sures Protect Pour Money's Wr 10 Best Shoulder Exercises ‘The (nearly) definitive ranking of the best delt exercises ever devised. By Michal Berg, NSCA-CPT | Phot by Robert Rei et” are aboot as meaningless they are pervasive. Best player of all all been done belore in magazin Not ll such its, however, ane totally devoid of worth, Take the on sto develop your should you disagree sable: 10 proven ways to bl bigger, denser, epihwww musclemag.con/10-best-shoulder-exercises! WITH MUSCLEMAG 10 Best Shoulder Exercises Cg Cd Recent Current issue i ool o i a Musclemag.com Proview the latest issue of MuscleMag nen MuscleMag On Twitter | New Stuff a6rants 10 Best Shoxlder Exercises ay a eich to target = a ncks To Get Jacked a Going the Distan mre Tag hpstwww.musclemag.com/10-best shoulder-exercises!sures 10 Best Shoulder Exercises pop up thee times on tis it nd with good reason — the rear delts don't end to get much attention But for shoulders that wil ill out your T-shirts you're gonna nead rear dls that ean keep pace wth the meaty front and mile dels, Those latter two get additonal work during chest and shovlder presses, while the rears really need ample attention of thei own to thrive. For that, the reverse fe ‘comes tothe rescue, adding a dimension of muscle control and lance thatthe more poplar reverse pee-deck ye cannot match, ear deltoids [ike all cable based moves, the key atribute is continual tension on the muscles being worked, Unlike dumbel barbell and some machines on which the tension eae at certain points ofthe range of motion because of gravity and inertia — with eables, the realtance i ubweys crunter-peling. in this cage menting your rear dats never get break as you rep. Attich D-handles to the upper pulley ofa cable machine, Now grasp the lef-sie handle in your righthand, then step ove and get the right-side handle in your let before stepping to the center, equidistant from each stack, Staighte your elbows without locking them out, your palmsin a neutral rip, From her, keeping your semis elevated atthe evel of your shoulders and elbows fixed, ‘pen your arm out to your sides, paling each handle cree to th other side by engaging your seer dts, When yo reach pont at ‘hich your arms are outstretched in a “open hug” pose reverse the ‘motion to bring the handles back to the start postion. Know that one hand wil eros over the other when in front — it doesn matter vehich ie high and whieh low although you ean site fom sett set if you prefer. epihwww musclemag.con/10-best-shoulder-exercises! anesures 10 Best Shoulder Exercises Some would argue that the one-arm bent-over lateral raise — allowing you to fous allyour effort on one side at time — is superior to the two-armed version, We disagree. The unilateral version increases the ability to cheat, lloring you to rotate more at he waist when reppin. Doing both arms tthe same ime cuts down on that kind of momentum, putting more pressure on your rea dels to cary the lad, ear deltoids The bent-over ase versatile and can be performed tlther standing or seated atthe end ofa flat bench leaning over your knees, And the use of dumbbells metns other muscles om into play for ablation — which may not mean a heck ofa lot for your rae dels but does help crettea more fenctonal physique oveal, With a dumbbell in each hand and your chest up, bck ‘at, knees lightly bent and eyes fixed on point on the lor just, ahead of yu, bend over at the hips until your torso is nearly parallel to the floor. Lt the dumbbells hang directly beneath you with your ‘bows fixed ina slightly ent postion. From there, pawerfully raise he dumbbells up and out to your sides in an ae until your upper arms are about parallel with the Noor. Pause at the top fora squeeze hen lower the dumbbell bak along the same path, stoping jst before your arms o fully perpendicular tothe loot, and start the epihwww musclemag.con/10-best-shoulder-exercises! anesures 10 Best Shoulder Exercisessures 10 Best Shoulder Exercises slighty les stimulated, Tha’ not to sy presse aren’ dealin many You also want to exhaust each head on ile det, nothing beats lateral raise side det 1 drop setsto failure. Fo running bei your body shoulder-width spat, holding a D-handle in the hand opposite the pulley. Your nonworking arm ean be on your epihwww musclemag.con/10-best-shoulder-exercises!sures eff roo inthis tthe ‘enn bag a em out in any order you wish, Doesnt matter — they'll their benefits forthe respective dlt head they tare Tn the case ofthe cable f brutally effective n cause some awkwardness because ofthe dag front ribs, which allow the cable ree during the range of motion. Isa small benefit, sure, butt eliminates 1th stance with your back to low cable ply. Place onworking hand on your hip for balance. With your chest sd, back flat and knees slightly bent, powerful ease the eal nt of you until your upper arm is about parallel with ostion (without leting the tack touch down) and repeat 10 Best Shoulder Exercises 4, benefiting again from that continuous tension th terior (Font) detoids tof the eblein side laterals across your « Deane stand in a staggered epihwww musclemag.con/10-best-shoulder-exercises! 