Shoulder/Deltoid Workouts

at 12:30 PM

OK... swimsuit season is upon us and we need to work on those shoulders so we can start wearing the tank tops and the sleeve less dresses. In this section I am going to show you a few exercises that you can do with a set of dumbbells. Of course if you don't have dumbbells the best exercise for shoulders (and chest and triceps) is the pushup.

Shoulder Press- This exercise is incredibly versatile in that it works the front, middle and posterior deltoids. Your palms are facing away from you when your arms are overhead and you keep your palms in this position as you bring down your arms to shoulder level. Don't let your elbows drop.

The second exercise is the upright row. The reason it is called upright is because if you bend over at the hips, the exercise is technically a row however it is now a 'bent-over row' which works the back muscles. In the upright row, you hold the dumbbells close and bring them to chin level and then go back to the original position. That is one rep.

The third exercise is very popular and it really works and engages the front deltoids. The front raise can be done with both shoulders at a time which can be challenging or one at a time. You start with the dumbbells at your sides and raise the weight in front of you until the dumbbell is at your eye level. You want to keep your arm straight but not locked.

The last exercise is the lateral raise which works the mid deltoids. You can perform this exercise standing straight or bent over which will then engage both mid and posterior deltoids and parts of the upper back muscles.

And of course as I mentioned if you are short on time then pushups are a great exercise for the shoulders and will keep your core strong.

Have fun... give your muscles a hard workout and your stomach a break!