exactly that and fits in a pocket.

It also works as the only equipment you travel with. An overhead press with the band anchored under a bench or under your foot is the same movement pattern as with a barbell, with one difference: the hardest part lands at the top, as your arms straighten. The set ends on the lockout, then, not on the drive off your shoulders.

It does well as a finisher after heavy pressing too, when there is nothing left for another set of dumbbells but you can still hold light resistance through a full range.

What will a band not do?

It will not stand in for weight where overhead pressing strength is the point. With a barbell or dumbbells the hardest part sits just above your shoulders, in the bottom of the movement, and that is where the rep breaks down. With a band it runs the other way: the bottom is light and the resistance only builds higher up. So you are mostly training the finish of the movement, not the piece that usually decides the outcome.

Same story with front raises. With a dumbbell the hardest moment arrives when your arm is parallel to the floor, because that is where the lever is longest. A band anchored under your foot pushes that peak higher, above shoulder line, where the traps are already joining in. Same movement, different place for the hardest effort.

None of which means a band does not work. It means it works somewhere else, and at the shoulder that trade comes out better than at any other muscle, because half of what this joint needs is light, controlled work through a full range anyway.