Shoulders · Dumbbell
Dumbbell Shoulder Press
The dumbbell shoulder press is a movement in which the lifter presses a dumbbell in each hand from shoulder height to overhead until the arms are locked out.
Also called Dumbbell Press. orcatrain matches these names when you search the movement catalogue.
How is the dumbbell shoulder press performed?
Seated or standing, the lifter brings a dumbbell to each shoulder with the palms facing forward, then presses both overhead until the arms are straight, and lowers them under control back to shoulder height. Because the two dumbbells are not connected, each arm must balance its own load and the hands are free to travel a slightly natural arc rather than being locked to a bar’s fixed path.
What does the dumbbell shoulder press train?
The dumbbell shoulder press trains the same vertical pressing pattern as the barbell shoulder press — front and side deltoids with the triceps — but with independent arms and a freer path, which many lifters find more comfortable overhead. The absolute load will be lower than the barbell equivalent, and the stabilising demand higher.
How does orcatrain score the dumbbell shoulder press?
Log the weight of a single dumbbell, not the pair. Whether you press seated or standing changes how much the trunk contributes, so keeping that consistent makes your logged history comparable. Scored on its own; the headline total is the squat, bench press and deadlift.
Every scored set is turned into an estimated one-rep max, and that estimate is scored with the DOTS coefficient against your bodyweight and sex — so a set is comparable with your own past work and with lifters of a different size. Sets above ten repetitions are recorded but not scored: the estimate is a curve fit that stops being honest past that point, so orcatrain returns nothing rather than a confident guess. Weights are stored in kilograms.
Track your progress on Dumbbell Shoulder Press.
Movement names and groupings come from Strength Level, where you can also see their strength standards for this movement. DOTS is computed by orcatrain itself.