If you’re on a bodybuilding program and are trying to gain muscle in your upper body, performing the right shoulder workout is going to be critical. The shoulder muscles comprise a large portion of the upper body, thus gaining size in this area will make the back look wider overall, thus giving you a nice V-taper that so many in the bodybuilding world are after.
When it comes to shoulders, there are three main heads that come into play – the lateral deltoid (side), the anterior deltoid (front) and the posterior deltoid (back). Some shoulder exercises you perform in your upper body workout will work all three heads while others will just isolate one of the heads, really working it maximally.
Below are the exercises that you should consider when creating a solid upper body workout designed ot build muscle.
Shoulder Press
The shoulder press is often thought of as the ‘king’ of all the shoulder muscles as its one that allows you to press a great deal of weight, thus making optimal strength and muscle gains. When it comes to your ability to build muscle, using as high of weight as possible is most often the best way to go, so exercises that allow you to do so should be making up the bulk of your workout plan.
When doing the shoulder press, you must watch though that you do not start to arch your back, as this will set you up to experience back pain.
Furthermore, you should never lock your elbows into place at the top of the lift because this will again place a great deal of stress on the joints.
When doing the shoulder press, you have the option of either going in front of the head or behind. Both are good exercises to include, but due to the intensity of the lift, only one variation should be included in each workout you do.
Lateral Raise
The second exercise that is a good choice to include is a lateral raise, which targets primarily the lateral deltoid. Again when doing this one, you really must make sure that you are keeping your back straight at all times, as some people will move out of alignment when the barbells start to approach 90 degrees with their body.
Some individuals will start to bring the weight up higher than 90 degrees when performing this lift, but note that unless you are very strong and advanced, you should keep it to only 90 degrees or even lower. Don’t use such a heavy weight though that you’re only getting to 45 degrees (from the side of your body) as you would then not get the full benefits of the lift.
You will gain more benefit from this exercise if you pause at the very top for a quick second and then lower, as this will really test the muscle’s strength to hold the weight, and ensure you are not using momentum to carry out the lift.
‘T’s
Finally, the last exercise you should perform as part of your shoulder exercise are ‘T’s. This is similar to a lateral raise only it’s going to work the front deltoids as well. To do this, you will raise out to the side, hit 90 degrees, then proceed to move the weight to the front of the shoulders, all while maintaining it upright in the air.
Once the dumbbells are at the front of the body, then you can lower the weight back down to the body to complete the rep.
So, next time you’re doing a shoulder workout, make sure these exercises are in place. Many people will also include front and sometimes even rear lateral raises if they would like to develop those heads of the shoulder muscle more.
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