Exercise library

How to do the Dumbbell Scaption

A beginner isolation exercise using dumbbell, working the shoulders.

Primary musclesShoulders
Secondary musclesTraps
EquipmentDumbbell
LevelBeginner
TypeIsolation
ForcePush

Steps

  1. This corrective exercise strengthens the muscles that stabilize your shoulder blade. Hold a light weight in each hand, hanging at your sides. Your thumbs should pointing up.
  2. Begin the movement raising your arms out in front of you, about 30 degrees off center. Your arms should be fully extended as you perform the movement.
  3. Continue until your arms are parallel to the ground, and then return to the starting position.

Tracking it in OneRep

Add the dumbbell scaption to a routine and your previous weight and reps sit beside every set, so the decision to add load is made by what is already on the screen rather than by memory. Exercise history and volume trends are one tap away, and logging works offline for the gyms where signal does not reach.

Because OneRep tracks food on the same timeline, a stall on this lift can be read against what you were actually eating that month — which is the difference between a programming problem and an eating one. More on that in tracking progressive overload without a spreadsheet.

Where the instructions come from

The steps above come from free-exercise-db, a public-domain exercise dataset. They are general guidance, not coaching for your body: if a movement hurts, stop and get someone qualified to look at it.