Best Exercises For Shoulders
You’ve spent hours at the gym you’ve probably got a pretty ripped looking body. So, you’ve got it all. Six-pack abs, bulging biceps and nice-looking pecs. What about your shoulders? Have you put in the same effort into shaping them?
The shoulders are often the most neglected muscle region on your body and although you’ve pretty much worked every other muscle group, your shoulders still need a little work.
Don’t think of it as just working your shoulders though. Working on the muscles around your shoulders will work for other parts of your body as well and give your torso that much desired V-shape.
All you need to do is these amazing exercises that specifically target your shoulders and you’ll get them shredded in no time. To do this you will need to target your intrinsic muscles, which include deltoids, teres major and the rotator cuff. The extrinsic muscles include the levator scapulae, trapezius and latissimus dorsi.
You can make use of all the equipment at your local gym or fitness center but if you don’t have a whole lot of time to get to these places, you can make use of a few pieces of equipment and get your shoulders shredded at home.
Time to get started.
1. The Arnold Press
This particular exercise is named after a man who was shredded from head to toe, including having some pretty impressive shoulders. The Arnold Press is named after the Terminator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger. The exercise involves grabbing a pair of adjustable dumbbells and holding them in front of you and raising them above your head. Dumbbell sets have a great range of different weights so you can start off with lighter weights and move onto heavier ones. This is the perfect exercise to really shape those anterior deltoids.
2. The Overhead Press
To do the Overhead Press, you actually won’t need a lot of weight. Just grab a pair of dumbbells or even a barbell. The best position to do this exercise is sitting down on an Olympic weight bench that also has a back support to keep your spine straight and supported. Hold the bar or dumbbells at collarbone or chin level and raise your arms straight up above your head. Really stretch the raise so you get the full range of motion. Then just lower them back to chin level and repeat. This is a favorite with bodybuilders because of its effectiveness.
3. Dumbbell Shoulder Shrug
To give your upper trapezius muscles a good workout that’ll chisel them into shape, try dumbbell shoulder shrugs. Stand upright and hold the dumbbells in your hands with an overhand grip. Keep your arms by your sides, firmly holding the dumbbells in place. Then, using only your shoulders, shrug them in an upward motion and lower gently.
4. Dumbbell Lateral Raises
Grab a pair of dumbbells and in a standing position, raise the dumbbells to shoulder height with just a slight bend in your elbows. The key to getting the most out of dumbbell lateral raises is to do this exercise as slowly as possible. The trick is in controlling the dumbbells as you raise and lower them. This exercise the medial part of your deltoid with somewhat lighter weights, but you’ll need to do several repetitions to reap the rewards.
5. Rear Deltoid Raises
As the name suggests, this exercise will target your rear deltoids and it’s a simple, yet very effective exercise. You can do this exercise standing up but leaning your torso forward or you can sit on a chair or weight bench and lean forward. Holding a dumbbell in each hand, simply stretch your arms out to the sides. You then raise your arms as high as you can and control them as you lower them.
There are many variations of rear deltoid raises you can. By alternating the hands, you raise or you can lift your feet off the ground while your torso is extended on a weight bench. Try the different ones so you get the full range of motion.
It’s time to stop neglecting those shoulder exercises and complete your all-over ripped physique. The good news is that the shoulder area is possibly the one part of your body that takes the least amount of time to get into shape, so get moving and get shredded.
6. Resistance Is The Key
One of the cheapest and most effective pieces of equipment you can use at home is resistance bands. You can incorporate them into achieving your shredded shoulders because you can use resistance bands for many different exercises. You can use these versatile bands for overhead presses, lateral raises, band shrugs and more. Resistance bands also come in different weight resistance categories so having a few different ones makes it easy to modify your workouts or increase the intensity as you improve.
7. Get Rowing
Rowing machines are great for resistance training and even more so for your shoulders because it gives your upper body a really effective workout by challenging the rhomboids in the shoulder region, the trapezius muscles in your upper back and the lats in your lower back. You’ll also get a great workout in your pecs, biceps and really strengthen your core muscles.
8. Pull Ups
Pull ups are absolutely awesome for achieving shredded shoulders. That’s because you need to use almost all of the muscles in your shoulder to pull yourself up. While you will be mainly targeting your latissimus dorsi muscles, the rest of your shoulders will also benefit.
To get the most benefits from pull ups, change the position of your hands. Try an overhand grip, then an underhand grip. Lengthen and shorten the distance between your hands on the pull up bar, bend your knees or stretch your legs out in front of you.
This is something you can do in the comfort of your own home. You can place wall mounted pull up bars on a wall or get a push up bar that you can hang off a door. It’s a simple, yet very effective piece of equipment for working on those shoulders.
