Exercises for Shoulders

The outer visible deltoid muscle consists of three major areas—the front, center, and rear. The front part helps in several chest exercises such as bench press. The rear features help to pull the arms back. The middle part is trained with an advantage when lifting the arm out to the side. The entire shoulder area is trained in many shoulder exercises, but depending on which exercise you choose, the three areas are loaded differently.

It is also important to train not only the outer visible deltoid muscle but also the rotator cuff. It’s the inner muscles of your shoulders. Its task is to keep the shoulder joint in place and to stabilize the entire joint. A stable and strong interior is the basis for all muscle training. You will not be able to lift heavy weights unless the foundation is sound.

Step one to get better shoulder muscles is to read a little about the anatomy of the shoulders. Then go through our shoulder exercises below and find both heavy exercises such as Military Press and more isolating exercises such as Cable Lifting to the Side. Make sure that all parts of the shoulder are trained during the week.

Front-shoulder-exercises

Pike Push Ups

Pike Push Ups is a challenging exercise based solely on body weight for your shoulders. Mainly your front shoulders. Many people practice Pike Push Ups before moving on to handheld Push Ups.

Dips

Dips for the chest is an excellent exercise, but the first thing we have to say is that it is possible to do dips in two different ways. One that mainly focuses on the triceps, or the other that mainly focuses on the chest. On the other hand, both will train the chest and triceps, but through a couple of changes, the main focus is shifted to only one muscle. This page is about how we maximize dips for the chest.

Front Dumbbell Raise

The exercise mainly trains the front shoulders (front delts) and the middle part (mid delts). Remember to perform the exercise calmly and in a controlled manner; it is an isolation exercise.
Do not swing the body back and forth or to the side

Front Raise Resistance Band

On the go or at home, resistance band training is very easy to perform. Resistance bands do not take up unnecessary space while they can give you a lot of lactic acid and metabolic stress. It is difficult to do heavy lifts that give a lot of strength and large muscles with resistance bands, but they are excellent for beginners, as rehab, on the go or as a final exercise on a muscle you have already performed heavy lifts on. Read more about why but do shoulder lifts forward . The difference between lifting with a dumbbell is that the resistance is inverted, it is most difficult at the top when the rubber band is tight, for a dumbbell it is most difficult in the bottom position.

Front Plate Raise

The exercise is very similar to Front Dumbbell Raise. However, instead of dumbbells, you lift a weight plate upwards, which loads both shoulders at the same time and you will in many cases have a narrower distance between the hands than with dumbbells.

Hindu Push Ups

Hindu Push Ups, or Dand as it is also called, is a rather strenuous physical exercise that trains several parts of your body. Indian wrestlers have used the exercise for centuries to build a strong body.
The exercise loads the body in both the concentric and the eccentric phases. Regular push-ups mainly strain your chest muscles, but Hindu Push Ups connect the shoulders, abdomen, buttocks, back thighs, triceps, and joints more clearly. In addition to being more of a full-body exercise, it is also a mobility exercise, which is good for your flexibility.

Military Press

Military press, which can also be called Overhead Press, is a classic shoulder exercise that trains all three parts of your shoulders but mainly the front. The exercise is also a good triceps exercise because you straighten the elbow joint. Your abdominal muscles, which stabilize the body, also work mainly when you perform it standing up. The video in this article shows a seated military press, but the exercise is performed even better standing.

Dumbbell Shoulder Press

The shoulder press is a fairly common shoulder exercise that can be performed sitting or standing. The exercise primarily trains the front and middle parts of the shoulder. The triceps also help to straighten the arms, so they are definitely trained. Furthermore, the torso is activated, mainly when standing, so the internal abdominal muscles also work. A win-win exercise quite simply.

Push Press

Push press is similar to military press except that you use your legs and the rest of your body to accelerate and push up the barbell. Many people think that push press is a fun exercise, and it is easy to gain weight because you use the whole body to push the barbell up over your head.

Incline Bench Press

The incline bench press is one of the best exercises to train the upper part of your chest muscles. The inclination on the bench means that the load on the bar ends up higher up on the chest, but there must not be too much inclination because then the front part of our shoulder muscles is engaged, and we do not want that. We recommend that you run about 30 to 45 degrees angle on the inclined bench. Put both feet firmly in the ground, have your butt pressed against the bench, but it is okay to sway slightly. A significant detail is to pinch the shoulder blades together and press them slightly obliquely downwards. This means that our shoulders are pulled back, and the load on them becomes less when we do the lift, which means that the chest can work more, which we want that!

Push Ups

Push-ups are often forgotten due to all sorts of machines, barbells, and dumbbells. However, it is a traditionally good exercise, especially for beginners who want to build the muscles in the chest, triceps, and shoulders. The exercise is also perfect as a Drop Set or Super Set for Bench Press or other chest exercises with heavy weight.

Close Grip Bench Press

Bench press with a narrow grip is a very good triceps exercise. Dips, where you can use a weight plate, and bench press with a narrow grip are exercises where you can load a lot of weight and overload your triceps, which is important for muscle growth. In addition, both exercises train all three mounts in a good way. Therefore, make sure to run at least one of these two exercises during your triceps workout as often as possible.

