Your shoulder is a ball-and-socket joint that allows you to perform a wide range of movements. Also called the glenohumeral joint, it has more range of motion than any other joint in your body. There are about eight muscles in your shoulder that support this joint, give it strength and stability, and allow for a wide range of motion.
Having a broad shoulder is the ultimate goal for every gym member, a wide shoulder looks you beast and attractive. A broad shoulder looks your arms more dashing and grows a feeling like a beast in the gym.
There is much feedback about people are struggling to gain shoulder mass. The simple and effective method is to observe the area of the deltoid and work on it. Use a number of different exercises and change the next session of the shoulder workout. Select 4-5 exercises to make a shoulder workout and next session choose a different exercise. These strategies help to increase hypotrophy in the muscle and result in more gain or cutting.
Below are the 6 best shoulder exercises they are different but effective exercises to build boulder and 3d shoulder very fast.
1. Leaning Cable Lateral Raises
Leaning away with the help of a spot from the machine allows targeting your lateral deltoid muscle with a greater range of motion as compared to standing up straight. Leaning the body makes it a more effective exercise. For, lateral or side head of shoulder muscle, it is the best cable shoulder exercise.

How do leaning cable lateral raises?
- Adjust the pulley handle in the lower of the machine and try with a suitable weight.
- Stand side or next to the cable machine. Grab the handle with the outer arm of the machine.
- Slightly lean from the machine with the help of the other hand griped to the machine. Plant your feet closed together.
- Maintaining a slight bend in your working elbow, raise your arm up to shoulder height, then lower the weight back to the starting position.
- Repeat for the desired amount of repetitions and repeat on the other side.
Tip
When you raise the arm up at shoulder height, pause there and slowly return to the starting position. It helps to burn your lateral head in a greater way.
2. Cable Crossover Rear Delt Fly
The Reverse Cable Fly, also known as the cable crossover rear delt fly, is an exercise that increases deltoid muscles and strengthens them. It is the best shoulder workout at the gym by cable machine. This exercise engages a variety of upper body muscles while honing in on your rear (posterior) deltoids.

How to do cable crossover rear delt fly?
- Stand mid of the cable machine for reverse cable crossover.
- Grab the handles (use a thumbs-up grip) attached to two high pulleys (left side handle in the right hand and right side to left one), and stand upright, and centrally with pulleys in front of you.
- Pull your hand backward and slightly down in an arc, arm nearly parallel to the floor until your hands are in line with your shoulders (form a T shape).
- Return the handle back to the starting position where your right hand is directly in front of the left shoulder and your left hand is in front of the right shoulder.
- Repeat it.
Tip
First, bend your elbows slightly throughout the movement. When you cross the cable back in the line of the shoulder then pause there and slowly return to the starting position.
3. Cable Front Raises
Front cable raises primarily target the front of the shoulders, known as the anterior deltoid. This muscle is used in shoulder flexion. To do this shoulder workout you can use either barbell or even a dumbbell. No matter what you decide to use, prepare for a seriously intense workout on your shoulders that brings no shortage of healthy pain. For that reason, don’t max out the weight, as it will quickly turn healthy pain into unhealthy injury.
How to do Cable Front Raise?
- Set the pulley to the lowest setting and attach the single-hand cable attachment. Select the weight.
- Grip the handle with your left hand and turn so you’re standing with your back to the pulley machine.
- Bracing your core, slowly raise the handle until your hands, elbow, and shoulder are in a straight line.
- Pause before slowly returning to the start.
- Repeat for reps then switches hands.
- You can also use a bar attachment and perform this with both hands.
4. Alternating Dumbbell Shoulder Press
The alternating dumbbell shoulder press is an effective exercise for developing strength in the shoulders. By alternating the weight from one side to the other, you create balance and stability in the muscles and engage the core for stability.
How to do alternating db shoulder presses?
- Standing holding a dumbbell in each hand at shoulder height, palms facing forward.
- One at a time, raise each arm to push the weight up until it is fully extended.
- Lower to the start position and repeat. Keep your core tensed throughout.
Tip
Do not allow your torso to sway to either side as you press the weight overhead. Keep the tension on your shoulders as you press the weight up. Squeeze your abs and glutes to help keep your body stable as you press the weights.
5. 3-Way Dumbbell 3D Shoulder Raises
3 way shoulder raises is the 3 different movement of raises, and these 3 different movement targets your 3 different shoulder head in a single exercise. The first movement raise is the front raise that target the front delt of the shoulder muscle, after that the lateral raises target the side of the delt muscle, and also after that the last one is a bent-over lateral raises that target the back shoulder muscle or rear shoulder muscle.
How to do 3-Way Dumbbell 3D Shoulder Raises?
- Grab the dumbbell in both of your hands at the side of your body.
- First, do lateral raises:- raises the dumbbell at the side of the body and stop where your shoulder and hands line together.
- After that lower, it and comes to the front of the body and raises into the front f the shoulder.
- The last step you have to do is to bend your body with a straight back and raises the dumbbell with the line of the shoulder that target that rear delt.
- Stand up straight then do front raises and then lateral and then bent over lateral raises
6. Plate Front Raises and Rotation
Plate front raises with rotation is an excellent exercise for the development of the front shoulder or the overall muscle shoulder fibers muscle. When the individual raises the plate up to shoulder height, the muscle target the anterior shoulder muscle. And when the individual rotates the plate in the front of the shoulder that particular movement target the rear delt, lateral delt, and front delt muscle.
How to do Plate Front Raises with Rotation?
- Hold a plate where your both arms are parallel to each other.
- Lift the plate up to approximately shoulder height and maximally contract your front delts.
- Twist the plate to one side and feel the tension shift from front to lateral delt on the shoulder you are turning away from and extra emphasis on the front delt and pec tie-in on the shoulder you are turning toward.
- Twist the plate back to the middle then lower the plate to the starting position. Raise the plate using your front delts again… this time twisting to the other side.
Anatomy of the Deltoids
The deltoids are large triangular-shaped muscles made up of three heads — the front, lateral and posterior deltoid. They insert on the humerus and originate from the clavicle and scapula. The deltoids lie over the shoulder joint, which gives you that boulder shoulder look. The three deltoid muscles each come from a different origin in the body, but they are all inserted into the deltoid tuberosity of the humerus.

