Straight Raises on Incline Bench

Shoulders · Barbell

How to do it

Leave the bar on the floor behind the head of an incline bench and lie **face down** on the bench. Take an overhand grip and raise it with **completely straight arms**, in an arc, to shoulder height or slightly above; lower slowly the same way. The bench pins your torso so no momentum is possible, and with a straight arm the lever is enormous: you lift very little and feel a great deal. The classic mistake is bending the elbow to lift more: that is a row.

Variants

The drawing shows one way of doing it, and the technique above describes that one. Almost every exercise has variants — standing or seated, the grip, the bench angle — and is still the same exercise: if you do it another way, write it in the exercise note and you will have it every time you train it.

Also works: Back

See all 907 exercises