Best Full Shoulder Workout: 10 Exercises to Increase Size and Strength

The shoulders are some of the most frustrating muscles to grow in your body. It seems that unless you are a genetically gifted individual, you will never have those “boulders for shoulders,” as some would say.

What I believe makes a difference, though, is the structure and the execution of your shoulder day workout to make your shoulder muscles not only bigger but stronger as well. 

So what makes a great full-shoulder workout? You want to combine compound and isolation movements to provide a range of motion in all directions. 

Here are the 10 best exercises to consider adding to your full shoulder workout: 

1. Barbell Overhead Press
2. Dumbbell Military Press
3. Dumbbell Arnold Press
4. Cable Upright Rows
5. Dumbbell Lateral Raises
6. Chest Supported Lateral Raises
7. Underhanded Barbell Front Raises
8. Pronated DB Rear Deltoid Rows
9. Cable Face Pulls
10. IYT Raises

We will discuss the best exercises for shoulders and the anatomy, execution, and common mistakes of training shoulders to elevate your workout to a new level. We will even include a shoulder workout plan at the end! Not knowing the difference between each movement might limit or overtrain certain shoulder muscles.

Let’s dive into it and discuss the best full shoulder workout you need to use!

Muscle Anatomy of the Shoulders

The shoulder consists of three muscles: 

1. Anterior deltoid
2. Medial deltoid
3. Posterior deltoid

Each deltoid muscle is responsible for producing a specific action in movement. Below we will discuss these three muscles and how they work together to create movement. 

Anterior Deltoid

Located at the front of the shoulder, the anterior deltoid is responsible for shoulder flexion and horizontal adduction. 

Shoulder flexion typically occurs during extension exercises and generates movement forward and upward in front of the body. This occurs with movements such as the bench press, push-up, and straight arm front raise. 

Horizontal adduction is when the shoulder turns towards the body's midline, such as with the chest fly exercise. 

Medial Deltoid

Positioned in the middle of the shoulder, the medial deltoid primarily involves shoulder abduction, lifting the arm sideways away from the body. Shoulder abduction movements include the lateral raise, upright row, or even the pressing exercise of the shoulder press. 

Posterior Deltoid

Placed behind the shoulder, the posterior deltoid functions in shoulder extension and horizontal abduction. Should extension occur when the arm starts to move backward, such as with a neutral grip or underhand row, as the arms stay adjacent to the body during the whole movement. This would be considered horizontal abduction when the elbows are outward during the rowing movement, such as with an overhand grip. 

Do you like using cables for resistance? Check out this article about the top cable shoulder workouts for mass! 

10 Best Exercises for a Full Shoulder Workout

Below are the top 10 shoulder exercises to create a killer full shoulder workout. Movements on this list perform various actions, helping to grow all aspects of your shoulders to make them bigger and stronger. 

1. Barbell Overhead Press

Some of the best shoulder workout routines include the overhead press. The barbell overhead press is a fundamental exercise that targets the anterior and medial deltoids, promoting shoulder flexion and abduction. This compound movement is used best for effectively building strength for performance. 

How To 

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart 
2. Grip the barbell with an overhand grip, slightly wider than shoulder-width
3. Rest the barbell on your upper chest and lift off the j-hooks
4. Take two steps back and brace your core before you push the weight above your head
5. As you push above your head, start pushing your head forward once the bar is high enough to get yourself underneath the bar
6. Once you reach the end of the lift, ensure a moment of stability and then bring the bar back down as you started to go into the next rep

Pro Tip 

You need to make sure to push your head through the bar once it is above your head. Leaving the bar in front of you prevents resistance from getting vertical and puts pressure on your shoulder joint.

Benefits

The barbell overhead press allows you to build strength and improve upper body strength. It’s a multi-joint movement that incorporates the shoulder muscles stated above and the triceps brachii. 

Are you a powerlifter looking for specific shoulder workouts to add to your routine? If so, check out this article about the best shoulder workouts for a powerlifter!

2. Dumbbell Military Press

The dumbbell military press is a fundamental exercise that targets both the anterior and medial deltoids, promoting shoulder flexion and abduction. This compound movement is performed seated and is used best for effectively building strength for performance.

How To 

1. Sit upright with your back against a vertical pad and the dumbbells lifted to your shoulders 
2. Begin the lift with an overhand grip
3. As you press upward, bring the dumbbell heads together to create an arcing motion with this movement
4. Once at the top, slowly bring down the weights to the starting position
5. Continue to perform the number of sets and reps prescribed until completion of the working set. 

