Dumbbell Iron Cross

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand at your sides.

Raise your arms out to the sides until they are parallel to the ground, forming a T shape with your body.

Pause for a moment, then slowly lower your arms back down to the starting position.

Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Losing tension in the core or lower back partway through the movement — because Dumbbell Iron Cross loads multiple joints at once, a small breakdown in bracing at the hips or spine compounds through the whole chain.

Locking out too fast or letting the elbows drift outward under load — controlling the eccentric (lowering) phase is where most of the muscle-building stimulus happens.

Letting the two arms/sides move independently with different ranges of motion or tempo, which hides side-to-side strength imbalances instead of fixing them.

Skipping a warm-up set at lighter load/intensity — even "beginner" exercises benefit from a rehearsal set to groove the movement pattern before working sets.