Shoulder Workout with Dumbbells: 5 exercises for strong shoulders

If you’re looking to strengthen your shoulders, you’ve come to the right place. They are such an important part of our body yet very underestimated. So we’ve come up with a simple shoulder workout with dumbbells that will get you on your game right away!

Did you know that on average 18 to 26% of the world’s population will suffer from shoulder injuries / pain during their lifetime? Shoulder injuries are also among the most recurrent among professional or amateur athletes (being the most common injury in the upper extremity of the body), having affected, according to the American College of Sports Medicine, 13.7 millions of people in 2003, only in EUA. 

So, it’s crucial that you don’t underestimate this part of your body, and should aim to specifically work 3 parts of the deltoid (succinctly, it’s the muscle that the shoulder is involved in):

• Clavicular (anterior deltoid)
• Acromial (middle deltoid)
• Spinal (posterior deltoid)

To help you strengthen your shoulder, here are 5 shoulder exercises for your deltoid workout, to help you work these different areas, as well as an explanation on how to perform each exercise:

(In case you prefer to do it at home or can’t go to the gym, here is how you can do it)

1.   Arnold Press

This exercise can be done standing up or sitting down. In this exercise you do extra work on the anterior deltoid zone, however, the posterior zone is also activated, as well as the trapezius, triceps and supraspinatus.

Execution:

• Hold the dumbbells in front of you with arms bent, as if you were on top of a bicep curl (as shown in the image on the left)
• Perform the movement of pushing the dumbbells upwards, while pushing your elbows apart
• You don’t need to extend your elbows fully.
• Once the dumbbells are close together, inhale and lower the dumbbells slowly until you are back in the same starting position.

2. Lateral raises

This exercise can be performed sitting or standing. The difference is essentially in the stabilization created in a seated exercise, where we generally use less momentum, and it can be more demanding.

In this exercise the focus is on the lateral deltoid and if you want a shoulder with greater volume, this is the exercise of choice.

Execution:

• Hold the dumbbells with your arms slightly bent and your palms facing you. Keep the abdominals well contracted especially in the raising phase of the dumbbells.
• The lateral deltoid only has its main activation after 15 degrees of rise of the dumbbells, so start the exercise as soon as you start to feel a resistance in the lateral deltoid and try not to start the exercise with your arms fully extended or with the dumbbells touching your legs.
• Inhale and with a slight bend of the elbows focus on performing a lateral arm lift and not on raising the shoulder.
• Raise your arm to the point where your elbow is in line with your shoulder.
• Lower your arms to the starting position.

3. Rear flies/dumbbell raises in bent-over position

Do you want healthy shoulders and to improve your posture? Put this great exercise on your list and do it well, while moderating the load.

This great exercise focuses essentially on the back of the shoulder, which is the most difficult part to train and is responsible for that “full shoulder” shape.

Execution:

• Starting from a standing position, lean forward. Contract your abdominals and try to keep your torso parallel to the floor.
  • Keep your head in a neutral position by looking down.

• With your arms holding the dumbbells in front of you, palms facing each other and elbows slightly bent, activate the back of your shoulder and lift your elbows towards the ceiling (imitating the movement of wings).

• At the peak of the concentric movement of the exercise the weights and the palms of your hands should be parallel to the floor.

• Throughout the whole process, check if your abdominals are contracted and your whole spine is aligned.

4. Dumbbell high row

High rowing is a shoulder strengthening exercise in which it is possible to put a little more load on the trapezius and other accessory muscles of the back.

Therefore you need to pay attention to the position of your hands so that the trapezius is not the main muscle of the exercise, but the deltoid.

Execution:

• Standing upright, grab the dumbbells with your palms facing you and place your hands in line with your shoulders, so that the trapezius has less participation in the exercise.
• Raise your elbows to shoulder height, pulling the weight up towards your chin.
• Keep your elbows higher than your fists.
• Slowly return to the starting position.

5. Development of shoulders with dumbbells/Shoulder press with dumbbells

The dumbbell shoulder press is one of the best exercises to add that extra muscle mass to the upper area that you want so much: because of the stability that we have in its execution, we can easily put into practice the principle of progressive loading.

Execution:

• Start the exercise sitting on a bench. Preferably a bench with back support. Raise the dumbbells to the height of your shoulders and with the palms of your hands facing you.
• Throughout the entire movement, your abdominal muscles should be tight, and your fists should be neutral.
• Push the dumbbells vertically until the elbows are almost extended and the dumbbells are above your head.
• Slowly return to the starting position.

Once you start this shoulder training sequence consistently and with the correct posture for each exercise, you will notice a gain in strength in the auxiliary muscles of the arms, chest and back that are also used during these exercises.

We would like to take this opportunity to reinforce that you should look for a training and health professional to guide you in the execution of these exercises and achieve the best possible results.

Do you have any other exercises that you think could be here in this top 5 shoulder workout with dumbbells? If so, leave us your suggestion in the comments.

Happy training!