Shoulders Maketh The Man

Nat Pero

Whether you have a bodybuilding style 'shoulder day' or simply include them in your training while working on other stuff - you still need to spend considerable time training your shoulders with overhead (or vertical) pressing movements, possibly adding some isolation moves as well. Here, Nat Pero discusses a range of the best shoulder training exercises.

Shoulders have almost become a redundant muscle group in today’s lazy arse society. I’ve lost count of the amount of guys I see in the gym on a daily basis struggling to press 10 kg for reps. I mean jeez man what’s wrong with these people?? I’ll tell you what’s wrong. When do you ever lift your arms above your head other than when in the gym? Hard to think of an occasion isn’t it? We live in a society so obsessed with health and safety (and rightly so in many cases) that the need to perform such a movement is largely obsolete.

‘A good set of shoulders is what maketh the man’ as the saying goes (or thereabouts). Shoulders are what give a man that v-shape we all strive for. Forget barrel chests or oak like arms, without well developed shoulders you’ll look puny and out of proportion.

The shoulders are formed of a ball and socket joint, and are the joint with the highest range of motion. Unfortunately, this is also its biggest weakness as the high range of motion means greater potential for injury.

The muscles that form the shoulders are the deltoids (anterior, posterior and medial) and the rotator cuffs (infraspinatus, supraspinatus, teres minor, subscapularis). These muscles need to be worked equally as any imbalances will lead to injuries that require long periods of rehab.

How does one acquire shoulders like boulders I hear you ask? Well my first piece of advice is train the chest & back muscles with equal vigour. It’s vital that these muscle groups are worked equally in order to avoid injuries related to muscle imbalances.

Secondly, use free weights and resistance bands where possible. Try to avoid machines, particularly the seated shoulder press. These encourage unnatural movement patterns and are made for the ‘average’ person – you are not mr/mrs average. They also remove any core recruitment associated too, limiting the benefit. Pulley systems however, are excellent for working the rotator cuff muscles (more about that later).

Thirdly, ensure compound moves make up the majority of your programme. That’s not to say isolation exercises shouldn’t play a part, they are vital for strengthening the rotator cuffs. However, stick to a healthy diet of presses and the like and you won’t be disappointed.

Listed below are my favourite shoulder exercises. I will discuss a little on form, what makes them so effective and why you should consider applying them to your shoulder programme.

Military Press

The king of all shoulder exercises, no question! If cannon ball shoulders are what you’re after the military press, or variant is a must.

Let’s take a quick peek at the standing barbell variation. If you’re not familiar with the military press then start off in a power rack with an Olympic bar roughly shoulder height. Grab the bar slightly wider that shoulder width apart, with your palms facing forwards. Take the bar from the rack and keep it resting on your upper chest whilst taking a couple of steps forwards. Take a deep breath in then press the bar over head until your arms are fully locked out. Once this is achieved lower the bar under control until you are back to the start position. Hold your breath as you press the bar and exhale as you lower. Tense your glutes, legs and core muscles for increased stability and flex your lats as hard as possible prior to the press for a bit of extra grunt!

If you have back problems or your core is weak then I suggest you grab a set of dumb-bells and perform the seated variety. Looking to blast through a plateau? Then ditch the iron for a few weeks and focus on resistance bands!! Yes, you heard right. When lifting conventional weights the level of difficulty decreases the closer you get to completion. However, when working with bands the movement becomes more difficult the closer you become to full lockout. A few weeks of TNT Military presses will lead to a surge in forced acceleration. So when you go back on the iron, your presses will go up quicker than a Chris Waddle penalty.

So, what makes the Military press the king of all it surveys? Well, first of all it’s a massive compound exercise. The deltoids, triceps, lats and even upper chest believe it or not are utilised during the movement. That’s not to mention the isometric demand on the core region, even quads and hams whilst I'm at it!! The combined grunt of the aforementioned muscle groups means the capacity to lift big is great, that is why the Military Press rules with an iron fist.

Arnold Press

Aptly named after the big man himself, the Arnold press is not one for the faint hearted! Grab a set of dumbbells and sit on a bench, inclined so the back support is upright. Sit yourself down and hold the bells shoulder height with your palms facing you, like the top part of a dumbbell biceps curl. Engage the core then begin to press the bells overhead until full lock out is achieved. As you press ensure to rotate your palms away from you then as you lower, rotate the palms back inwards to the original position. Inhale then hold your breath as you press the bells over head. Exhale as your lower the bells under control. This movement can obviously be performed standing up, alternately or unilaterally.

