Shoulder Exercises

The abdominals and chest muscles receive more attention than shoulder muscles when strutting about on the beach. But when the body is clothed, the size of the shoulders is noticeable and gives a more masculine figure especially in a slightly tight fitting suit. Well-defined shoulder muscles will not only make you look stronger but is also very important when you exercise the upper body. Unfortunately most guys neglect their shoulder muscles, so remember to have shoulder exercies in your weight training regime.

The shoulder consists of the deltoid muscles. Shoulder exercises are very important as the sophisticated construction of the ball-and-socket joints and the muscles associated with shoulders make it prone to injuries, so a proper training technique is very important.

Most bodybuilders, weight lifters and weight trainers find that building deltoids is a rewarding challenge because of its’ range of motion. Training the shoulder muscles requires a variety of exercises as the fibers of the shoulder angle in different directions

When doing shoulder exercises make sure you work on 3 different muscle group, the front deltoids, side deltoids and rear deltoids.

Front deltoids: The anterior heads make up the front third of your deltoids. It allows you to move your arms upward and forward. All shoulder presses stress front deltoids and front raises and they also assist in chest movements.

Side deltoids: The medial heads are responsible for moving the arms directly out to the sides. Visually, this area adds the most width to the shoulders.

Rear deltoids: The posterior heads are responsible for moving your arms backwards or upwards and backward when held against your body. This area assists in most upper back movements.

Below you will find a list of shoulder exercises for your shoulder workout. Please note, as with all exercises involving weights, when performing these shoulder exercises do it safely to avoid injuries.

Seated lateral raise (Side deltoids)

Directions: Stand or sit on a bench with two dumbbells at your sides, with your palms facing your thighs. Slowly raise the dumbbells away from the sides as high as you can, usually shoulder height is the limit, making sure that the knuckles are parallel with the ground. Pause momentarily and then slowly lower the weights back to the starting position.

Shoulder front raise (Front deltoids)

This shoulder exercise can improve you’re the shape of your shoulders. When performing the shoulder front raise, remember not to lean back or forward, keep your back straight.

Directions: Stand holding a pair of dumbbells at your sides. With power and control raise one arm out directly in front of you. Bring the dumbbell up slightly higher than shoulder height and pause momentarily. Slowly lower the weight back down to the side. Repeat with the other arm and don’t swing the weights.

Dumbbell shoulder press

The dumbbell shoulder press can either be done or sitting down. If you choose to this sitting down, you may want to use a bench with back support as this will stop you from using your lower back to perform this exercise.

Directions: Slowly raise the dumbbells away and out towards the sides as high as you can, usually shoulder height is the limit, making sure that the knuckles are parallel with the ground. Pause momentarily and then slowly lower the weights.

Caution: Be careful when you are peforming the shoulder exercises above, especially if you have shoulder, lowerback or neck problems.