Cuban Press
A three-phase dumbbell drill that links an upright row, an external rotation and an overhead press in one rep.
How to do it
- Stand tall with a light dumbbell in each hand, palms facing your thighs.
- Set your shoulder blades down and back and brace your trunk.
- Pull the dumbbells up the front of your body until the upper arms are parallel to the floor.
- Holding the elbows at that height, rotate the forearms up and back into a goalpost position.
- Press the dumbbells overhead until the arms are almost straight.
- Reverse the three phases in order and return to the start under control.
Key technique cue
Keep the elbows up through the rotation; light weights, no rushing the phases.
Common mistakes
- ✕ Loading it like a shoulder press, which makes the rotation phase impossible to control.
- ✕ Letting the elbows drop during the rotation, which removes the external rotation the exercise exists for.
- ✕ Arching the lower back to finish the press, which hides limited overhead mobility.
- ✕ Rushing the sequence, which blends the three phases and loses the cuff work entirely.
Benefits
- ✓ Loads the rotator cuff in a rotated overhead position that most pressing movements do not reach.
- ✓ Combines mobility and strength work in a single rep, which saves warm-up time.
- ✓ Exposes shoulder mobility restrictions early, before heavier pressing is loaded.
About the exercise
The Cuban press chains three movements together. Light dumbbells are pulled up the front of the body into an upright row, the forearms then rotate up and back into a goalpost position, and the press finishes overhead. The rotation phase is the point of the exercise: it loads the external rotators of the cuff in a position most pressing does not reach, which is why it is normally trained with light loads. Deltoids and traps carry the row and the press, and the triceps finish the lockout.
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