How to do the Arnold development?

The Arnold press is an excellent bodybuilding exercise for working the shoulders. As you might expect, this move is named after Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Austrian bodybuilder and actor used to perform this little known exercise during its workouts.

How do you do the exercise?

The Arnold press is a technical movement. It can be performed in a sitting or standing position.

From a seated position, raise the seat of the weight bench to a vertical position and hold a dumbbell in each hand.

Your feet should be on the ground, your legs wide enough to remain stable. The starting position consists in bending your arms to place the dumbbells at the height of your pectoral muscles, in supination grip (palms towards you).

Then push the dumbbells upward while rotating your wrists to get into a pronated grip (palms outward). In the top position of the movement, your hands should be above your head, with your arms almost straight.

Then descend while controlling the movement and performing the opposite rotation of the one performed on the way up to the initial position.

When standing, the principle is the same. The feet should be about shoulder width apart. It is however advisable to take care not to arch the back too much to concentrate the work on the targeted muscles.

Muscles worked

The Arnold bench press is ideal for targeting the shoulder muscles.

Specifically, this exercise primarily works the middle deltoid. To a lesser degree, it also works the anterior and posterior deltoids.

In addition to the shoulders, it involves the triceps, trapezius and the upper portion of the pectorals.

Tips

1. In the up position, do not fully extend your arms to avoid injury.
2. Keep your back straight and contract your abdominal muscles during the movement.
3. Anchor your feet in the ground to gain stability.
4. Start with light weights to learn the technique of the movement and increase the loads gradually.

Variants

The Arnold bench press can also be done seated, without a backrest, which will involve more work on the abdominal muscles.

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