The shoulders are a smaller muscle group with 3 heads, so the best shoulder workout has to work all 3 together and separately. To target the front, side, and rear deltoids for muscle building, this workout will include 4 sets of 5 exercises each, performed as a super set followed by a triple set. It’s important to use proper form and light enough weights to ensure that you focus on your shoulders and engage your chest and arm muscles as little as possible.
This workout can be done at your local commercial gym or just as easily at your home gym. Start by setting up your bench so that your back is resting about 10 to 15 degrees below vertical; you want to be leaning back just a little bit. Position the bench right in front of your rack so the bar is easy to lift when you’re seated.
Start with one or two light warm-up sets of seated overhead presses – just use the bar or lightly load it. Remember that the idea is to avoid previously exhausting the muscles, but to fill the area with blood and work the shoulders just enough to warm them up. Be sure to use a full range of motion so they get a little stretch as well.
Step One: Shoulder Superset
This best shoulder workout starts with a superset of seated overhead presses and upright rows. If your shoulder mobility allows, do overhead presses behind the head, but if not, lower the bar in front. The idea of using behind-the-neck presses is to avoid engaging your chest in your lift, but it will still work well for your shoulders if you need to lower the bar in front. Have your training partner or spotter stand just behind you to make sure you don’t go back too far at the top of the lift and to help you reposition the weight if necessary.
When you finish your set, immediately stand up and do one set of upright rows with the same weight. Only raise your arms until your elbows are level with your shoulders to avoid impinging on your rotator cuff; Your grip should be wide enough that your arms are bent at a 90-degree angle once your upper arms are parallel to your shoulders.
Most lifters will find that they are stronger on upright rows than overhead presses, so you’ll find you can do a few more reps on them. Start your superset with a lighter weight that allows you to do 12 reps of the press and 15 reps of the row, then throughout the 4 sets, increase the weight slightly on each set, ending with a final set of 8 presses and 12 rows. Be sure to maintain strict form at all times to avoid injury and use a cadence of 1 second to raise and 3 seconds to lower the weight on both exercises. Limit your rest between sets to 30 to 45 seconds, then after your last set, rest for 3 to 4 minutes before moving on to the triple set. Remember to hydrate during the break!
Step Two: Triple Set of Shoulders
Now that you’ve recovered from the two big compound shoulder exercises, it’s time to isolate all 3 heads and work the rear, side, and front deltoids individually with a triple set of shoulders. Grab a pair of dumbbells that you can easily handle and start with rear deltoid flyes. Lean forward about 15 degrees from the waist; If you’re not sure how far to lean, look to your side in the mirror and see how far you need to lean forward to engage your rear deltoids as you raise your arms to shoulder height. Bend your elbow slightly, then lock your arms in that position, raising them out to shoulder height and then lowering them back in front of you. Don’t worry about lifting the weights to shoulder height—your deltoids are only involved in moving your upper arms, so focus on bringing your elbows to that height.
Immediately after the rear deltoid raises, stand almost straight, leaning forward enough to allow the dumbbells to hang freely in front of your body. Keeping that slight bend in your elbows, raise your arms out to your sides, again until your upper arm is in line with your shoulders. Lower them slowly and under control, then repeat until you’ve finished your reps for this set.
Again, without taking a break, start with your front raises. Keeping the slight bend in your elbows and start with your palms facing your thighs, then raise the dumbbells in front of you to shoulder height and lower back down. You can do both arms at once or alternate one and then the other depending on your preference. At this point in the triple set, your energy will falter, but don’t let your form flag: Avoid the temptation to lean back and swing the weights up, maintaining a controlled rise and fall.
Each cycle through the 3 exercises is one set, and after each set take a break of about 60 seconds before starting the next set. Start with light dumbbells that you can maintain strict form with for 12 reps of each exercise on the first set, then increase the weight slightly on each set, doing your 4 sets with 12, 10, 8, and 6 reps. Try to maintain a cadence of 1 second up, 1 second at the top, 3-4 seconds lowering the weight, and no rest at the bottom of each rep for all 3 exercises.
By the end of the best shoulder workout, you will definitely feel the pump in all 3 heads and know that you have fully worked them all. Avoid the tendency to speed up the reps so you can go heavier; remember that your goal is to build muscle, so you want to maximize your volume, intensity, and time under tension. Because the deltoids are relatively small muscles, they heal fairly quickly with proper nutrition and rest, so this exercise can be repeated two to three times a week on non-consecutive days. At first they may be a bit sore the next day, but that will fade as time goes on and as the shoulder pumpkins grow, you will soon agree that this is the best shoulder exercise for building muscle. .