A complete shoulder workout for men at the gym

The Muscles: An Overview

There are three areas of your shoulder: the anterior (front) deltoid, the lateral (side) deltoid, and the posterior (rear) deltoid. While this is all one muscle, it is possible to target specific areas with different exercises. The front deltoid is responsible for flexing and rotating the arm inward. The side deltoid's function is to move the arm away from the body (abduction); and the rear deltoid extends the arm and rotates the arm outward (adduction).

Your shoulders are involved in just about everything you do so exercising them will make daily functioning that much easier. And with strong, well-balanced shoulders you can avoid injuries when playing tennis, baseball and any other sport that involves an overhead motion such as swimming. Plus big strong shoulders make every shirt fit better.

The Workout

Working out with a trainer is your best bet to ensure you train all the muscles of your back and in the most challenging and beneficial way. However, sometimes a personal training session is impossible so when you find yourself in that position, pick up this sheet and let it help guide to getting a great workout.


Warm Up

Before you start any type of muscle-building routine be sure to warm up. Warm muscles respond better to exercise and a warm up will also help prevent any injuries. Spend about 5-10 minutes jumping rope, climbing the stairs, doing star jumps or jogging in place. Or if you’re feeling frisky, turn on some music and get moving.

Now that you’re warm, let’s get started

Compared to your back and/or chest, your shoulder muscles are fairly small, so keep in mind that you will not be able to use as much weight as you can for your chest or your back.

Standing Barbell Press

• Place a barbell on your upper back and stand with your feet about shoulder width apart keeping your hands a little wider than shoulder width.

• Press bar overhead to arm's length.

• Lower slowly back down to your shoulders.

• Repeat until fatigued (you cannot perform a full repetition with good form).

Tip: This can also be done seated.

Arnold Press

• Hold two weights in front of you at about upper chest level with your palms facing your body and your elbows flexed.

• Raise the weights by extending elbows; abduct and internally rotate shoulders to straight-arm position.

• Lower to original position.

• Repeat until fatigued (you cannot perform a full repetition with good form).

Barbell Rear Delt Row

• Bend knees slightly and bend over bar while keeping your back straight. Grasp the bar with a wide overhand grip.

• Keeping upper arm perpendicular to torso, pull barbell up toward neck until upper arms are just beyond parallel to floor.

• Lower to original position.

• Repeat until fatigued (you cannot perform a full repetition with good form).

Barbell Shoulder Press

• Grab the barbell with slightly wider than shoulder width overhand grip from the rack. Position the bar near your upper chest.

• Press the bar until your arms are extended overhead.

• Return bar to upper chest.

• Repeat until fatigued (you cannot perform a full repetition with good form).

Bent Over Low-Pulley Side Lateral

• Hold the handle with your left hand. Bend until back is nearly parallel to the floor. Your legs should be slightly bent with your right hand on your lower right thigh, left arm hanging from your shoulder.

• Raise your left arm, elbow locked, until parallel to the floor, in line with your left ear. Lower back to the starting position. After you finish one repetition, switch arms and repeat.

• Continue switching arms until fatigued (you cannot perform a full repetition with good form).

Work towards completing 1-2 sets of 8-10 reps of each exercise. Don’t rush through the movements; make sure you are doing them with good form. Remember, speed doesn’t count, form does! Once you can easily complete 1-2 sets, add weight.

Stretching

After you’ve worked your muscles, it’s important to stretch them. Stretching after strength training is imperative to help prevent injury and for the muscles to recover quicker. Plus, it feels good.

Anterior Shoulder Stretch

This behind-your-back shoulder stretch will stretch the front of the shoulder and the chest.

• Stand up straight with shoulders relaxed and back.

• Clasp your hands behind your lower back. If you have difficulty doing this, hold on to a towel positioned horizontally behind your back.

• Lift your clasped hands, keeping your elbows straight, back out away from your body.

• Keep an upright posture.

• Stop lifting at the point you no longer feel comfortable; don't stretch to the point of pain.

• Hold the stretch for 15-30 seconds.

By doing these exercises on a regular basis with at least 24 hours of rest time in between workouts, you will help to build your shoulders to give them a strong, bulky look that never goes out of style.