This is my list of shoulder exercises. These exercises are the most popular and have been around for a very long time. The shoulders are a very important muscle group and used to various degrees in just about all upper body movement. This also can create a problem from over use, so be careful how you train them.
Introduction to your shoulder muscles
Your shoulders, also known as your deltoids or delts for short connects all upper body muscle groups together. The delts have three main muscles located at the rear (posterior), side (medial) and front (anterior). As such it is stimulated when working other muscles of the upper body. However to work the delts properly it must be worked more directly just like any other muscle group and is a muscle that I always work first in my workouts. Your shoulders are also the most prone to injury and as such, care must be taken to properly warm up and use the correct form when performing shoulder exercises (please also see the rotator cuff exercises). Your Trapezius muscles (also known simply as the Traps) run from the base of your skull to the top of your shoulders and halfway down the middle of your back. These muscle help to raise your shoulders up in a shrug motion and also aid in moving and stabilise the scapula. There are also three sections upper, middle and lower. The important parts are the middle and lower traps, which help maintain a shoulder back posture, which helps reduce shoulder and neck issues. Unfortunately the upper traps tend to do the opposite and therefore I do not recommend directly hitting this area. Many of the exercises below already hit all three trap muscles.
My shoulder exercise list:
Military Press
Type: Compound
Function: Works the front and side delts, with assistance from the upper chest, triceps and trapezius when done seated and if done standing will also involve your legs, abs, lower back and oblique’s for stability.
Form: With a barbell in front of you at chin height and palms facing forward, take a good grip of the bar so your forearms are pointing straight up and elbows slightly forward of the body, take a deep breath and breathe out as you press the barbell above your head until your arms are near lock out. Inhale as the bar is slowly returned to the start position. Repeat for required reps and sets.
Tips: Ensure proper grip with thumbs wrapped around the bar and keep wrists straight to avoid wrist pain/injury. Do not let the bar go behind your neck, as this can cause rotator cuff injuries, return the bar to the original start position in front of you. Keep your shoulders down and back. Don’t use such a heavy weight that you have to use your legs or lean back to press the weight up. Use only the strength of your shoulders and arms to power the weight up. Don’t hold your breath and keep your elbows slightly forward of the body throughout the exercise.
Key notes: Great mass builder for the deltoids. Can use a reasonable amount of weight, especially if the barbell is in a rack, smith machine or hammer machine. Great for both strength training and hypertrophy. However, this exercise is easy to cheat with, where you lift too much weight and use bad form, such as leaning back with a curved spine or using your legs to help get a weight up. Can be bad for your rotator cuff if you hyperextend your elbows.
Variations: This exercise can also be done seated.
Click on images below, the last one is a GIF animation:
Military press front view
Military press side view
Dumbbell Press
Type: Compound
Function: Works the front and side delts, with assistance from the upper chest, triceps and trapezius when done seated and if done standing will also involve your legs, abs, lower back and oblique’s for stability.
Form: Holding a pair of dumbbells at chin height at either side of your head and palms facing forwards, take a deep breath and breathe out as you press the dumbbells up over your head but not quit locking out the arms. Inhale, while slowly bringing the dumbbells back to the start position. Repeat for required reps and sets.
Tips: Ensure proper grip, keep wrists straight to avoid wrist pain/injury. Don’t use such a heavy weight that you have to use your legs or lean back to press the weight up. Keep your shoulders down and back. Use only the strength of your shoulders and arms to power the weight up. Don’t hold your breath and keep your elbows slightly forward of the body throughout the exercise. If you want you can also bringing the dumbbells slightly closer together at the top, but remember to still keep the shoulders down and back.
Key notes: Works both shoulders more equally and allows for a slightly better squeeze at the top as you can bring the dumbbells closer together. However as with the barbell press, can be open to cheating, where you lift too much weight and use bad form, such as leaning back with a curved spine or using your legs to help get a weight up. The use of dumbbells will mean less overall weight than a barbell, as it is much less stable being able to move in any direction making it more difficult to hold, as well as getting the weight into position. Can be bad for your rotator cuff if you hyperextend your elbows.
Variations: This exercise can also be done seated. It can also be done using a neutral grip (palms facing in towards each other and elbows inwards to the front position – see second and third set of images below). Although this places less stress on the side delts and more on the front delts, it also places much less stress on the rotator cuffs, with much more potential to avoid injury. Another popular variant is the Arnold press, where you hold a pair of dumbbells in front of you at chin height with palms facing towards you and press the dumbbells up over your head while rotating them out, so your palms eventually face away from you towards the front and your elbows are to the side.