What makes the Arnold press unique is the recruitment of the anterior (front) deltoid as well as the medial (side) deltoid. When performing standard Military presses it is primarily the medial deltoid doing most of the work. For good, all-round shoulder development, be sure to add the Arnold Press to your armoury!

Upright Rows

Those of you who like a big set of guns will enjoy the upright row. Grab a bar and hold it standing up with a grip slightly shy of shoulder width. Draw the bar upwards, leading with the elbows until the bar is pretty much underneath your chin. Lower under control whilst maintaining sound posture throughout. Always keep your elbows high during the lifting phase. Tense legs, glutes and core for added stability and keep the bar close to your body at all times. Take a deep breath, draw the bar upwards then exhale as you lower.

Right, back to those guns...not only is the upright great for anterior deltoid and trapezius development, the pulling nature makes it an effective biceps exercise too - that makes it a tip top compound move in my book!!

Lateral Raise

Or lateral raise is a classic isolation exercise and no doubt one you’ve performed before. Grab a pair of dumbbells and stand with your feet shoulder width apart, soft knees and weights in the centre. Ensure your palms are facing each other and your elbows are slightly flexed, this is the start and end position. Powerfully raise your arms out to the side until parallel with the floor then lower back to the start position in a controlled manner. Maintain slight flexion of your elbows and tense your legs, glutes and core for heightened stability. Inhale prior to the lifting phase, exhale as you lower.

Lat Raises are great at isolating the lateral deltoid. Using light weights or resistance bands turns this exercise into an effective rotator cuff exercise.

Front Raises

I suppose you can liken this exercise to being the ‘little brother’ to the lateral flys. Again, grab two dumbbells, but this time hold them in the centre with your palms facing you. Keep the bells fairly close together, slightly flex the elbows and raise the weights out in front until your arms are parallel with the floor. Now return the bells to the original position under control. Maintain the slight flexion of your elbows and tense your legs, glutes and core for heightened stability. Inhale prior to the lifting phase, exhale as you lower.

Front raises isolate the anterior deltoid and when performed with light weights or resistance bands is a great way of strengthening the rotator cuffs.

Reverse Flys

It goes without saying that many guys tend to work the muscles they can see in the mirror. In the case of the shoulders that normally equate to well developed anterior and medial delts, and weak posterior delts. Reverse flys are great for developing the posterior deltoids, they're excellent upper back developer too!

Grab a set of dumbbells and start exactly how you would if you were to perform a shoulder fly. Push your bottom out and lean forwards from the hip, maintaining a neutral spine. Your knees should be slightly bent, arms parallel with slight flexion in both elbows. Powerfully draw both arms up and out to the side until parallel, bit like flapping wings. Return to the start position by lowering arms under control.

Ensure you maintain a neutral spine by pushing your bottom out with your shoulders back and chest forwards. Keep your head up align with your spine and attempt to squeeze the shoulder blades together at the top of the movement. Tense your legs, glutes and core for increased stability. Inhale prior to the lifting phase, exhale as you lower.

This variation requires a decent level of isometric strength in the lower back region. If you need to proceed with caution in this area then perform the exercise whilst leaning into a bench. Incline the back rest to approximately 50 degrees and mount the front, like trying to dry hump it! Straighten legs and drive your hips into the bench.

Like the previous two exercises, when performed with light weights and/or resistance bands turn's the reverse fly into a useful exercise for the rotator cuffs.

If you're guilty of stalking yourself and only focusing on aesthetics then pull yourself away from the mirror for five minutes and get reverse flying!

Barbell Hang Clean

This is a demon exercise for those of you looking to developing explosive delts and traps, lifting fast will result in greater strength!!

Start by deadlifting a barbell from the floor, hold with an overhand grip and arms straight. Lower yourself into the Romanian deadlift position by pushing your bottom out (as if you're about to sit down) and slightly flexing the knees until barbell is just below the knees. Here comes the explosive bit, rack the bar (basically resting bar on your shoulders) by rapidly thrusting your hips forwards whilst simultaneously drawing the bar upwards (like an upright row). Once the bar is shoulder height quickly push you elbows out and away from you. This creates a 'shelf' like area on-top of the shoulders where the bar sits.

The hang clean is a great posterior chain exercise to boot, the powerful hip extension that initiate's the movement demands a rapid response from your hamstrings and glutes. This exercise is a shoe in for MMA fighters and Rugby players.

