I have a couple of shoulder exercises that can help you on your way to those bigger, stronger, more defined shoulders.



Two kinds of shoulder exercises are most common; the press and the raise. I will be writing about the raise in future articles so be sure to keep checking back in. The presses are wonderful exercises for the shoulders which primarily work the triceps, but involve other muscles as well.

Sitting or Standng Military Press:

This exercise can be done while standing ? though for beginners, I'd recommend starting out with seated military presses, on a bench with good back support.

While sitting or standing, grab a barbell with an overhand grip. Hold it at shoulder level; your hands should be a little farther apart than your shoulders. Slowly press the barbell up until your arms are as straight as they can go without straining. Lower slowly to shoulder level, then repeat.

Dumbbell Seated Press:

This is similar to the Military Press except you will be using dumbbells. This mainly targets the front and side deltoids so consider mixing it in with other press exercises.

Your sense of balance gets a workout here, and this one requires using less weight than you normally do.

Sitting on your bench, take a dumbbell in both hands. With palms facing outward and holding the dumbbells at shoulder height, press both dumbbells up slowly until your arms are locked out. Slowly lower the dumbbell to shoulder height and repeat.

These are just a few of the many presses you can do for building bigger shoulders, but this will hopefully give you enough of a taste to seek out some other press exercises (of course, I'll cover more in my articles at some point). Keep working those shoulders and I'll see all of you at the gym!