In addition, the shoulders, along with the upper back, are largely responsible for the appearance of a wide upper body.  If this is combined with a lean stomach it gives the appearance of what is known as the “V-taper”.

There are a ton of exercises you can use build bigger shoulders, but the key with all of them is to follow a progressive program that allows you to constantly improve.  Only by improving will your shoulders grow.  These improvements can come in the way of added weight, more reps, or decreased rest periods.  As long as you are improving (and eating) the mass will come.

So with that, let’s take a look at some of the best exercises for building bigger shoulders!

Bradford Presses

This movement is named after a 1930’s Olympic lifter named Sam Bradford.

Start with a weight that is about 20-25% lighter than what you can military press.  Take a slightly wider than shoulder-width grip on the bar. You will begin in the traditional military press position with the bar in front you.  From this position you will press the bar until it is just above the top of your head.  Once you get to this height you will bring the bar over your head and lower it down behind your head into the behind the neck press position.  From the position you will again press the bar to a height just over your head and then lower it back down in front you back to the position in which you started.

This is one repetition.  Complete 6-8 reps for 3-4 sets.  

One important technique point is to make sure that you keep looking straight ahead throughout the movements.  Resist the temptation to look down, which will not only make the exercise easier, but can also lead to some pretty severe neck and upper back injuries.  Don’t do it!

This movement will really blast your shoulders and will also greatly improve your serratus anterior strength which will help your starting strength in all pressing movements.  If you are someone who struggles to get the bar off your chest during a bench press, this exercise is for you!

Front Plate Raise

This movement is a simple one.  All you need is a weight plate.  The beginning lifter will start with a 25 pound plate, while advanced lifters can use a 45 pound plate, or even a 100 pound plate.

Grab the plate with your hands at the 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock positions, just like you are holding a steering wheel.  With your elbows straight, raise the weight up in front of you and continue until it is all the way over your head.  Many lifters stop the movement once they get to eye level, but you are losing a lot of the benefit by doing so.  From this position simply lower the plate back to the starting position.

This movement is a great finisher for the front deltoids after a pressing movement like Bradford presses.  Because your hands are in a neutral position (thumbs towards the ceiling) it also puts the shoulder joint in a much healthier position than barbell front raises.

Do 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps here.

Lean-away Dumbbell Lateral Raises

Now that your front delts are toasted from the first two exercises, it’s time to move on to finishing off the medial deltoids (outer shoulders).  This is the part of the shoulder muscle that really contributes to your upper body width.

Lateral raises are a great way to target this area.  So, let’s look at how to do this unique lateral raise exercise.

You are going to start with just one dumbbell in your hand.  Your free hand should hold on to something sturdy like a power rack at shoulder height.  You will then shift your feet so that they are directly under your free hand.  At this point you should lean away from your free hand so that you are holding yourself up with the power rack.  From this position you will simply perform a lateral raise.

This variation really targets the top half of the movement, while the bottom half will be very easy.  Make not to use too much momentum in the bottom half of the exercise, or you will short-change the muscle building tension in the top-half.

Complete 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps per arm.

So there you go! A great shoulder workout that shouldn’t take you more than 30 minutes to complete.  Remember, the key with any workout is consistent progression.  

Eat big, train hard, rest long.  Repeat this process month after month and you will have a muscular body you will proud of!

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The shoulders are made up of three ‘heads’, or different muscles that allow the shoulder to move as it does.

The Anterior Head
The anterior head is, as the name suggests is at the front of the shoulders.

This anterior head can be trained directly with exercises such as the military press and standing lateral barbell raises.

This head is also trained heavily during the bench press (any version), so compared to the other two heads of the shoulders the anterior needs the least amount of direct work to stimulate growth (as long as you are performing bench presses in your workout regime).

The Medial, or Lateral Head
The medial (middle head) of the delts is responsible for the width in your shoulders and can be trained with lateral raises. To perform a lateral raise, hold a pair of dumbbells by your sides, palms facing inwards. Then raise you arms upwards, until they are parallel to the floor and then back down to your sides, this is one repetition.

The medial head needs to be trained with very strict form as there are many ways to cheat on this exercise for example swinging the weight up with your body. This will not stimulate your medial delt for full development.

Train your medial deltoid muscle with a rep range of 10 – 15 reps. This will enable you to control the movement through all of its stages and really concentrate on fatiguing the muscle. Most people also agree that a higher rep range is best to stimulate growth in this head of the delts.

The Posterior Head
The muscle at the back of the shoulders can be trained with reverse dumbbell flyes. You can sit on a bench, lean over your knees, then raise the dumbbells out, much like a lateral raise. Or, even better, position a bench as if you were going to perform a incline bench press, but lie your chest on the bench instead of your back. This may feel slightly awkward initially, but really stretches the posterior head. Think of this exercise as a ‘reverse flye’ movement.

Now we know the different deltoid heads and what exercises stimulate them, we can discuss different types workout regime.