Push Press

If you’re sport involves explosive pushing actions then you'll love this one. A variation of the military press, the push press involves a little help from the lower extremity. Set yourself up as if you're about to perform a military press. Dip the body by bending the knees then forcefully press the bar overhead and straighten your legs simultaneously. Bend the knees again as you lower the bar back to shoulder height. Ensure to perform the pushing phase as rapidly as possible, lower with control. Exhale as you push press, inhale as you lower. Kettlebells, dumbbells and barbells work well with this exercise.

Kettlebell Clean & Press

This is one of my favourite hybrid exercises. If I could pick one exercise for MMA enthusiasts to perform for improving muscular conditioning, this probably would be it.

Let’s look at the clean in greater detail. Grab a pair of kettlebells and stand over them with feet either side. Adopt an athletic stance and grab both handles by pushing your backside out whilst leaning forwards. Maintain a neutral spine and swing the bells back between legs. Quickly reverse the action by forcefully extending the hips and knees, pull the kettlebells in towards you until you until they are up into the racked position. Ensure the grunt comes from the hip extension and not traps and biceps, this is not a biceps curl! Make sure you don’t swing the bells away from you then draw them in. Pull them straight up as soon as they pass your knees. Rotate your wrist so that the bells pass around the wrist and not over it, bashing your forearm. Breathe in as you drive the bells into the racked position.

Once the clean is done now time for the military press. Forcefully drive the bells overhead until full lockout is achieved. Rotate your palms away from you as you press, turn them back in as you lower back to the racked position. Tense your legs, glutes and core as you press the bells overhead, exhale as you lower.

Just an awesome big bang compound move: hamstrings, glutes, anterior and medial deltoids, biceps and triceps all working simultaneously.

This exercise is a must if your sport requires powerful hip extensions, forceful pressing actions and multiple muscle groups working synergistically.

KB Iron Cross

This one will put hairs on your chest. The Iron Cross is an excellent exercise for building shoulder strength and stability and is an absolute must for gymnasts.

Clean two kettlebells into the racked position. Press the bells until full lockout is achieved, grip the handles as tight as you can then begin to lower the bells out to the side until both arms are parallel (the ‘cross’ position). Now begin to raise the bells back to the start position without any movement of the handles.

A truly great whole body move really, the key to a good iron cross is tension. Tense legs, glutes and core for increased stability. Form is vital with this one otherwise shoulder injuries are just a matter of time. Kick off with light weights then as increase steadily as your proficiency increases.

Kettlebell Sots Press

Named after the Russian weightlifter Viktor Sots, this is exercise is one mean mother to master.

Clean one kettlebell into the racked position and adopt an athletic stance. Lower into a squat position then press the bell overhead until full lockout of the elbow is achieved. Lower back down to the racked position then repeat. Keep your elbow close to the rib cage as you lower into the squat position and keep both feet flat on the floor. Keep your eyes on the bells as you press overhead.

What I like about this one is the core activation required, you have to keep such a tight core (even with a light weight) or forget about pressing overhead.

This is a really difficult exercise to perform correctly, if you can't squat properly (i.e. arse to the grass) then forget this exercise. Additionally, if you have poor shoulder flexibility then probably best you give this one a miss! Once you've mastered the Sots Press with one bell, have a crack at two bells...all the best indeed with that one!!

Kettlebell Side Press

Those of you who are familiar with the kettlebell windmill will notice a similarity in these two. Clean one kettlebell into the racked position and adopt an athletic stance. Push the hip of the same side you are holding the bell outwards and start to lean to the opposite side. Now start to press the kettlebell with you hip pushed out. Once full lockout of the elbow is achieved, engage your core and stand up straight. Keep your legs straight throughout and ensure your arm remains perpendicular with the floor. Keep looking up at the bell at all times.

Rotator Cuff Exercises

These groups of muscles play a key role in the stability of the shoulder joint. Ignore these muscles at your peril, if you ever experience a shoulder injury you can bet your bottom dollar that the rotator cuff will have something to do with it.

The exercises used to strengthen the rotator cuffs are dull and involve the use of girly little weights or resistance bands. This is probably why you seldom see a guy specifically train his cuffs and possibly the main reason shoulder injuries are so common. Focus on Internal Rotation, External Rotation, Abduction & Extension exercises. Do not use heavy weights to perform these exercises otherwise the larger deltoids and surrounding muscles will take over.

Specific exercises go beyond the scope of my little article here, but I just wanted to remind you that if you want serious results then you need some rotator cuff work. I'm sure we will have more details on these soon.