Click on images below, the last one is a GIF animation:
Regular dumbbell press
Neutral grip dumbbell press
Neutral grip dumbbell press side view
Side Laterals
Type: Isolation
Function: Works the side deltoids with some assistance from the front delts, a little from the rear delts and other more minor shoulder stabilisers and your traps.
Form: Take a pair of dumbbells and holding them by your side with palms in the neutral position (facing inwards towards you), take a deep breath and breathe out as you raise the dumbbells up by your side until the dumbbell is at shoulder height and no more. Exhale while slowly bring the dumbbells back down. Repeat for required reps and sets.
Tips: Don’t use too much weight. Keep your shoulders down and don’t hunch them up using your traps. If the exercise feels very uncomfortable or worse, hurts or creates clicking noises, try one of the variations below.
Key notes: Very few exercises can isolate the side deltoids, but this one can if done correctly. It can however be easy to swing the dumbbells up rather than use the shoulder muscles to lift the weight and also easy to get into bad form by raising the wrist higher than the elbows. Can be uncomfortable if you have bad shoulders, see variation and rotator cuff exercises.
Variations: Can also be done seated. There are many variations to the side lateral raise, some include using two-handed and single handed cable raises, lying down on one side lateral raises, using an incline bench to lay forward onto it to create a slight forward lean and many more. If you would like to do side lateral raises but have any shoulder issues, you can still benefit by using the thumbs up version (places a little more stress on the front delts, but still hits the side delts and puts much less stress on the rotator cuff muscles – see second set of images below). You can also move the dumbbells up to 45 degrees in front of you, rather than the side and/or bend forward a little to take even more stress off the rotator cuffs (see third set of images below). It is important that you can feel the muscle working, but more importantly that you are not damaging your rotator cuff.
Click on images below, the last one is a GIF animation:
Side lateral raise
Neutral grip partial side lateral raise
Top view of three different arm positions for the side lateral raise
Front Raises
Type: Isolation
Function: These work the front deltoids with some assistance from your arms, upper pecs, rear deltoids, upper back and traps.
Form: Holding a pair of dumbbells with an over hand grip (palms facing towards you), hold the dumbbells at thigh height with very slightly bent arms, take a deep breath and breathe out as you raise only one of the dumbbells up until it is extended out in front of you at shoulder height. Lower the weight slowly back down breathing out and then repeat the process with the other arm. Repeat for required reps and sets.
Tips: Use a light weight, stand upright and straight and don’t swing the weight up. It is important to be in complete control of the weight, as to avoid cheating and/or an injury.
Key notes: Good for isolating the front deltoids. Don’t over work this area if you have a rotator cuff issue – concentrate on balanced shoulder development.
Variations: This exercise can also be done using a neutral grip and/or a theraband if you are suffering from a shoulder injury. You can also do all your reps with one shoulder, then do the other shoulder next if you prefer.
Click on images below, the last one is a GIF animation:
Bent-Over Flyes
Type: Isolation
Function: Works the rear deltoids with some assistance from your upper back (rhomboids) and trapezius.
Form: Holding a pair of dumbbells in front of you with a neutral grip (palms facing each other), bend forward at the waist keeping your torso straight, but with legs slightly bent to maintain balance and allow your arms to hang down. With arms very slightly bent, take a deep breath and breathe out as you raise the dumbbells out to your sides and try to squeeze your shoulder blades together at the top of the movement. Return slowly to the start position, inhaling as you do so. Repeat for required reps and sets.
Tips: Use a light weight and don’t swing the weight up. Concentrate on feeling and working your rear deltoids.
Key notes: Great for isolating the rear deltoids. An important muscle to develop, but often missed out. Can help reduce rotator cuff injuries caused by over powered chest muscles.
Variations: Can also be done seated or lying face down on a flat bench or slightly inclined bench to relief pressure off the lower back.
Click on images below, the last one is a GIF animation:
My final thoughts on shoulder exercising
There isn’t really much to say that I haven’t already said above. Just don’t over work your shoulders and watch for any discomfort that could lead to damaging your rotator cuff. You will notice that I don’t have any exercises that hit the trapezius muscles directly. With many exercises where you hold a weight and many of the shoulder and back exercise, if done correctly will give the traps plenty of exercise. Direct work such as shrugs tend to hit just the upper trap area and I don’t like direct work to the upper traps due to the form and function of the muscle, as your scapula and shoulders should be pulled down and back and not up. The middle/lower traps are what keeps the shoulder joint healthy and improves posture.
