Shoulder Exercises For Big Powerful ShouldersBut Be Careful With Shoulder Exercises Because They Can Cause Pain If Used Incorrectly
Shoulder exercises are a mainstay of almost all body building and physique development programs. The problem is that a lot of people over use these exercises because your shoulders already get a lot of work doing most other upper body exercises.
Your shoulder muscle is also known as the deltoid (the main shoulder muscles that you see). There are three parts or heads of the shoulder that you should be concerned if you want to improve your physique.
The three parts are the anterior (front) head, the medial (side) head, and the posterior (rear) head.
Now the main problem with exercises for your shoulder muscles is that the anterior head (the muscle in the front of your shoulder) gets a lot of work from upper body exercises such as most chest exercises.
There is actually no reason to do any specific exercises for your shoulder muscles for this part of your shoulder.
Any additional shoulder strength exercises for the anterior delt, such as the front dumbbell raises you see so many people performing, will result in serious over-training.
If you over-train your anterior deltoids your other effective shoulder exercises and other upper body exercises will suffer. If you want a good physique stay away from shoulder exercises that isolate your front delt.
For properly developed shoulder muscles you need to equally utilize each head of your shoulder using only the best shoulder exercises. These exercises should not directly target the anterior delt, as mentioned previously.
A number of exercises that are effective for both the side and the rear shoulder will indirectly provide some work to the anterior delt but not enough to cause over-training.
Your shoulder muscles require a variety of weight lifting exercises to target the muscle fibers from a variety of angles in different directions.
It is essential that when you do any exercises for your shoulder muscles that you perform each and every rep and set of each exercise correctly. If you don't, at the very least you will not receive the full benefits.
It may be very easy for you to develop big muscular shoulders without doing very many shoulder exercises and doing very little work with the exercises you do perform.
"The Best Shoulder Exercises"
Here are some
shoulder exercises
that positively affect the development of your shoulder muscles without causing any over-training in your anterior deltoids.
Seated military press: Barbell press exercises for your shoulder muscles will incorporate the anterior deltoid slightly, but just at the beginning portion of the lift. Shoulder exercises such as this will not cause over-training.
Sitting on an upright bench or shoulder press bench. Grip the barbell with a wider than shoulder width grip. Push the barbell directly upward until your arms are fully extended above your shoulders. Lower the barbell back slowly and under complete control to the starting position and repeat.
Exercises such as this can be done by lowering the barbell to either the front or behind your head. See what works best for you and is more comfortable.
Seated dumbbell press: This shoulder exercise works the same area as the seated military press above. It's just a variation.
Sitting on an upright bench or chair grip a dumbbell in each hand and lift them up to your shoulders. The palms of your hands should be facing forwards during the exercise.
Keep your feet shoulder width apart. Keep your elbows directly under the dumbbells and press up until your arms are fully extended. Lower the dumbbells slowly and under control, back to the starting position and repeat.
Side lateral raises: Lateral shoulder raise exercises will target the side deltoids directly.
Stand upright with your feet about shoulder width apart and your arms at your sides. Hold a dumbbell in each hand, with your palms turned towards your body.
Keeping a slight bend in your elbows, lift the weights out and up to your sides until they are slightly higher than shoulder level. Pause briefly, then lower them back slowly to the starting position and repeat.
It's very important to keep your palms turned downward as you lift the dumbbells so that your shoulders, rather than your biceps, do the work. Also, make sure that you lift the dumbbells on the way up rather than swing them. And when you lower the weights, keep them under control.
L–laterals: This is a variation of the side lateral raise that puts minimal stress on your elbows and targets your medial deltoids even better.
Grip two dumbbells and hold them at your sides, palms facing each other. Spread your legs about hip width apart and bend your elbows until your arms form 45-degree angles. Look straight ahead and retract your chin slightly.
Keeping your elbows locked in 45-degree angles, lift your elbows out to the sides until your arms are just above parallel to the floor. Reverse the technique to return to the start of the exercise.
Standing dumbbell reverse fly: For reverse fly exercises for your shoulder muscles you will need an incline bench and a set of dumbbells. Some people do shoulder exercises such as this just by standing or sitting and bending over, but it's best to do with an incline bench to support your upper body.
Using the incline bench set at a medium to high angle, grip two dumbbells and stand behind the bench and bend over, resting your head on the very top portion of the back of the bench.
Your neck will be in a neutral position when your head is on the top of the incline bench. Keep your knees flexed and your back straight.
Your arms will be extended and hanging directly under your chest. Now rotate your arms out and pull your shoulder blades back and flex hard, keeping this position for a second then slowly returning to the starting position. Then repeat.
"Final Thoughts On Shoulder Strength Exercises"
You may want to have huge shoulder muscles, a lot of people do, and it's not very hard to accomplish when you use the right shoulder strength exercises.
Using the right exercises for your shoulder muscles in the proper manner will set you apart from the rest of the enthusiasts who are trying hard to develop an impressive muscular physique.
Remember, to make positive gains in your shoulders you need to use the best shoulder exercises with a proper load, volume and range of motion.
Shoulder Strength Exercises Will Benefit All Your Upper Body Exercises
Don't make the same mistake as so many others when trying to develop their shoulders and over-train. Pay strict attention to selecting the proper shoulder exercises for maximum development.
The exercises here will work but if you don't know how often to perform each of them the right way and exactly what the proper technique is you won't get the results you're looking for.
What Exercises Do You Use
In Your Fitness Routine?
Do you use any unique and effective exercises or in your fitness program? What was your experience with these exercises? What results did you notice? Do you have a good or a bad story to tell about your own experience with certain exercises? Or do you have some good information that we may have missed? Let others know!
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