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| Exercises that will Help You Build Shoulders Like Boulders |
For example, you may be able to perform an overhead barbell press with 190lbs but you’ll only be able to use 40lbs dumbbells doing lateral raises
Some exercises are simply a better choice, like the press in our example, even though the lateral raises light the EMG much more. For each of the exercises below, we’ll give a thorough explanation of why it made the list and how to best use it to your advantage.
Read More: 4 Advanced Exercises to Build Bigger Delts
BARBELL PUSH PRESS
Execution:
With the barbell firmly placed on your upper chest, bend the knees slightly and with the balls of your feet firmly pressing the floor, explode with the barbell upwards. Your entire lower body, core, triceps, upper pecs, and delts are involved.
As already mentioned, this is more of a power/strength movement than a classic bodybuilding exercise, however building strength here can have big carry over to many other movements and help you load up more plates on them. What’s more, performing movements which engage multiple muscle groups at the same time boost muscle-building hormones’ release better than movements that don’t.
Since this press variation engages so many muscle groups, you shouldn’t be doing it every workout. Doing compound movements such as these too frequently can quickly fry up your CNS (Central Nervous System). That is why, when you do use them, do them first in your workout, after a thorough warm-up, of course. This isn’t an exercise you should be doing each shoulder training session, but it’s a great choice when you’re trying to increase power and strength.
STANDING MILITARY PRESS (BARBELL OR DUMBBELL)
When you see how the standing military press is performed, it’s a push press but without the leg drive. This makes it a better isolation exercise, however not entirely so. It is a quite demanding exercise which involves several muscles, as well as several joints. It can be placed between the push press and the seated press, as it still allows for a bit of momentum to be used, as well as increased muscle activation when lifting the weight compared to the seated press.
Execution:
Hold the barbell placed onto your upper chest, and press it straight overhead, finishing just short of elbow lockout. Keep your knees slightly bent to absorb any “wobbles” in your center of gravity and relieve some of the stress placed on the lower back muscles.
Barbell and dumbbell variation are both included here. Studies have shown that doing the dumbbell version triggers a greater degree of EMG activation, however, performing this exercise with dumbbells is a lot harder and it does not allow for a greater weight to be lifted. Always make sure that you maintain a neutral hip position. Getting the hips forward or sticking the butt back can cause real damage to your lumbar spine in the long term.
Just as the push press, the standing military (strict) press is a multi-joint movement, which means it substitutes many other pressing movements, some of them included in our list. After a good warm-up, choose a relatively challenging weight for you, but not one so heavy that you’ll lose your form. If your triceps are a bit weaker, get a pair of dumbbells instead of a barbell, since they don’t engage the triceps that much.
Read More: How To Target your OBLIQUES | 7 Best Exercises
DUMBBELL INCLINE ROWS
You might be a bit surprised how this one made the list. How could a rowing movement help with shoulder development? Doesn’t it train just the back? Well, the answer is no. Rowing movements also engage the rear deltoids to a significant degree.
Since rowing appears to target rear deltoid heads pretty well, it would seem like a good addition to your regular shoulder workout. Research is scant in regards to using other rowing movements and their effectiveness in shoulder development.
When you pair shoulders and back in the same workout session, this exercise will provide a smooth training transition between the two muscle groups. If you include it in your shoulder workout, you should do the overhead presses first. Always do the multi-joint movements before the single-joint.
SEATED OVERHEAD DUMBBELL PRESS
Using dumbbells instead of a barbell for the overhead presses will work each shoulder independently, making the exercise more challenging and engaging the tiny stabilizer muscles to help control the weight. What’s more, the range of motion is a bit longer (in a semi-circle fashion) as you press the dumbbells together above your head. It is recommended that you don’t let them touch and bounce off each other. Keep them an inch apart.
When you do this exercise seated you exclude the lower body muscles from lifting the weight. Since the upper arms go straight out to the sides while lifting the weight, you will feel your middle deltoids heavily engaged, with far less stress on the rear deltoids compared to when you lift a barbell in front of your head.
Do this exercise first in your shoulder session. You will usually be able to handle a much heavier load on the seated dumbbell press than the standing one because the support base is much larger.
Getting the dumbbells to the starting position can be harder than it looks. For those who are beginners you can try this: when you prepare to get the dumbbells overhead, grad one in each hand, sit down, place them on your thighs closer to your knees, and then quickly lift one knee upwards toward the shoulder to help yourself hoist the weight. Then do the same with your other knee.
