Great Shoulder Workouts

The shoulder muscles are broken up into 3 separate attachments, or heads - front, side, and rear. If you're into powerlifting, you'll want to strengthen all 3 heads of the shoulders since any weak link may adversely affect your lifts. If you're a bodybuilder, all 3 heads need to be developed evenly for a more aesthetic appearance. No matter what you focus on when you weight train, you need to do some direct training for each of the deltoid heads for great shoulder workouts.

The trapezius muscles are located on the upper back between the shoulders and neck. Many weight trainers will do some training for their traps during their deltoid workouts due to their proximity to them.

Military presses and overhead dumbbell presses are the main compound exercises to do during greatshoulder workouts. While both exercises will work all heads of the shoulder muscles to a degree, most of the work will be done by the front deltoids. The best way to do these shoulder exercises is seated on a bench with back support, though you can do them while standing as well. Dumbbell presses will allow for more variety (turning the forearms as you lift or lifting one dumbbell at a time are popular ways to do them) and a better range of motion.

To train the individual heads of the shoulder muscles you must do sets of lateral raises for each of them. These exercises are usually done with dumbbells or cables. Most gyms will have some machines you can train the individual deltoid heads, though you are best off sticking with free weights or cables. When doing lateral raises, you need to concentrate on focusing the resistance on the deltoid head you are training.

The best exercise to do for the front delts during your shoulder workouts is the front lateral raise. These are done by raising a dumbbell out in front of you with the arm slightly bent. This exercise is best done by alternating reps between each arm.

For the side delts you must do side lateral raises. Do these by holding a dumbbell in each hand and raising both arms until they are parellel to the floor. Keep your elbows slightly bent and hold the dumbbells with a grip that's tilted forward a bit (like if you were pouring something out of a pitcher or glass).

To train the rear delts during your shoulder workouts you need to do rear lateral raises. Bend over with your lower back arched and a dumbbell in each hand to start this shoulder exercise. From this position raise your arms outward (again with the arms slightly bent) until they are parellel to the floor.

For the trapezius muscles, you need to do shrugs with a barbell or dumbbells. To do them you simply hold the weight, or weights, in your hands and shrug your shoulders up towards your ears. It's very easy to use to go very heavy while doing shrugs, so you should use wrist straps or chalk to help grip the weight.

When you do a great shoulder workout, one of the most important things that you must focus on is increasing width. Building wider shoulders will make your entire upper body appear wider, which will make your midsection appear slimmer. This is how you will create a v-shaped look to your physique.

The key to increasing shoulder width is to build the side heads of the deltoids. Whereas the front delts get a lot of work when you train your chest and the rear delts get a lot of work when you train your upper back, the side deltoids don't necessarily get very much indirect work while you're training other muscle groups. Because of this, you should focus a good portion of your shoulder workouts on training the side heads of the deltoids.

The best exercises for building wider shoulders are dumbbell presses and side laterals. With dumbbell presses, you can lower the weight to the sides of your delts to target them better. Side laterals are the best exercises for directly targeting the side heads of the deltoids and can be done with dumbbells, cables, or a machine.

If you overtrain during your shoulder workouts, use poor form, or do certain exercises that put the muscles in a more injury prone position you could end up injuring your shoulders. One of the most common shoulder injuries is a rotator cuff injury.

Injuring your rotator cuff will almost certainly keep you from being able to train the shoulders and other upper body muscles with optimal intensity, if you're even able to train them at all for a while. Fortunately, you can strengthen your rotator cuff with certain exercises in your shoulder workouts. There's an excellent e-book called The Ultimate Rotator Cuff Training Guide that will show you how to strengthen your rotator cuff.