Pro Tip 

If you begin to feel discomfort in your shoulder, try to go to a high-incline bench instead. Sitting upright might hinder someone’s shoulder joint and could be better executed with a slight incline. 

Benefits

The dumbbell military press is a great movement for upper body strength and allows the athlete to perform the overhead motion with a unique range of motion. The dumbbells also provide an opportunity to challenge stability and the lifter an opportunity to alter their mechanics for better comfortability. 

3. Dumbbell Arnold Press

The dumbbell Arnold press is a great compound exercise for the shoulder joint to help improve strength with the anterior deltoid and medial deltoid. This movement strengthens the shoulder joint through shoulder flexion and abduction, as well as horizontal abduction and adduction. This is a great body-building shoulder exercise for those who want to really create those well-rounded shoulder muscles. 

How To 

1. Sit upright with back against a vertical pad and the dumbbells lifted to your shoulders 
2. Begin the lift with an underhand grip, palms facing you
3. As you press upward, turn the dumbbells from an underhand to an overhand grip. Bring the dumbbell heads together to create an arcing motion with this movement
4. Once at the top, slowly bring the weights down to the starting position
5. Continue to perform the amount of sets and reps prescribed until completion of the working set. 

Pro Tip 

This exercise is more about tempo and form. Do not go tremendously heavy with this exercise; most people will begin to compromise form to load more weight. The better you perform this movement, the better you will displace resistance on the deltoid muscles for correct growth in the anterior and medial deltoids. 

Benefits

The dumbbell Arnold press is a great exercise to strengthen the anterior and medial deltoids. Because the grip changes throughout the movement, there is an excessive focus on the medial deltoids, making it a top movement to help make those middle shoulders bigger and bulkier. 

4. Cable Upright Row

The cable upright row is another compound exercise that puts emphasis on both building size and strength based on its mechanics. The primary motion of the shoulder joint is shoulder abduction, putting a major emphasis on the medial deltoid.

How To 

1. For the best results, use a straight bar cable attachment to help provide a better grip for performing shoulder abduction
2. Start the lift with tension in your hands, meaning the weight stack should lift to provide immediate tension for the movement. 
3. Afterward, stand close enough to the cable pulley system so the cable stays vertical from start to finish when you lift. 
4. Start lifting the cable upward, but when doing so, make sure the cable stays vertical, and your forearms are parallel to the floor or slightly pointed downward. This ensures more use of the shoulder muscles instead of the upper back muscles.
5. Lift the cable attachment towards the chin, and afterward, lower the weight to the starting position
6. Repeat this process for the prescribed sets and reps

Pro Tip 

When doing this exercise, ensure your forearms are pointed forward so they are almost parallel to the floor. If the forearms are pointed downward, that will put more strain on the upper trap muscles of the body.

Benefits

This exercise helps to load the medial deltoid more than other exercises since it is a compound movement. The more that you can load, the more you can build!

5. Dumbbell Lateral Raise

The dumbbell lateral raise is an isolation exercise used to train the medial deltoid. This exercise involves shoulder abduction, taking the arms with a partial bend, and raising them to the side. 

How To

1. This exercise can be done seated or standing. There is also an option to do it with back support to isolate the shoulder joint further.  
2. Start with a pair of dumbbells by your sides, having a partial bend in your elbows
3. Lift the dumbbells sideways until they are just under shoulder height
4. Make sure that the weight is slightly in front of you, not directly to your sides
5. Do not go heavy enough to generate movement in the shoulder blade
6. After lifting the dumbbells sideways, bring them back to your hips before the next rep
7. Do not swing the weight, and do not keep tension in your arms from start to finish

Pro Tip 

This exercise should be done with as much tension as possible. Make sure when raising the dumbbells to stop just before shoulder level, and when coming down, do not let the dumbbells rest on your hips.

Benefits

This isolation exercise can help grow and develop the medial deltoid, which is a hard muscle to grow. 

6. Chest Supported Lateral Raises

The chest-supported lateral raise is an isolation exercise used to train the medial deltoid. This exercise is done with chest support to help further isolate the shoulder joint to provide a focused stimulus on the medial deltoid. 

How To

1. This exercise is to be done with a high incline to keep the athlete upright to target the medial deltoid.  
2. Start with a pair of dumbbells by your sides, having a partial bend in your elbows
3. Lift the dumbbells sideways until they are just under shoulder height
4. Make sure that the weight is slightly in front of you, not directly to your sides
5. Do not go heavy enough to generate movement in the shoulder blade
6. After lifting the dumbbells sideways, bring them back to your hips before the next rep
7. Do not swing the weight, and do not keep tension in your arms from start to finish

Pro Tip 

This exercise should be done with as much tension as possible. Make sure when raising the dumbbells to stop just before shoulder level, and when coming down, do not let the dumbbells rest on your hips.