SEATED OVERHEAD BARBELL PRESS
Pressing in a seated position not only makes it hard to use body momentum, but it also provides a solid base from which to lift the weight. Using a barbell puts a greater emphasis on the triceps than using dumbbells. If you experience soreness in your shoulders after the workout, try keeping the barbell in front of you.
Some people prefer lowering the barbell behind their head, claiming that it stimulates their middle delts more directly. This approach is highly discouraged, as it can become quite painful and cause serious shoulder problems in some lifters in the long term. Do them first in your workout and use some heavier weights. Use a seat back for better support when doing heavy sets.
UPRIGHT ROWS
Upright rows are not a single exercise but an assortment of multi-joint exercises which mainly target the middle deltoids. Each variation: using a cable, a Smith machine, a barbell or an EZ-bar has its slight advantages, however, none is drastically better than the others. It is generally recommended that you don’t do it with a close grip, which can rotate your shoulders internally. Instead, take up a position in which the upper arms are moving directly out to the sides.
Even though a closer grip increases the range of motion, a wider one has been proven to trigger significantly greater deltoid activation, while minimizing the role of the biceps in the exercise. This means that it especially targets the middle deltoids.
Although upright rows are a multi-joint exercise, you shouldn’t do them first in your workout. Do it after you do overhead presses. You can even use it as finishing move at the end of the workout if you’re striving to bring up the middle delts a bit more.
Read More: Shoulder Tap Pushups - Exercise Tutorial
ARNOLD PRESS
This press variation was popularized by Arnold Schwarzenegger and that’s where it got its name from. You start by holding both dumbbells in front of your shoulders with your palms turned towards you. Press the dumbbells over your head while rotating your wrists simultaneously, so that by the time you reach the top position, your palms will face forward. When lowering the dumbbells, rotate the wrists in the opposite direction.
You should do these second in your workout after doing a more basic overhead press. If you choose to do the overhead presses with a heavier weight, do the Arnold presses with a bit higher rep range, for example, sets of 10-12 reps.
DUMBBELL LATERAL RAISES
This single-joint movement is one of the best for developing the middle delts, and even though they may seem easy to do, they’re a lot tougher to master. Beginners often find it difficult learning how to move the weight with their elbows first. They also tend to lower the dumbbells and touch their sides with them and use this bottom position to rest for a second or two. It is much better to stop the descent when their arms form about 30-degree angle with their sides.
You can also try to lift the dumbbells 30 degrees past shoulder height to achieve a longer range of motion. You may need to lower the weight for a bit for this variation. This exercise also works well with drop set training, where you start with heavier dumbbells and quickly switch to lighter ones (around 5lb decrement) each time you hit complete muscle failure.
Do it along with other single-joint exercises, after the multi-joint presses, however, be mindful about the amount of training your middle delts are already getting. Many of the exercises already put on this list activate the middle deltoids pretty well. If you have a specific goal to bring them up, do this exercise first. If you think that your front or rear delts need to be brought up more, then do this exercise last.
FRONT DUMBBELL RAISES
When you raise the dumbbell directly in front of you, you’re targeting the anterior head of the deltoids. The reason we put this one last is that the anterior (front) delts already tend to be disproportionately larger among lifters who tend to train their chest a bit too often whilst they neglect the muscles they can’t see in the mirror. This creates a potentially dangerous muscular imbalance.
Front raises can also be performed with a barbell or various cable handles, however, most people would find that the standard dumbbell version would suffice. Each side lifts the weight independently, which will help you not only in spotting strength imbalances but also correcting them. They also tend to recruit the smaller stabilizer muscles, which means your core will have to work that much harder.
Do this exercise in the second half of your shoulder workout, after you’ve done all the prescribed multi-joint exercises. Do it before or after the single-joint exercises for the other deltoid heads, depending on how your front delts compare to the middle and rear ones in terms of strength and size.
Read More: Best Five Sets Five Reps Routine That Focuses On A Full-Body
Some exercises are simply a better choice, like the press in our example, even though the lateral raises light the EMG much more. For each of the exercises below, we’ll give a thorough explanation of why it made the list and how to best use it to your advantage.
Read More: 4 Advanced Exercises to Build Bigger Delts
BARBELL PUSH PRESS
The push press is a movement which allows you to load more weight compared to a strict press (or do more reps). That’s because you can use a bit of a leg drive to get the weight moving straight off the bottom position. It’s considered to be a whole-body movement for developing explosive power, so it may not fully isolate and engage all the deltoid heads compared to if you do it seated or as a strict press.
