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Brian's Top Ten Favorite Shoulder Exercises

Muscular shoulders can give anyone the appearance of being fit. Strong, functional shoulders not only look good, but also play a crucial role in upper body exercises as well as most sports. Since the shoulders develop best when training is balanced, I have included deltoid and rotator cuff exercises. I did try to incorporate multi-joint exercises for the athletes as well as isolation exercises for my bodybuilders. The rotator cuff is a group of 4 muscles which balance the ball and socket by providing stabilization and as the name implies, rotation. These 10 exercises, which are in no particular order, can give you the shoulders you're looking for:

Battle Ropes:
There are dozens of exercises you can do with these, but because of the similarity, I'm referring to them as a single exercise. Typically, they are 50 feet in length (in various diameters) and looped around something so you can work with both ends of the rope at the same time. We practice these high output drills for reps or time (averaging 30-60 seconds). I love up / down waves personally but the combinations are truly endless and the amount of muscle fibers stimulated while doing these will blow your mind.

Hang Clean with Push Press:
Again, another multi-joint exercise utilizing the entire shoulder joint as well as the hips, lower and upper back. While not a bodybuilding movement per se, I would argue that this movement in particular uses the entire deltoid group every repetition. For more on the Hang Clean click here.

Bradford Press:
This press can be complete seated or standing (or even in a Crossfit method using a below parallel squat). It is performed by alternating a behind the head barbell press with a standard front of the chin (overhead) press. To maximize the burn, I will often have clients press just high enough to clear the head before alternating to the opposite side. This prevents them from being able to lockout the bar and rest.

Lateral Raises:
A staple in anyone's bodybuilding arsenal. I love this basic movement for developing the lateral head of the shoulder. My workout partner and I race to 100 reps on a weekly basis at the end of almost every shoulder workout. Good form is important on these. Start with arms straight, palms facing your hips. Raise weights to side of body, stopping at or slightly below parallel to the ground. Range of motion exceeding this height or allowing the elbows to bend, is hard on the rotator cuff and is not advisable.

YTWL's:
This isn't a typo, it's an acronym for the order the exercise is performed. While you could do this one holding light dumbbells, I find it plenty challenging in a bodyweight fashion for most of my clientele. Start lying face down on a bench with knees bent. With your arms straight and thumbs pointing up, raise them overhead (in lying position) and form the shape of a "Y". Squeeze your shoulder blades and extend your chest up off the bench as you perform the repetition and pause motion for a full 2 seconds. Repeat for 8 reps total. Next, using the same criteria, extend arms out to the side of the body forming a letter "T". Once you have completed 8 "T's", move on the letter "W". Upon completion of all 8 "W" reps, move on the "L". Every rep is paused, and not completed until the shoulder blades are squeezed. Every rep finishes with thumbs pointing up (which helps to activate the lower trapezius muscle. I know they don't seem like much just by reading the text. Believe me, they burn and the work. This series of exercises is extremely effective for healthy shoulders or even when doing rehab on injured ones. I would recommend this one to anyone.

Window Washers:
This rotator cuff exercise uses both internal and external rotators and burns as much as any shoulder exercise I have ever done. Start by holding a theraband tied across your body keeping elbow bent. With large clockwise circles rotate your shoulder as if you are washing the windows. When you complete 15 repetitions in a clockwise direction, reverse and do 15 more in a counterclockwise motion for a total of 30 repetitions on each side. Try to complete 3 sets of 30 on each arm.

Supinating Lateral Raise:
This alternative to a normal front delt raise is actually done to the side of the body. Start motion with palms against the hips and as you raise the weight, turn the palms towards the ceiling and allow the elbows to slightly bend activating the front of the shoulder instead of the side.

High Rows w/ Rope:
This is an easy and effective way to build up your rear delts and upper back. Do this one at the cable crossover with a rope attachment and pull towards nose.

Bent Lateral Raises:
This exercise uses the same posterior head of the deltoid as in the above with the added benefit of activating your lower back and hamstrings improving postural muscles.

Boxing:
The boxing type motion can emphasize all three deltoid heads as well as the rotator cuff and more importantly, the core which becomes very active when punches are thrown rapidly. I use combinations of jab, cross, hook and uppercut shots to vary the priority on the three heads of the muscle. Typically sets are done for time when practicing bodyweight drill into the heavy-bag or boxing mitts. I have been known to have clients hold dumbbells while doing these drills too.