76sures 10 Best Shoulder Exercises set thoroughly warmed up before stepping up tothe big-boy poundage anterior and mile dltoids The push pres isa elosed-kinetc-chain exer, ‘mening the legs remain on the or (a fixed surface). The mation calls on multiple musle groups, from your legs to your shoulders to our arms, to work smergsicaly, introducing functional ‘components to what otherwise may be avery bodybuiding-centri workout routine, In ater words, mavements ike the push prest help aren jst ll show and no go when comes ‘he in your daly hie To get into poston, either clean loaded barbel from the ‘oor to shoulder level or take it off pins in power rack, Hold the bar with an overhand gup, palms up and elbows pointed forard, your upper arms near paral! withthe floor a the bar rests at a point stop your upper chest, From a standing poston, lover your hips and bend your knees to dip down into quarter squat. Now recoil to explosively drive upward with your legs as yo extend your ams and it the bar overhead ofl elbow extension. Hold the bar there riefy, then lower itback ots et area and descend into the nex ep. otion on your upper epihwww musclemag.con/10-best-shoulder-exercises! anesures 10 Best Shoulder Exercises Tn bodybuilding cirels, youl come aeross yout fair ino hate the Smith machine, Passionately so. Toth a crme against weighting taking a trusty barbell and puting it on track 1’ ike training wheal forthe gym ‘We agrocin one sense— trading out al our foe-weight barbell ‘moves forthe Smith versions would give you a less-ffective workout ‘overal. But then again, the Sith, when used judicious, eam help you gain strength, beat sticking points, leam bedy contrlin relat safety and, in the ease ofthe upright row, even improv ‘he spical barbell version snteror, middle and rear deltoid ‘The upright row s often thought of mostly as mide ded exerise, but research hs reveled thatthe wide arp rove engages the rar dels to some extent, as well. While you may assume a barbell or dumbbell upright row might be preferable — free weight seta the love — using te Smith machine inthis case helps reduce unwanted ares on the back and shoulder joints because the bara tout in front of you insted of in contact with yout With your fet hip-vidth apart, stand upright holding the bar ofa Smith machine infront of your thighs with an overnand erp a few inches outside shoulder width, Twi the bar to release i from the sfeylitches end let your arms hang straight, maintain a slight bend in your knees and a tight core. Flex your shoulders to pl the barsrght up toward your cin, keeping the bar close to cour body throughout In the top postin, your elbows will be high and pointing out to your sides Hol that spot fora second befor slowly lowering to he start postion epihwww musclemag.con/10-best-shoulder-exercises! s016sures 10 Best Shoulder Exercises The eneft of the face pl (and what makes it superior o traditional bentaver dumbbell and cable raises) is the fact that it calls the middle traps ito play and incorporates some leverage, allowing you to handle more weight overal. This additonal muscle overload leads directly to growth Puta rope attachment on a pulldown station, and make sure you select a hesyy enough weight to counterbalance your veeght. Stand in front ofthe pulley and grasp each end ofthe rope ‘rth an overhand grip so your palmate facing exch other, then Ii our elbows upto shoulder level and tothe sides. Now place one fot ‘om the kneepad, wich inthis case helps anchor you better than. keeping both fet on the lor. To start, ean back so your body forms 1a 4g-degree angle tthe floor and, keeping your elbows elevated, pul ‘he rope back toward your face until your hands are alongside your ears. Squeeze, then reverse tothe stat, no ting the weight stack touch down b ween reps epihwww musclemag.con/10-best-shoulder-exercises! v6sures 10 Best Shoulder Exercises ‘We could point out pent of favs in the dural lateral rise. The level of resistance is uneven at various points of the range of motion and there’ even dead spt ifyou bring the weights dove i font of| your body to start each ep. With some action atthe