Execution:
With the barbell firmly placed on your upper chest, bend the knees slightly and with the balls of your feet firmly pressing the floor, explode with the barbell upwards. Your entire lower body, core, triceps, upper pecs, and delts are involved.
As already mentioned, this is more of a power/strength movement than a classic bodybuilding exercise, however building strength here can have big carry over to many other movements and help you load up more plates on them. What’s more, performing movements which engage multiple muscle groups at the same time boost muscle-building hormones’ release better than movements that don’t.
Since this press variation engages so many muscle groups, you shouldn’t be doing it every workout. Doing compound movements such as these too frequently can quickly fry up your CNS (Central Nervous System). That is why, when you do use them, do them first in your workout, after a thorough warm-up, of course. This isn’t an exercise you should be doing each shoulder training session, but it’s a great choice when you’re trying to increase power and strength.
STANDING MILITARY PRESS (BARBELL OR DUMBBELL)
When you see how the standing military press is performed, it’s a push press but without the leg drive. This makes it a better isolation exercise, however not entirely so. It is a quite demanding exercise which involves several muscles, as well as several joints. It can be placed between the push press and the seated press, as it still allows for a bit of momentum to be used, as well as increased muscle activation when lifting the weight compared to the seated press.
Execution:
Hold the barbell placed onto your upper chest, and press it straight overhead, finishing just short of elbow lockout. Keep your knees slightly bent to absorb any “wobbles” in your center of gravity and relieve some of the stress placed on the lower back muscles.
Barbell and dumbbell variation are both included here. Studies have shown that doing the dumbbell version triggers a greater degree of EMG activation, however, performing this exercise with dumbbells is a lot harder and it does not allow for a greater weight to be lifted. Always make sure that you maintain a neutral hip position. Getting the hips forward or sticking the butt back can cause real damage to your lumbar spine in the long term.
Just as the push press, the standing military (strict) press is a multi-joint movement, which means it substitutes many other pressing movements, some of them included in our list. After a good warm-up, choose a relatively challenging weight for you, but not one so heavy that you’ll lose your form. If your triceps are a bit weaker, get a pair of dumbbells instead of a barbell, since they don’t engage the triceps that much.
Read More: How To Target your OBLIQUES | 7 Best Exercises
DUMBBELL INCLINE ROWS
You might be a bit surprised how this one made the list. How could a rowing movement help with shoulder development? Doesn’t it train just the back? Well, the answer is no. Rowing movements also engage the rear deltoids to a significant degree.
Since rowing appears to target rear deltoid heads pretty well, it would seem like a good addition to your regular shoulder workout. Research is scant in regards to using other rowing movements and their effectiveness in shoulder development.
That’s why it’s not possible to say whether any other rowing movement would be equally as effective, although there are several variations to choose from, such as supported T-bar rows and standing (with the torso bent at a 45-degree angle to the floor) T-bar rows. To get the best results on the machine variation, use a wide grip.
When you pair shoulders and back in the same workout session, this exercise will provide a smooth training transition between the two muscle groups. If you include it in your shoulder workout, you should do the overhead presses first. Always do the multi-joint movements before the single-joint.
SEATED OVERHEAD DUMBBELL PRESS
Using dumbbells instead of a barbell for the overhead presses will work each shoulder independently, making the exercise more challenging and engaging the tiny stabilizer muscles to help control the weight. What’s more, the range of motion is a bit longer (in a semi-circle fashion) as you press the dumbbells together above your head. It is recommended that you don’t let them touch and bounce off each other. Keep them an inch apart.
When you do this exercise seated you exclude the lower body muscles from lifting the weight. Since the upper arms go straight out to the sides while lifting the weight, you will feel your middle deltoids heavily engaged, with far less stress on the rear deltoids compared to when you lift a barbell in front of your head.
Do this exercise first in your shoulder session. You will usually be able to handle a much heavier load on the seated dumbbell press than the standing one because the support base is much larger.
When lifting heavy, it is recommended that you use a seat back which will allow you to press your spine into it and increase your safety. You should also use a spotter who will help you get the dumbbells into the starting position, control the dumbbells’ path so that they don’t go astray and help you just a little bit on your last one or two reps.
