Weight Lifting Exercises - Shoulders

The shoulders are typically viewed as being the area of the upper body that exhibits the most strength. They are where your workout will be noticed first. Many people are working the chest area more than the shoulders and this is a big mistake by bodybuilders. The shoulders should be worked as well for an even more powerful look to your upper body.

I know, muscle is muscle, and strength is strength. If you’re not concerned with a great Greek god like physique, then stop reading now. I’m interested in a proportioned body, not just a massive strong one.

Increase the amount of exercises that you do for your shoulders to help your look be more proportioned and well balanced. The bench press is one exercise that will work on the shoulders and the chest in the same exercise, but it is primarily a chest exercise and should not be the only exercise that you do for this area. You will have to find exercises that are devoted to the work of the shoulder muscles.

One exercise that you can use is the military press. This is sometimes called the behind the neck press and is a great way to improve the appearance of your shoulders. This particular exercise is a very comprehensive approach to improving the strength of the shoulders as well. You can use a bar or a dumbbell in the exercise to get the same results. You should not use a Smith machine for this exercise because of the lack of a full range of motion which could result in an injury.

This is how the military press works for your shoulders.

1. Sit down on the bench

2. Position the dumbbells on either side of the shoulders with the elbows positioned below the wrist.

3. Push that weight above your head until you reach a full arm extension, but do not lock your elbows

4. Lower the weight back down to your shoulders and then repeat.

This is a very easy exercise to perform and you can build up the weight to increase your strength. Adding other exercises to your routine will give you a great all over upper body workout. The exercises are simple and will give you tremendous results. Using all encompassing exercises will help you to get muscle gain in all the areas of your upper body.

Use these tips for an even better workout of your shoulders.

You can perform the shoulder press standing up to give yourself some more stability during your workout. Start the workout by lifting the weight off the floor with a clean motion and bring it up to your shoulders. Do your shoulder presses and then bring the weight back to the floor. This is a more intensive version of the exercise and will increase the size of your shoulder muscles quickly. Cycle the exercises in a different way for eight weeks and change the exercises every eight weeks.

When you return to doing the shoulder press first, you will have increased the size of your upper body all over. This will also improve the strength that you will have to perform the exercises with each cycle.