Bulking up for a muscular body has never been easy, things become all the more complicated when you need to focus on your shoulders exclusively. To help you in your bid to have boulder shoulders, here are some beginner’ shoulder exercises to start with!
Your shoulders are the most widely used muscles in your upper body as they function for almost every action that your upper body performs. Not to forget that a broad and well-sculpted set of shoulders is a source of great pride for a bodybuilder. Thus, it is important to give them much-appreciated opportunity to win accolades and grab eyeballs, from the onlookers, not to forget swooning ladies all the way.
While shoulders are definitely an important part for anyone who is into bodybuilding, not all are able to develop broad and bulky shoulders. Here, the first step should be to check their eating habits. If you want to bulk up your shoulders, you need to eat enough calories that can help in building mass. Consider adding whey protein to your diet to supplement your shoulder workouts regimen appropriately.
Second is to focus on specific exercises for shoulders that can work exclusively on your shoulder muscles while other parts of your body being secondary to them.
If you want to take your shoulders to the next level then this beginners’ shoulder workout guide can help you in having the boulder shoulder look you always craved for.
Press up is a multi-joint exercise that maximizes growth and also prepares you for demanding shoulder exercises like the incline bench press.
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How To Perform
- Lie down with hands on floor and your feet together, hands slightly wider than shoulder-width at chest height.
- Your body should be in straight line and parallel tot he floor.
- While keeping your body straight, look forward and start lowering yourself slowly on front until your elbows are at 90 degrees.
- Breath out as you push yourself back up.
Duration: 3 sets of 10 reps
Variations: You can drop down on your knees to make it simple. Add resistance bands around your shoulders and palms to make it harder.
Standing barbell press is a safer alternative for beginners and they can choose it over military press behind their neck. Behind the neck, military press can lead to shoulder impingement syndrome that causes severe shoulder pain and makes you miss your training hours for a long time.
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How To Perform
- Hold the barbell with your arms using pronated (palms facing upward) grip with your arms wider than shoulder width apart.
- Keep your feet at hip width, slightly bend your knees and bring the barbell up to your collar bone.
- This should be your starting position.
- Push the bar straight up in front of your head.
- Pause for a second, then lower the bar to your collarbone.
- Make sure that your elbows are in front of the bar and are not flaring out of the sides.
Duration: 3 sets of 10 reps
Variations: Perform while sitting down to make it easier, this helps in reducing lower back pain. To make it more intense you can use dumbbells, they also give better isolation for the shoulder muscles.
If you want to develop the width and mass of your shoulders this exercise is best for you. Lateral raise exercise isolates the medial deltoid, the middle part of the three prominent shoulder muscles and helps in creating V-shaped wide shoulders.
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How To Perform
- Stand straight while holding dumbbells at your sides and your feet should be shoulder-width apart.
- Slowly start raising dumbbells out of the side and keep lifting until they are at the same level as your head.
- Pause for a second and then lower them back to your sides.
Duration: 3 sets of 12 reps
Variations: if you want to keep it easy, use lighter weights. While adding weights is one of the ways to make it harder or tougher or more yeilding , if you want to intensify it further, perform this exercise while sitting to maximize its impact.on the shoulder muscles.
Inverted rows exercise is a good move for balancing out your joint action. This also prevents the chances of potential imbalance as it works specifically on your posterior shoulder muscles. This exercise is helpful in developing rounded boulder shoulders.
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How To Perform
- Position a bar at your waist height.
- Take a wider than shoulder-width grip on the bar and hang underneath it.
- Keep your body straight, your arms extended completely and your heels firmly in the floor.
- This should be your starting position.
- Flex at the elbow and pull your chest towards the bar.
- Your concentration should be on retracting your shoulders while you are making your move.
- Pause while at the top and slowly return to your start position.
Duration: 3 sets of 15 reps
Variations: To keep it simple set the bar higher so that your body is more vertically angled. To make it harder, transition it to a TRX inverted row, which must be hanging directly under the straps.
Hope this beginners guide to shoulder exercises will be helpful for you in achieving the sculpted, muscular look you have always dreamt for.