Anterior Deltoid
The front deltoid originates from the superior surface and the anterior border of the lateral third of the clavicle. This muscle is involved in all shoulder flexion movements like front raises and all vertical and horizontal pressing exercises (think: overhead presses, bench presses, and push-ups).
Lateral Deltoid
The lateral deltoid originates from the lateral margin and superior surface of the acromion of the scapula. It’s involved in shoulder abduction of your arm beyond the first 15 degrees of movement. In other words, your lateral delts help with exercises like lateral raises and overhead presses that take your shoulder away from your body’s midline. You can also target your lateral delts by using a wider grip during these movements.
Posterior Deltoid
The posterior deltoid originates from the lateral third of the spine of the scapula, on the crest. All movements that involve shoulder extension and external rotation train the posterior deltoid. Examples of these moves include bent-over reverse flyes, bent-over row variations, lat pulldowns, and chin-up and pull-up variations. The overhead lockout position trains the posterior deltoids, too.
How to Program Shoulder Training
When you want a great pair of delts, you definitely want to train your shoulders for both strength and hypertrophy. The best tool for gain shoulder strength work is the barbell because you can load the most weight. For this goal, use a combination of shoulder presses, rows, and raises that make a perfect shoulder workout.
The barbell is great for hypertrophy, too — along with dumbbell shoulder exercises. Dumbbells, bands, and other tools like kettlebells are better for building muscle — but not necessarily absolute strength. Why? You wouldn’t want to program a lateral raise one-rep max, but you probably do want to use that move to help broaden your shoulders. Here are some general programming recommendations for shoulder strength and muscle.
Strength Sets & Reps
Shoulder muscle and strength are built in a variety of set and rep ranges. When you’re focused on building up absolute strength in your delts, working with a load of 85 percent of your 1-RM works best. Keep the total reps performed between 10 and 25 reps.
If you can’t perform more than 10 total reps, the load is too heavy. But if you can do more than 25 reps, the load is probably too light for strength-building. These numbers can be broken up into various set and rep schemes: think three sets of five reps, five sets of five reps, four sets of six reps, or five sets of two reps.
Muscle Sets & Reps
Most of your shoulder isolation accessory training falls under hypertrophy and endurance training. The focus here is on volume and increasing time under tension to provide the right stimulus to build up your delts.
As with strength, you can build muscle with a variety of loads, sets, and reps. For maximum hypertrophy, try working in the six to 15 rep range with a weight that makes you approach failure at the end of your set. A good rule of thumb is that if you’re performing fewer reps, use a heavier load and more sets. If you’re doing more reps, use a lighter load and fewer sets. Set and rep schemes like three to four sets of eight to 12 reps or four to five sets of six to eight reps are good places to start.
How to Warm Up Your Deltoids Before Training
Don’t be the guy who walks into the gym, slaps a plate or two onto the barbell, and starts bench-pressing. Your shoulder joints are sensitive and prone to injury. You need to take the time to warm it up with a few movements that rotate, raise, and abduct the shoulder. A few low-intensity exercises which target the shoulder area will get you ready for action.
Try performing a few exercises such as I-Y-Ts, dead bugs, and slow and controlled shoulder circles. Then, be sure to perform whatever pressing exercise you’re training that day for a handful of light sets and reps.
The Bottom line
This shoulder workout adjusting reps or sets are perfect for advanced or intermediate levels of gym-goers. Nor recommended for beginners. The reps play a very tough role when weight or sets increase simultaneously. So, as a bodybuilder guide, for the last two sets (when sets are more than 3) you can need to do only a few reps like between 5-1 reps, if only when the weight is too heavy.
Beginners are not able to take a serious step for shoulder exercise and avoid it. They do less exercise a week because not having full knowledge or shoulder day is tougher than other workout days.
If you want to become a perfect muscular posture, then all the exercise is important for you, especially the shoulders. Don’t avoid it for pain or not abling to lift the load. You can take help from your partners and trainers to lift it with.
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