If you want to turn your pebble delts into boulder shoulders, there are two exercises that you need to include in your shoulder workouts in order to build bigger shoulders.
In order to build big shoulders, you need to hit all three heads of the deltoid (the muscles that make up the shoulder). While you can isolate each head with various exercises, there are two shoulder exercises that will give you the best bang for your buck.
The first shoulder exercise you are going to want to include in your shoulder workout to get bigger delts is some kind of press. Now, it doesn’t have to be a standard barbell military press. As a matter of fact, just about any press will do the job, including but not limited to the Arnold press, dumbbell press, and scoop press.
However, if you want to know my favorite form of shoulder press in order to build cannonball delts; it’s the single arm overhead press. This variation of the exercise allows for proper joint stacking of the wrist over the elbow over the shoulder. This will alleviate most shoulder discomfort found in any sort of overhead pressing movement. Add in the fact that you don’t have to sacrifice weight in order to perform it and it quickly becomes on the best shoulder presses you can do.
Next, you are going to want to include some sort of lateral raise in your shoulder workout routine. It can be a strict lateral raise with dumbbells, a heavy cheat lateral raise that relies on momentum and a controlled eccentric lowering, or you can go with my favorite option: the cable lateral raise.
The cable lateral raise quickly became one of my favorite shoulder exercises because not only do you get a good loaded stretch on the middle and rear delts, a stimulus known for providing muscle growth, but if you raise the cable with a slight bend in the elbow and drive that elbow back behind your body in the process – you will be targeting not just the middle delts, but those pesky rear delts that don’t get enough attention in the first place.
Whichever press and lateral raise you choose, just make sure that they make up the foundation of your shoulder training. With these only two shoulder exercises you need for boulder shoulders, you will be well on your way to building not just bigger, but strong shoulders too.
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Jeff Cavaliere MSPT, CSCS served as both the head physical therapist and assistant strength coach for the New York Mets. Jeff earned his Masters of Physical Therapy and Bachelor’s of Physioneurobiology from the College of Health Sciences University of Connecticut Storrs. He is a certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).
