If you're looking to quickly bring some athletic definition to your life, you can't go far wrong with dusting off the barbell and jumping on some shoulder exercises. From the wideset lines of Jake Gyllenhaal to the svelte strength of Tom Hiddleston, stardust shoulders come in many shapes and sizes – but are always noticeable.
It's not just about looking a bit more like your favourite CGI Marvel superhero, however: giving your shoulders the workout they deserve also means important benefits for you and your body, both on the gym floor and in everyday life. “Balance and proportion creates great stability, which in turn will lower your risk to injury,” explains Kristian Phillips, former rugby pro and co-founder of Cloud Fit.
“Your shoulders are conjoined of 50/50 fast and slow twitch fibres so respond best to multiple movements, shorter rest intervals and varying weights,” explains strength coach Ahmed Jaffer. “Consider tempos, rep ranges and range of movement when adding shoulders into the mix.”
"Put simply, your shoulder muscle – also known as your deltoid – is made up of ‘heads’ called the anterior (front), lateral (middle) and posterior (back) deltoids," adds ultra-athlete and best-selling author Ross Edgley. “Gyms the world over are filled with men who tirelessly train their anterior (front) and lateral (middle) shoulder muscles with front presses and side dumbbell raises. But this is such a limited range of movement and to fully train all heads of the shoulder joint you need to work over different ranges of motion.”
Luckily, we’ve considered all the above for you. From working out your deltoids to building up some boulder shoulders, we’ve employed the experts to help you switch up your game and make sure you never again give shoulder exercises the cold… never mind.
Joe Corrie, personal trainer and online coach
This is my favourite exercise to start a shoulder session. The slight use of your legs and hips as well as the upper body allows you to maximally put heavy loads above your head. This is therefore great for power development, building overall loading volume and athletic potential.
Stand with feet shoulder-width apart and grip the bar with your fingertips, elbows facing forward. Rest the bar on the front of your shoulders and drop down into a shallow squat, centring your weight under the barbell. Press up through your heels and drive the bar directly above your head until your elbows are locked. Control the bar back down to the starting position, using your knees to cushion if you are working with heavier weights.
Perform 6 sets with three sets of 5 reps and three of 3, building weight when the reps drop.
I would then move into a strict press, which allows me to benefit more from focusing on time under tension, building maximal strength and hypertrophy. The strict press employs zero lower-body assistance and movement is initiated from zero acceleration, demanding greater amounts of concentric strength.
Stand with feet shoulder-width apart and grip the bar with your fingertips, elbows facing forward. Rest the bar on the front of your shoulders and, taking a big breath, brace your core and press the bar in a vertical line directly above your head. Staying close to the bar while you press the weight up, shift your torso forward, punching your head through once the bar has passed your forehead. Hold the bar over your shoulders and lock your elbows before controlling the bar back down to the starting position.
I've been performing four sets of 8-10 reps after completing the push press.
This is one of my top exercises for the shoulders, which complements the first two movements beautifully and gives you the added bonus of improving core and hip stability along with the other benefits associated with unilateral work.
Reach a half-kneeling position by placing one knee down directly under the hip and stepping the other foot out in front, in line with the knee (making two right angles with your knees). Grab the dumbbell with the same hand as the knee on the floor and swing it up to rest on the shoulder. Taking a big breath, brace your core and press the dumbbell in a vertical line above your head until your elbow is locked and your bicep is next to your ear. Keep your torso as tall as possible throughout the movement. Lower the dumbbell back to the starting position in a controlled manner.
Again, perform four sets of 8-10 reps.
Ross Edgley
Try adding supersets into your shoulder routine, where you perform multiple exercises within one set. This is particularly good for shoulders, that by their anatomical nature work over many ranges of motion.
This is just a conventional barbell press, but performed behind the head. Resting the bar behind your neck and on the tops of your traps during the downward phase forces the shoulders to work over a different range of movement to the traditional military press. Perform 8 reps.
Lie on an incline bench (face down) so that your stomach is resting on the bench and your head can see over the top. Hold a dumbbell in each hand with palms facing each other. Whilst keeping a slight bend in the elbows raise the dumbbells until level with the shoulders. Pause then lower to the start. Perform 8 reps.
Stand upright and hold a barbell in front of you. Using an overhand grip, raise the bar up to a point just below your chin. Keep your palms facing your body the entire time. Pause and return to the start position. Perform 12 reps in total.
Tyrone Brennand, personal trainer and founder of Be The Fittest
- Start off in a press-up position. Walk your feet towards your hands as much as you can, keeping your legs straight so your bum is up high in the air.
- Go into a press-up, allowing the top of your head to come down to the floor. Try and keep your chin close to your chest and allow your shoulders to take all the engagement.
- Lean forward slightly and come down, bringing your head toward the floor and then press it back up into your starting position (the pike position).
- Make sure that you keep your chin tucked in and try to let the crown of your head come down towards the floor, rather than looking at the floor.
- Beginners should do up to 5 reps; advanced can try up to 10 (two to three rounds).
- You will need a small weight, between 3kg and 4kg.
- Grab the weight and keep your arms straight by your sides. Keep your core engaged.
- Bring the weight over your head so you’re doing lateral raises.
- Bring your hands all the way up until the knuckles touch and then slowly control them down back to your side. Keep your arms straight throughout.
- Do this anywhere between 5 and 10 reps, for two to three rounds.
- You will need dumbbells.
- Sit down on a bench or on a seat with your dumbbells in hand.
- Keep your palms facing towards you by your chest before you press up and then, as you do your rep, twist your hands so they face away from you.
- Extend the arms up directly into the air so that your biceps are by your ear.
- Slowly control the weight back to your chest and then twist it again so the palms end up facing towards you when you return back to that.
- When you extend your arms back up into the air, make sure you bring your hands closer together and squeeze your shoulders every time you come up to the top of the rep. Be slow and controlled as you come down.
- Do that anywhere between 10 and 15 reps, for two to three rounds.
- Start off in an elbow plank position (forearms flat on the floor).
- Walk your feet up towards your elbows as much as you can. Bring your bum up into the air, shoulders staying forward.
- From here you keep the shoulders over the elbows and bum in the air. Try and keep your head away from your hands and rock forwards and backwards.
- Try and create as much movement as possible, both forwards and backwards, as you do this. Adding this range of motion allows your shoulders to work more.
- Do this for between 10 and 20 reps, for two to three rounds.