Middle shoulder exercises

Upright Cable Row with V-grip

The shoulder exercise trains the back shoulders and the shin muscle. Remember to be careful with this exercise. It is important for the risk of squeezing in the shoulders to increase if you pull your hands higher up than parallel to the shoulders.

Arnold press

As the name suggests, the exercise was created by none other than Mr. Schwartzenegger himself. The exercise is a classic dumbbell press, which mainly loads the part of your shoulders, with an outward rotation that is good for the middle and back of your shoulders. So you train all three components with this exercise, even if the front is trained the most. You also get a longer movement trajectory by starting the movement with the dumbbells in front of the chest compared to the classic shoulder press that holds them over the shoulders.

Military Press

Seated Dumbbell Lateral Raise

Seated dumbbell lateral raises is a free-weight exercise that puts less weight on the posture than a standing dumbbell lateral raise. The exercise is an isolation exercise that strengthens the entire shoulder area with a focus on the outside shoulders. It also helps you to improve your movement patterns in the shoulder areas

Cable Lateral Raise

Cable Lateral Raise is a good isolation exercise for the outer part of the shoulders. In comparison with Standing Lateral Rasie, the load becomes more constant during the entire movement. Standing dumbbell raise is the heaviest at the top and bottom, thus the outer parts of the shoulders are hardlyloaded. Whereas with a cable exercise, the load is much more constant throughout the course. Therefore, feel free to alternate both exercises on different occasions.

Machine Shoulder Press

Machine Shoulder Press is a good alternative to the usual shoulder press with dumbbells. The exercise is good and is also easy to perform. It is, therefore, suitable for beginners or people with limited experience of strength training at the same time as it gives experienced strength trainers an effective shoulder exercise for drop sets

Dumbbell Lateral Raise

This is an isolation exercise for the shoulders, and mainly the outer shoulders also called the middle part of your shoulders (mid delts). You must perform the exercise with a good posture and a straight back. Do not take too much weight at the beginning as it engages other muscles than your shoulders, start with low weights, and increases later.

Thrusters

The bar should be in a position just below shoulder height, which will make it easier to lift

Standing Upright Row

Standing Upright row is a good shoulder exercise that also trains the upper back and shoulders. Today, many coaches advise against this exercise as the risk of injury to the wrists is significant if you make a mistake. The shoulders also rotate forward, which is not suitable before a heavy lift. The key to not straining the joints too much is a wider grip.

Barbell Behind The Neck Press

Barbell presses behind the head mainly train the shoulders but also the upper back. You should perform the exercise with care and make sure that the technique is in place before you add on more weights. The exercise can be done sitting on a bench, but we recommend standing so that the core is activated.

Rear-shoulder-exercises

Reverse Dumbbell Fly

The exercise can be performed standing, sitting on a bench, or with the chest lying on a bench with the face down. In all three cases, it is about getting your upper body to lie as parallel to the floor as possible without bending your back; it should always be straight or slightly swayed. If you perform the exercise standing up, you should bend your legs and remember to push your butt back when you bend your upper body. If you do not come down entirely with your upper body parallel to the floor, there is no danger; you can perform the exercise with a tilted upper body. If you have great difficulty getting down with your upper body, perhaps it is better to perform the exercise lying on a bench.

Face Pull

Face pull is an isolation exercise for the upper back between the shoulder blades and up to the neck. The back of your shoulders will also be exercised. In short, the exercise involves pulling your hands apart, towards and over your face so that they end up on opposite sides of your head.

Standing Upright Row

L.Y.T

L.Y.T. are three exercises that together strengthen and build your upper back muscles and back shoulders. Try running this shoulder complex as part of your shoulder workout and upper back workout.

Barbell Behind The Neck Press

Reverse Pec Dec

Reverse pec deck focuses on your rear shoulders and upper back. The exercise is therefore recommended if you want to isolate certain muscles and just focus on them. It does not provide a consistent shoulder workout.

Resistance Band Face Pull

On the go or at home, resistance band training is very easy to perform. Resistance bands do not take up unnecessary space while they can give you a lot of lactic acid and metabolic stress. It is difficult to get heavy lifts that provide strength and large muscles with resistance bands, but they are excellent for beginners, as rehab, on the go or as a final exercise on a muscle you have already performed heavy lifts. Read more about why you do Facepull. The difference from pulling on a cable is that the resistance with resistance bands becomes heaviest closest to the body when the resistaqnce band is taut. In cable runs, it is evenly distributed throughout the movement.

Reverse cable fly

The exercise mainly trains the back shoulders and is quite easy to perform. Grab the handles and take a small step back so that there is resistance immediately at the start. Pull back your shoulders, pinch your shoulder blades together and push your chest forward before you start the movement. Your arms should be slightly bent and fixed at this angle throughout the whole movement. Use a slow pace both back and forth. Hold in the top position for a while and squeeze out every last second before slowly going back. Your hands can cross each other in front of the body for a larger trajectory.

Inverted Row

The exercise is quite simple for beginners, especially if you have bent legs. You can also find variations on the exercise when you can not go to the gym by doing it under a table or between two chairs, which is good for home training or on your vacation.