Strength Training: Shoulder Day Workout

It’s Shoulder Day. It can be common for people to neglect this day of the week. Shoulders are a very niche, focused, and somewhat odd focus for an entire workout at the gym. Typically, we will have an arm day during the week, so why focus on just shoulders? Why not merge the two days and save some time? Well, believe it or not, shoulder day is one of the most crucial days in your weekly regimen. Your shoulders play a pivotal role in your overall strength and athletic ability, and today we are going to take you through a workout that will leave your shoulders burning.

So why are our shoulders important? Every muscle in your body, big or small, has an important part to play. Our shoulders are responsible for things like keeping our posture and supporting our other upper body muscles throughout an athletic act. Think of all the exercises that require the use of your arms: bench press, lat pulldowns, tricep extensions, etc. All these exercises may target muscles other than our shoulders, but a lot of the time, our shoulders are responsible for getting us in the correct position and maintaining it. There is a reason we warm up our shoulders before any upper body workout. If you are an experienced lifter, you may have noticed discomfort in your shoulders during exercises like bench press. This is a very common occurrence and can be mended by increasing your shoulder strength. So, let’s talk about some exercises you can do to build stronger shoulders.

The Warm Up

After stretching, find yourself a light dumbbell, somewhere between 3 and 8 pounds. While standing upright, raise the dumbbell until it is level with your head out to your side, with your arm making a 90-degree angle. You should look like half of a football goal post, and your palm should be facing forward. Once in the position, rotate your arm forward so the dumbbell moves another 90-degrees. Now, your palm should be facing the floor. As you rotate, hold that 90-degree bend in your elbow. Repeat this motion for reps with both arms, and your shoulders should loosen up greatly.

Three Shoulder Exercises

For shoulder day, we are going to perform three exercises.

1. Our first will be the bread and butter of shoulder workouts: lateral raises. This exercise is the best way to build strength and endurance in your shoulders. For this lift, we are going to focus more on achieving a burn rather than pushing for failure with heavy weight. You’ll want to find a weight that is light enough for you to lift to your side, but heavy enough to provide a decent amount of resistance. Once you have selected your dumbbells, bend your knees and lean forward, similarly to how you would prepare for a deadlift. Be sure to arch your back with your chest out. Allow your dumbbells to fall in front of you, with your palms facing each other. When you are ready, raise your arms to your side while maintaining a slight bend in your elbows. The motion is like a bird flapping its wings. Go slow and try not to swing your arms to achieve this motion, and instead focus the pressure on your shoulders. Repeat this motion for reps. The weight you selected should grant you a decent burn in your shoulders around the 6-8 rep range. Perform until failure and repeat for sets. You can never really get enough of these, so go get it!

2. Now, we’ll focus on the opposite. Instead of a burn, we’ll focus on lifting heavy. For this, we will perform a dumbbell shoulder press. This exercise can be performed sitting or standing, as well as with either a barbell or a dumbbell. Today, the focus will be on a seated, dumbbell shoulder press. For this exercise, select a weight that will allow you to achieve failure in the 8-12 rep range. Once you have selected your weight, grab a bench and adjust it so the bench sits upright. Have a seat and position the dumbbells on your knees with your palms facing each other. When you are ready, use your knees to help push the weights in the air, and arch your back. You should once again be oriented like a football goal post, with your arms forming a 90-degree angle and the weights aligning parallel with your head. Once in this position, slightly bring your elbows together so that your arms are making more of an “A” shape. Once here, press the weight upwards until your elbows just about lock out. Return to the starting position and repeat for reps until failure.

3. Lastly, we are going to perform rear-delt flys. This exercise targets the back of your deltoids, a muscle in your shoulder. It’s sort of a middle ground between your shoulders and your back. Some people prefer to perform this exercise during back day. There is nothing wrong with this and is completely up to the discretion of the athlete. This exercise can be performed with either a cable machine or a chest fly machine. Today we will use the chest fly machine. Select a weight that will allow you to reach failure between the 8-12 rep range. Position yourself on the machine opposite of how you would for chest flys. Sit with the back of the seat pressing against your chest and position the bars so that they are directly in front of you. When you are ready, grab the bars in front of you, and spread your arms out to the side. You should feel a squeeze in your upper arm and upper back. Move your arms back until you feel this squeeze and return to the starting position. Be careful not to go too heavy on this exercise. It’s a bit of an awkward movement, so overextension could potentially lead to injury.

Shoulder strength plays a major role in overall athletic ability and upper body strength. Our shoulders are required for a variety of pushing and pulling movements, and a lot of the time, we don’t even realize we are using them! Strengthening your shoulders will only serve to bolster your body, prevent injury, and increase overall performance.