The Basics to Building Your Shoulders

Yes, it has been a long week and a half since my last post, but hopefully the cardio training advice helped everyone as the spring weather really sets in. Now it’s time to get back into things and this week is all about building bigger, stronger, and toned shoulders.

Your shoulders are the most mobile joints in your body and also contain some complex groupings of muscles to create smooth and controlled movements. More specifically, the muscles you will be training in order to increase size, strength, and definition are the larger, rounded muscles on the shoulders known as the deltoids. There are five different deltoid heads, but they are commonly called front, medial, and rear deltoids in the gym. 

Common Shoulder Exercises:

• ·      Military Press – This is by far the most common and best exercise to perform for overall should size and strength. This exercise can be performed either seated or standing, and with a barbell, dumbbells, or on isolation machines.

• ·      Front Raises – This exercise can be performed with dumbbells or resistance cables and is as simple as raising your arm straight up in front of your body for at least one second before slowly lowing the weight. With this type of shoulder exercise it is very important to use a weight that you don’t have to use body momentum to lift and that is comfortable when performing a high amount of reps. Following this advice will help you build larger shoulders as well as prevent joint pain or injury.

• ·      Lateral Raises – The anatomical meaning of lateral means to move outward or away from the center of the body. In this exercise you will use dumbbells or resistance cables to pull the weight out to your side to make a 90-degree angle to your torso and hold for at least one second before slowly lowing the weight. Just like with front raises, it is very important to use a weight that you don’t have to use body momentum to lift and that is comfortable when performing a high amount of reps. Following this advice will help you build larger shoulders as well as prevent joint pain or injury.

• ·      Up-right Rows – This is a fairly simple variation for the medial deltoids that came be performed with a barbell or with dumbbells. Essentially you want to stand straight, hold the weight just outside your waist, and then bring the weight straight up to your chin while keeping your elbows raised. This will squeeze t he medial deltoids and then slowly lower the weight after at least a one second hold.

• ·      Rear Deltoids – The rear deltoids are a very small muscle group and can be very tricky to target. The most common exercises to hit this muscle group include rear deltoid fly’s with dumbbells or rear deltoid extensions with cables. In these exercises you want to extend your arms outward away from your body, but in a motion that is similar to a bird flapping its wings. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, whether you decide to use dumbbells or cables, be sure to use a weight that you don’t have to use body momentum to lift and that is comfortable when performing a high amount of reps. Following this advice will help you build larger shoulders as well as prevent joint pain or injury.