The best moves for gaining strong muscles on your shoulders

The shoulders are an essential muscle group for every fitness enthusiast. Not only are they important aesthetically, but they are key muscles for most exercises that involve the back and arms. At the same time, they’re a big part of healthy posture. With this in mind, it’s crucial that you find the right exercises to gain the strongest shoulder muscles. To help you get started, we’ve compiled a few of the best examples. Check out these shoulder exercises.

Standing dumbbell fly

One of the most effective exercises for shoulder muscles is the standing dumbbell fly. It’s a pretty straightforward move that allows you to activate a majority of shoulder muscles while also isolating them.

As its name would suggest, the move includes dumbbells as accessories. To execute a standing dumbbell fly, you must grab two dumbbells and hold them by your sides. Use your upper body to lift the weights and form an upside-down V with your arms. The idea is to get a swinging motion going without any shrugging. It’s sort of like a lateral raise, but you don’t do the full range of motion.

Face pulls

Face pulls are another great example of a strong shoulder exercise. It requires a cable station to perform, so you’re most likely going to be doing this at the gym. As is the case with most shoulder exercises, the movement is pretty simple.

You must attach a rope handle to the cable station to start the exercise. Grab an end with each hand, and make sure to keep your palms facing each other. To place some tension, step away slightly from the cable station. You should then pull the rope handles towards your forehead while contracting your back muscles. Keep the palms facing your ears as you pull for maximum effect.

High pulls

Here’s another pull that does wonders for shoulder strength. High pulls make use of your core as well as your shoulder muscles to give great strength and stability. All you need to make it work is a barbell and some technique.

To perform a high pull, you should grasp the bar with both hands around double shoulder width. Start by holding it at thigh level with a firm grip. Bend your knees and hips slightly so that the bar hangs slightly above your knees. Extend your hips as if you were jumping and pull the bar to shoulder height. Aim for an explosive and sudden movement when you do this. Keep your elbows wide apart as you complete the movement as if you were doing an upright row.

Incline bench press

If you’re a big fan of bench presses, this is just the exercise for you. A conventional bench press puts the brunt of the weight on your pecs, but with an incline, the shoulders do a big part of the lifting. When your torso is tilted upward at an angle, those numerous shoulder muscles become active. This is the principle of an inclined bench press.

For this exercise, you’ll need an adjustable bench and a barbell or a couple of dumbbells. Set the bench to a 30-degree incline and lie down face up. Hold the dumbbells or barbell with both hands above your shoulders with your arms straight. Lower the weight to your chest, pause, and then press the weights back to the original position. The exercise works wonders for both your shoulders and your pecs, so keep that in mind.

Seated floor lateral raises

Lateral raises are incredibly potent exercises for shoulder strength, but they don’t provide the maximum amount of isolation for the shoulder muscles. The reason for this is the fact that you always add a bit of movement with your hips and arms. While adding some momentum isn’t a bad thing, you might want to completely isolate the shoulder muscles for some exercises. This is where seated floor lateral raises come in.

By positioning yourself seated on the floor, you negate the effects of any hip movements. At the same time, you can’t exactly get a head start with your arms, either. Whenever you finish a rep, your hands are essentially on the ground.  This means your shoulders are doing all the work, meaning they get all the benefits from the workout.

Push press

One of the simpler exercises you can do for stronger shoulders is a push press. It’s a straightforward lifting exercise that you can do with a barbell or pair of dumbbells.  Not only does it work your shoulders to the limit, but it can also improve your core muscles. With dumbbells, it’s a relatively safe exercise that you can load up on without risk of injury.

If you want to do this exercise with a heavy barbell, it’s recommended that you do so in safer conditions. Having a workout mat below you is an absolute must, but a gym or home squat rack maybe even better, especially when setting the weight aside after a set. The exercise is simple enough, just remember to dip your knees and go for an explosive movement when pushing the weight upwards.

Front raise

After you’ve mastered the seated and standing lateral raise, it’s time to learn yet another one. The front raise is a great way to work the front part of your delts. As is the case with the lateral raises, you want as little influence from other muscles when you’re doing this exercise.

While it may seem awkward to stand around stiff while raising a dumbbell, it provides the best possible results. In the fitness lifestyle, a few boring exercises shouldn’t be much of a deterrent. Introduce as little swinging and swaying as possible. Work on the delts alone, and try not to add momentum before you lift the dumbbell. If you can’t lift a dumbbell comfortably like this, start with a smaller one. You’ll quickly move on to the heavier one once you master the technique.

Conclusion

Whether you want to have the shoulders of a Greek god or lift the heaviest weights, these shoulder exercises will get you the results you need. Couple them with any of the other basic exercises that affect the shoulders, and your muscles will be popping in no time.