Benefits

This exercise is an isolation exercise that can help grow and develop the medial deltoid. Doing it with chest support further focuses on the middle fibers of the shoulder to grow. 

Are your shoulders still underdeveloped? Check out this article about four ways to fix underdeveloped shoulders!

7. Underhand Barbell Front Raises

The underhand barbell front raise is a great exercise to isolate the anterior deltoid through shoulder flexion. The underhand grip keeps the arms moving forwards and backward, specifically targeting the anterior deltoid, which could be hard to do with an overhand grip.

How To 

1. Start with a loaded barbell using an underhand grip
2. Raise the bar upward with a slight bend in the elbow to restrict any tension in the elbow joint
3. Lift to shoulder height to fully stimulate the anterior deltoid at the top
4. After reaching shoulder height, slowly bring the weight down and not allowing the bar to rest at the bottom of the lift
5. Repeat these reps keeping tension in your hands from start to finish

Pro Tip 

To fatigue the anterior deltoid even more, make sure to pause at the top briefly. This part of the lift provides the most tension for the shoulder. 

Benefits

Working the anterior deltoid will help strengthen all other movements that rely on the anterior deltoid. Any pressing movement relies heavily on the anterior deltoid. 

8. Pronated Dumbbell Rear Deltoid Rows

The pronated dumbbell rear deltoid row is a compound movement that stimulates the posterior deltoids through shoulder extension and horizontal abduction because it is a compound movement, it's a perfect exercise to load more weight on the posterior deltoid than an isolation exercise. 

How To 

1. Lying face down, make sure your arms have enough room to extend at the beginning of the exercise fully
2. Row the dumbbells to your face with a pronated grip, allowing the elbows to move outward to create more torque in the shoulder joint
3. Row the dumbbells towards the face and make sure the elbows are outward enough to make the upper arms in line with the shoulder joint
4. At the top of the row, hold your position briefly to fatigue the posterior deltoids in the strongest position of the movement
5. Bring the arms down slowly and keep tension in your hands before moving into the next rep

Pro Tip 

As you hold a brief hold at the top of the row, try also to pull back as far as possible to provide massive tension in the posterior deltoid.

Benefits

The fact this is a compound movement means you can lift more weight during this row than in a traditional isolation exercise. The more weight you can load, the more you can fatigue the muscle to trigger growth. 

9. Cable Face Pulls

The cable face pulls is a compound exercise that recruits the use of the posterior and medial deltoids through shoulder extension and horizontal abduction. 

How To 

1. Start off by setting the cable pulley system to eye level. This will help provide the proper mechanics for the exercise to occur
2. Use the rope attachment, set the resistance on the weight stack, and start to walk backward until the weight comes off the stack while your arms are extended
3. Bend at the knee, brace the core, and pull the resistance toward your forehead
4. While pulling the resistance, pull with your upper arms angled upward to help displace resistance on not only the posterior deltoid but medal deltoid too.
5. Pause briefly at the end of the movement, then start to place resistance back to the starting position
6. Never rest the weight, and keep tension from start to finish

Pro Tip 

When doing the cable face pull, make sure to aim for the forehead to target both the medial and posterior deltoids. If you aim for your chin and keep the upper arms level with the shoulder joint, it will primarily be just the posterior deltoid.

Benefits

The cable face pull is a great tool to target multiple shoulder muscles at the same time. This is a great exercise for those in a time crunch or those who want a more exhausting variation than isolation exercises. 

10. IYT Raises

The IYT raise is a great exercise for building strength and preventing injury by recruiting all the muscle fibers inside the shoulder. This exercise uses three different movement patterns to help trigger the anterior, medial, and posterior deltoids to strengthen them for future performance. 

How To 

1. Start off by setting a low incline, around 30 degrees
2. Use a pair of small dumbbells, around 5 – 10 pounds. If you can’t find dumbbells, plates will work as well
3. While laying your chest down on the incline, straighten your arms and lift them in three different positions. 
4. Lift the weights in front of you to make the “I” shape, then lift them diagonally to make the “Y” shape, and then lift them beside you to make the “T” shape. Doing each of these movements equals 1 rep.
5. Lifting the resistance as an I, Y, and T help to recruit the anterior, medial, and posterior deltoid.