Getting the dumbbells to the starting position can be harder than it looks. For those who are beginners you can try this: when you prepare to get the dumbbells overhead, grad one in each hand, sit down, place them on your thighs closer to your knees, and then quickly lift one knee upwards toward the shoulder to help yourself hoist the weight. Then do the same with your other knee.
SEATED OVERHEAD BARBELL PRESS
Pressing in a seated position not only makes it hard to use body momentum, but it also provides a solid base from which to lift the weight. Using a barbell puts a greater emphasis on the triceps than using dumbbells. If you experience soreness in your shoulders after the workout, try keeping the barbell in front of you.
When you lower it to the front, you’ll notice how the upper arms no longer move out to the sides. This is an indication that the front deltoids are picking up a part of the load. This is pretty evident in muscle activation patterns, which show significantly greater activation in the front delts when using a barbell compared to dumbbells.
Some people prefer lowering the barbell behind their head, claiming that it stimulates their middle delts more directly. This approach is highly discouraged, as it can become quite painful and cause serious shoulder problems in some lifters in the long term. Do them first in your workout and use some heavier weights. Use a seat back for better support when doing heavy sets.
UPRIGHT ROWS
Upright rows are not a single exercise but an assortment of multi-joint exercises which mainly target the middle deltoids. Each variation: using a cable, a Smith machine, a barbell or an EZ-bar has its slight advantages, however, none is drastically better than the others. It is generally recommended that you don’t do it with a close grip, which can rotate your shoulders internally. Instead, take up a position in which the upper arms are moving directly out to the sides.
Even though a closer grip increases the range of motion, a wider one has been proven to trigger significantly greater deltoid activation, while minimizing the role of the biceps in the exercise. This means that it especially targets the middle deltoids.
Although upright rows are a multi-joint exercise, you shouldn’t do them first in your workout. Do it after you do overhead presses. You can even use it as finishing move at the end of the workout if you’re striving to bring up the middle delts a bit more.
Read More: Shoulder Tap Pushups - Exercise Tutorial
ARNOLD PRESS
This press variation was popularized by Arnold Schwarzenegger and that’s where it got its name from. You start by holding both dumbbells in front of your shoulders with your palms turned towards you. Press the dumbbells over your head while rotating your wrists simultaneously, so that by the time you reach the top position, your palms will face forward. When lowering the dumbbells, rotate the wrists in the opposite direction.
You should do these second in your workout after doing a more basic overhead press. If you choose to do the overhead presses with a heavier weight, do the Arnold presses with a bit higher rep range, for example, sets of 10-12 reps.
DUMBBELL LATERAL RAISES
This single-joint movement is one of the best for developing the middle delts, and even though they may seem easy to do, they’re a lot tougher to master. Beginners often find it difficult learning how to move the weight with their elbows first. They also tend to lower the dumbbells and touch their sides with them and use this bottom position to rest for a second or two. It is much better to stop the descent when their arms form about 30-degree angle with their sides.
You can also try to lift the dumbbells 30 degrees past shoulder height to achieve a longer range of motion. You may need to lower the weight for a bit for this variation. This exercise also works well with drop set training, where you start with heavier dumbbells and quickly switch to lighter ones (around 5lb decrement) each time you hit complete muscle failure.
Do it along with other single-joint exercises, after the multi-joint presses, however, be mindful about the amount of training your middle delts are already getting. Many of the exercises already put on this list activate the middle deltoids pretty well. If you have a specific goal to bring them up, do this exercise first. If you think that your front or rear delts need to be brought up more, then do this exercise last.
FRONT DUMBBELL RAISES
When you raise the dumbbell directly in front of you, you’re targeting the anterior head of the deltoids. The reason we put this one last is that the anterior (front) delts already tend to be disproportionately larger among lifters who tend to train their chest a bit too often whilst they neglect the muscles they can’t see in the mirror. This creates a potentially dangerous muscular imbalance.
Front raises can also be performed with a barbell or various cable handles, however, most people would find that the standard dumbbell version would suffice. Each side lifts the weight independently, which will help you not only in spotting strength imbalances but also correcting them. They also tend to recruit the smaller stabilizer muscles, which means your core will have to work that much harder.
Do this exercise in the second half of your shoulder workout, after you’ve done all the prescribed multi-joint exercises. Do it before or after the single-joint exercises for the other deltoid heads, depending on how your front delts compare to the middle and rear ones in terms of strength and size.
Read More: Best Five Sets Five Reps Routine That Focuses On A Full-Body
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