The Cuban Press is a intermediate-friendly dumbbell strength exercise that targets the shoulders, with the traps and triceps working alongside. Here's how to do it right — and what to stop doing.
Primary musclesShoulders
Secondary musclesTraps, Triceps
EquipmentDumbbell
LevelIntermediate
TypeStrength
3D demo in the EGON app
01 Execution
How to do the Cuban Press
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.
02 The payoff
Why it earns its spot
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.
03 Don't do this
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.
EGON Put it on record
Track it in EGON.
Log every set of the Cuban Press, get your PRs detected automatically, earn aura for the work — and climb five leagues of statues, from Stone to Ego.