Pro Tip 

The lower the incline, the harder this becomes. I would suggest lifting no higher than a 30 incline, or else you will not be correctly challenging the shoulder muscles for what goal of this exercise. 

Benefits

The various movements that occur in this exercise help recruit all the shoulder muscles. This is a big caveat to the movement as it can be thrown into any upper-body workout that needs shoulder recruitment for either strength or injury prevention.

Shoulder Workout Mistakes to Avoid

As mentioned, the shoulders are some of the most frustrating muscles to grow in your body. Because of this, many people try their hardest to adjust training to build these muscles for size and strength. However, during shoulder workouts, there are several mistakes made, which have been listed below:

• Using excessive weight
• Neglecting multiplanar movements
• Limited equipment use

Using excessive weight

If you are a strength enthusiast, you can understand the urge to lift heavy and to lift big. You don’t want to be the person who is lifting such light weights that it could cause social anxiety!

However, because the shoulders are a delicate joint to train, it’s wise to program weights that aren’t as heavy as you would like.

If you lift too heavy, you begin to lose form. The best way to address this issue is to make sure that when you program shoulder movements, prioritize the movement pattern over the load. If you perform poor mechanics, you get poor muscular recruitment. Those exercises you perform are useless if you aren’t engaging the muscles desired. 

Neglecting multiplanar movements

In powerlifting, weight moves either up, down, backward, or forward. Because of this, powerlifters are notorious for having limited movement selection, as they are primarily focused on staying within a specific range of motion. 

You must lift resistance in many directions to fully train the shoulder muscles. As seen in this article, movements are broken down by muscular recruitment, rep schemes, and actions of the shoulder joint. Suppose you want to have a program of shoulder movements. In that case, you need to account for should flexion, extension, abduction, and adduction to stimulate all aspects of the shoulder muscles from all different ranges of motion. 

Limited equipment use

When performing shoulder day, it’s wise to provide different types of resistance for training. You don’t want to train merely with cables, dumbbells, or barbells. If you love to do dumbbell side raises, why not try the cable side raises? If you do not like rear deltoid flies from a flat bench, why not try from an incline?

Change the direction of movement to help change the muscles recruited. 

Sample Shoulder Routine

When performing resistance training, many wonder if you are training for “size” or “strength.” To not bias this mindset, I will provide a full shoulder workout to build size and strength. The shoulder day exercises below are:

Are you short on time and need to combine movements for your next workout? If so, check out this article about how to properly train both back and shoulders together! 

How To Decide What You Should Put On Shoulder Day 

Whatever you choose to add or change to your shoulder workout, consider the following variables:

• Training Frequency
• Weekly Split
• Training Goals
• Training Weak Points
• Hitting a Plateau

Training Frequency

The number of times you exercise per week will have an influence on how you build your shoulder day. 

If you only train 2-3x a week, you would want to apply more compound movements or make your shoulder day a push or pull day so you can get more done in your limited time. A lifter on this schedule would likely have to skip other key muscle groups or work if they dedicated a full workout to only shoulder work. 

On the other hand, if you train 5-7x per week, it can be advantageous to dedicate a full workout to a single muscle group, like the shoulders or arms in general. You can spend the other 4-6 workouts in the week hitting other muscle groups with the same focus and intensity. 

Consider your training frequency and adjust your shoulder work accordingly. 

Weekly Split

Once you consider how often you train altogether, you must look at how often you train shoulders specifically. 

Do you have two days a week available to shoulders? Do you only train shoulders one day a week? 

If you have two or more days a week to train shoulders, you have the flexibility to dedicate one of them to shoulders, so adding more shoulder volume is a great option. Blast your shoulders hard one day, then don’t worry about them the rest of the week.

Alternatively, you could do one push day and one pull day and incorporate appropriate shoulder exercises into each (i.e., overhead pressing on push day and upright rows on pull day).

If you only have one day for arms in general, you’ll likely benefit more from making it a dedicated push or pull day that includes more than just your shoulders. 

Training Goals

Goals will be the guiding criteria in how you structure your shoulder day.

Are you a bodybuilder with specific feedback from judges or coaches that your shoulders need to grow? Then you’ll want to do more isolated shoulder work in a single day. 

Are you a powerlifter focused on building a bigger bench press? Then a dedicated pressing workout that recruits the shoulders in a way that carries over to your bench press will be more important. 

Are you just focused on being healthy, fit, and active? Push/pull arm days and combining shoulders with compound lifts will be your best bet. 

This is not an exhaustive list of examples, but you must consider your goals to determine how best to train your shoulders and what to combine that training with. 

