How to do the Arnold Press
Step by step
- Sit tall holding dumbbells in front of your shoulders, palms facing you.
- Press the weights up while rotating your palms to face forward.
- Finish with arms extended overhead and palms pointing away from you.
- Reverse the path, rotating your palms back toward you as you lower.
The thing people get wrong
Rotate smoothly through the whole press rather than twisting suddenly at the bottom - the turn spreads the work across the front and side of the shoulder.
Coaching cue
Keep your ribs down and your core tight so your lower back does not arch as you press.
Stay safe
Stop the set if your shoulder pinches during the turn; rotating under load aggravates cranky shoulders.
Make it easier or harder
- Easier: Do a regular dumbbell shoulder press with no rotation.
- Harder: Pause two seconds overhead with your palms facing forward.
Muscles worked
- Primary: Front delts, Triceps
- Secondary: Side delts, Upper Back
What to do instead
Same job, different movement — useful if you don't have the equipment or it doesn't feel right today.
Daily Coach builds this into a real weekly plan. It picks the exercises for your equipment and experience, swaps around injuries you tell it about, and tracks what you actually lifted.