his, cheating ‘va momentum is al too easy. And honestly i's one of the most abused exercises atthe gym, with guys hoisting way too much weight {in what ie suppose tobe a precise folation exercise. That sai though, the lateral raise ill a must-do movement for wider, more impressive dels, You just need to focus on doings right. idle detoids ‘Weve listed ite weaknesses, but don'tet those dsmade you, Lateral raises put an impressive amount of tension onthe ‘idle delts, even i'you do end up cheating a ite on your final fee eps approaching muscle faure. That's because they attack the target masee in exactly the way they're ntended to function, bringing your arms uporard and ost, aay from your body. By adjusting your grip jut ite angling 30 your thumb side ea Ht lower thin your pinkie side (asf you were pouring water out Jug), you engage the middle head even more. Stand with your fet shoulder-width apart. Keep your abs ight, chest up and shoulders back With your head straight, hold the dumbbells at your sides witha neutral rip. Without using riomentum, raise the dumbbell out to your sides in a wide ae keeping your elbows and hands moving together in the same pane Raise the dumbbell just above shoulder level and hold momentarily fn the peak contracted position, Siwy lower the dumbbells down slong the same path and repeat for reps. epihwww musclemag.con/10-best-shoulder-exercises! rai6sures 10 Best Shoulder Exercises you dream of having huge, bam-door shoulders and you haves! sed barbell press, her's realty check: You ain’ trying hard enough, This pres ia for sss ~ ifs challenging, somenbat uncomfortable and in all ways a high-intensity activity, That said, is also one ofthe best, ost efficent ways to ge from Point A to Point B fn your deltoid development snterior, middle snd rear detoids Fora heavier load, the barbell is more appropriate than a dumbbell press)” says David Hooper, MA, CSCS, doctoral fellow in the Department of Kinesiology atthe University of CConnecsien. “I would be perfect safe, for instance, to goto a three: to ive-rep-max load and perform the barbell press, wile that would realy nol be appropriate forthe dumbbell pre ard geting the cumbbells int place or one." Find a barbell prse station — not all gyms have one, 0 ‘you may have to make one youself using a low-back bench set inside 1 power rack Sit ero, keeping your lower back lightly arched and your fet fat on the Noor. Grasp the bar outside of shoulder width wil a palns-forward grip, elbows pointing down and outwad Carefully unrack the bar and hold iat shoulder level. In «smooth strong motion, pres the bar stralght upto ust short of elbow lockott. Squeeze, then lower the bar under eontro toa pint right at your upper chest and evil area. Be sure to pl your face back a che bar passes to avoid giving yourself an impromptu nose job, epihwww musclemag.con/10-best-shoulder-exercises! wiesures 10 Best Shoulder Exercises ‘The dumbbell shoulder press beats out the basbell version, but only *ya nose. Either one can anchor a complete deltoid routine, and ‘eels, they would be rotated regulary with ane another over the 3 weeks oF months, according to Hooper. That sid th dumbbell press llows the arms to age out lle moe to our ses, which targets the middle delts— and when it comes to width, mass ‘nd overall roundness (think “cannonball”, the middle dels ae the tos important ofthe three heads, Meanwhile, the barbell press relies more ot the front det, which ie also emportant, but susvally already thicker in most guys, thanks to heavy incline bench pressing anterior, middle and rear dltoids ‘While you cant handle the same loads as you can with rll the dumbbell press offers additonal benefits “The seated dumbbell press would require a litle more coordination, and having ‘wo separate dumbbell always prevents any strength imbalances Hooper explains, “For example in cn push more with one side than the othe to lift the weight). You ean' do that with dumbbells; you have to comple ach motion exclushel Sit on low-back bench, Holding a dumbbelin each hand above shoulder level with a pronated grip (palms facing forward) Keep your head straight, spine aligned and eyes focused forward wih your shouders shied back as you press the dumbbells epihwww musclemag.con/10-best-shoulder-exercises! 1916sures 10 Best Shoulder Exercises ‘overhead in an are toward each other — but don let them touch at the top. Afters sere, reverse the mation inder control to the start postion and rept. ‘iso on Muscletag Lnmpuetapt—cengteDanes ere 1 THE ONE THAT STARTED IT ALL sna MST Wo JE A DL OFTHE PE er a bt Bo He epihwww musclemag.con/10-best-shoulder-exercises! 116