Related Article:  How Do Powerlifters Train Shoulders? (Definitive Guide)

Training Weak Points

If you already know your shoulders are a weakness, you’ll have an easier time planning your training. 

Underdeveloped shoulders will get better results by giving them more dedicated training. Adding more sets and reps or an additional arms/shoulder day and a sufficient caloric intake will help them grow more than anything else. 

If your weaknesses are in other areas and your shoulders are fine, you can reduce some of the shoulder work and replace it with sets focused on your weak points. 

Hitting a Plateau

Hitting a plateau and seeing no progress is a great indicator that it’s time to change something. 

We’ve listed four different changes you can make to your shoulder day above, so if you’re stuck, try one of them and see what changes occur in your shoulder development. 

Again, depending on your goals, you’ll want to choose a different approach to get over your plateau, whether it’s a plateau in shoulder strength, size, symmetry, or weaknesses in other areas of your body that pull your focus away from your shoulders. 

Plateaus are natural and happen to everyone. It’s not always a question of how good your training or program was, sometimes your body just adapts to the program exactly. Without making a change, your body won’t get the stimulus it needs to keep changing and growing. 

That’s when you know it’s time to change things up and keep climbing.  

Tips on Structuring Your Shoulder Day

There are three crucial tips I can make when making any changes to your shoulder program:

• Apply the change for 4-6 weeks
• Increase intensity and/or volume over time
• Keep making updates throughout the year

Apply the Change for 4–6 Weeks

4-6 weeks is the minimum amount of time to see any change in your progress.

Most people out there frustrated that they never got results from exercise usually didn’t stick with it long enough to see the result. Don’t fall into this trap – trust the process, make the change, stick with it, and work hard during that time, and you’ll see the fruits.

Increase Intensity and/or Volume Over Time

You must increase the volume (reps/sets/weight) and/or the intensity over time. 

Volume is simply a product of multiplying your total reps x weight. 

Volume can be calculated in total (over your whole body) or across specific muscle groups (like shoulders only). For example, if you perform 4 sets of 10 reps of shoulder work (40 total reps) with 30lb dumbbells, you have done 1,200 lbs of volume. 

If you add an additional set of 10 with the same weight, you’ve just increased it to 1,500 lbs of volume. Instead, if you stick to 4 sets of 10 reps and increase the dumbbell weight to 40 lbs, you’d have 1,600 lbs of volume. 

You should combine these tactics to keep the intensity up so your muscles will keep adapting to the stress put on them.

Finally, we discussed TUT and negative reps early. This is another great way to increase intensity without adding reps or weight. While the volume calculation won’t grow by adding negatives, the time under tension will make the muscle work harder and longer, resulting in a stress that can keep the muscle growing and adapting. 

However you do it, keep that volume and intensity going up over time to avoid plateaus. 

Keep Making Changes Throughout the Year

If a program worked well for a while, that doesn’t mean you can do it forever.

On the flip side of the “stick with a program for 4-6 weeks” coin, you'll stop seeing results if you don’t make changes periodically. 

Remember – muscle growth and strength development is all about adaptation. Your muscles adapt to do the work you make it do. If you do the same work with the same weight forever, your body will grow just to the point that it can handle that workload and no more. You have it send it the messages that you need it to grow and work harder. 

You can accomplish that by changing up your program a few times a year. Along with keeping the intensity up, changing your workout split, the exercises you do, and the frequency will keep introducing new stressors to your body to keep it growing and adapting.  

FAQs

Final Thoughts

Some of the most frustrating muscles to grow are the shoulders. Some believe that genetics play a big role in this process, but I believe it boils down to poor exercise selection and execution, which plays a key role in this process

Shoulder development can be challenging for many individuals, but with the right full shoulder workout and understanding, you can achieve the size and strength you desire. It is essential to focus not only on the looks but also on the functionality of your shoulders. 

By implementing multiplanar movements into your routine, you can effectively recruit all aspects of the shoulder to build a more balanced approach. This will improve strength and size and prevent future injury as well.

What To Read Next

• What Else Should I Do On Deadlift Day?
• What Else Should I Do On Chest Day?
• What Else Should I Do On Bicep Day?
• Can You Workout Shoulders And Back Together?
• Can You Train Shoulders And Biceps On The Same Day?
• Can You Train Back And Legs On The Same Day?

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About The Author

Adam Gardner is a proud resident of Utah, where he lives with his wife and two kids. He has been competing in powerlifting since 2016 in both the USPA and the APF. For the past three years, he and his wife, Merrili, have coached beginning lifters to learn the fundamentals of powerlifting and compete in their first powerlifting competitions.