Dumbbell Arnold press
An overhead press that starts with your palms facing you and rotates on the way up, covering the front and side of the shoulder.
The movement
Palms facing you
01 Palms facing you
Start at shoulder height with the palms turned toward your face and the elbows tucked in front.
02 Elbows wide
Rotate the arms out to the sides, opening the chest before pressing.
03 Palms facing away
Press straight overhead, finishing with the palms turned forward.
How to do it
Setup
- Stand or sit tall with a dumbbell in each hand at shoulder height, palms facing you and elbows in front of your ribs.
- Tighten your stomach and squeeze your glutes so your lower back cannot arch.
Execution
- Press the weights up while turning your palms to face forward.
- Finish with your arms straight overhead and your palms facing away from you.
- Reverse both the press and the turn on the way down, ending with your palms facing you again.
BreathingExhale as you press, inhale on the way down.
Form cues
- Rotate and press in one continuous motion.
- Finish with straight arms and your upper arms beside your ears.
Common mistakes
- Rotating first and then pressing, which removes the reason to do this version at all.
- Arching the lower back to get the weights overhead when the shoulders run out of range.
- Starting the rotation too late, so it happens in a rush near the top.
Worth knowing
- Your lower back takes over the moment your shoulders cannot reach overhead. If your ribs flare on every rep, press seated with a back support or go lighter.
General guidance, not medical advice. See how Setkit works.
Notes
The Arnold press exists because a standard overhead press mostly trains the front of the shoulder. Starting with your palms turned toward you puts the shoulder in a rotated position at the bottom, and turning outward as you press asks the side of the deltoid to work through a range a plain press never reaches.
That extra range is also why the weights have to be lighter. The bottom is a real stretch, the rotation happens where the shoulder is weakest, and a weight picked from your normal shoulder press will stall at exactly the wrong moment. Most people use around two thirds of what they press conventionally. That is the right answer, not a failure.
Blending the two motions is the technical point. Pressed and then twisted, or twisted and then pressed, it is just a shoulder press with a decoration on it. The rotation should finish as your elbows finish straightening, so the whole rep runs along one continuous path.
Seated is the better default. Standing turns it into a trunk exercise as well, and in a movement this dependent on staying in the right range, the lower back arching to compensate is the first thing to go wrong.