Tip: Do You Need to Do Front Raises?

Probably not. Here's why, plus a better exercise for most lifters.

Research on muscle activation shows that the front delts are:

  1. Stimulated during horizontal presses (flat bench)
  2. Stimulated to a higher degree during incline presses
  3. Stimulated to an even higher degree during vertical presses (overhead work)

In practical terms, you don't need to do exercises like dumbbell front raises if you've already been doing a few compound pressing exercises of different angles, especially exercises like incline presses and overhead presses.

Do This Instead

Bent-Over Lateral Raise

You'll make your chest and shoulders workout less redundant if you complement your compound pressing exercises with additional shoulder exercises that target the middle and rear-delts, like seated lateral raises and seated, bent-over lateral raises.