As the heads of the shoulders are relatively small and you want to isolate them there are intensity techniques you can use to train your shoulders in the least amount of time to produce the biggest growth response.

Most people advocate a ‘superset’ or ‘triset’. Basically this means performing two or three exercises, one after another. An example of this would be

Military press x 5 – 7
Dumbbell side lateral x 10 – 12
Dumbbell rear delt flye x 10 – 12

Perform these one after another with basically no rest between the exercises, beginners may want to start with two instead of three exercises. Take a few minutes rest and repeat.

If you are performing a separate shoulder workout then simple sets of 3 x 10 – 12 will work fine. However most people add them on to a chest routine, or a push movement routine (a workout with only push movements). Therefore moving quickly throughout the exercises will be best for overall growth.

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We shall discuss how to build big shoulder muscles in this article. You see, you may have a wonderful six pack abs or well defined chest muscles, but when you are in your street clothes, no one can see them. But if you have that massive V shape with bulging shoulder muscles, your body frame will tell the world that under those clothes is a well defined body of a gym warrior.

As with building any muscles in your body, intensity is the key to building big deltoids. Your shoulder muscles are made up primarily of the anterior deltoid (front delt), medial deltoid (middle delt) and posterior deltoid (back delt). All 3 parts of your shoulder muscles must be targeted to build well defined and big strong deltoids that threaten to burst through your shirt. The problem here is that most people do not know that they must work on all 3 shoulder muscles and do most shoulder workouts by just concentrating on the anterior delts with exercises such as military press. Furthermore, working only on anterior delts could lead to over training your shoulder muscles because many other exercises like the bench press, dips and push ups also recruit shoulder muscles for its movements.

Your should be careful when working on your shoulder muscle exercises as your shoulders joints are very susceptible to injuries and therefore proper form in executing the exercises is crucial. Don’t let bad exercise form cause you injuries that may be permanent and put you out of the gym forever. One common injury prone exercise is the narrow grip upright row. Although this is a great trapezius and shoulder muscle exercise, it should be avoided because this exercise invokes unnatural and awkward shoulder joint movement.

So what exercises are good for building big strong deltoids? Well, besides the military presses, try Arnold Press, Lateral Raise, Bent Over Lateral Raises, Shoulder Width Upright Row and Shoulder Cable exercises. Ask your personal trainer or read up on how to perform these exercises in excellent form for great shoulder muscle development.

Remember that you must also develop other aspects such as a big broad chest, wide back muscles and flared lats as well as a slim waistline to get that much coveted V shaped upper body.

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Assuming you fully appreciate the importance of rugged delts for a manly body, it’s time to start planning how to go about constructing your own pair. Though the deltoids are a complex muscle group with many different functions, luckily they are not so complicated to train. Further, they are a fairly responsive area for most trainers, especially when worked though their complete ranges of motion with proper form. With just three basic exercises that have stood the test of time for millions of weight trainers and athletes, you can be well on your way to shocking your shoulders into expansive growth.

Shoulder Form and Function

Before delving into a training prescription for the shoulders, it would serve us well to quickly look at what the individual parts of the muscle do in the human body. The deltoids derive their name from the Greek delta, or triangle, as the muscle resembles a triangle in shape. It is a muscle with three distinct ‘heads’ or segments. The anterior, or front head, flexes and inwardly rotates the arm. The front delts play a major assisting role in chest training, and even receive some degree of stimulation from biceps and triceps exercises like barbell curls and dips. Because of all the ancillary work they receive, front delts are often an overdeveloped item on many physiques. Over time, this can even lead to posture problems, as the person tends to adopt a ’slumped forward’ stance. The medial, or side head, abducts the arm, meaning that it brings the arms out and away from the midline of the body. The side heads are only activated to a significant level when trained using specific isolation movements. Finally, the posterior, or rear head, extends the arm and produces external rotation. The rear delts are very much involved in back training movements such as chins and rows. Now that we have a better understanding of what our shoulders do, let’s get into how to train them right!

Dumbell Side Raise

The most critical component to creating broader shoulders is increasing their width. To accomplish this, we selectively target the medial deltoid head. The larger the cross-sectional area of the side deltoids, the wider and rounder your shoulders will appear. Of course, clavicle width plays the most important role in how wide your shoulder ultimately can become. In the recent Sydney Games, you may have noticed that nearly all swimmers possessed clavicles on the upper end on the genetic spectrum for width. Few of the swimmers had massive deltoid development by physique magazine standards, but having such a wide skeletal framework made what size they did have seem that much more impressive. You may have wide clavicles, narrow, or something in between. Regardless of the foundation you were dealt, anyone can increase their width to a meaningful extent by building up the mass of the side delts. There is only one exercise we know of that isolates the medial heads, and that is the side raise, also known as the side lateral raise.

Side raises can be performed with a cable attachment or specialized machines, but the most widely-practiced version of this exercise is with a plain old pair of iron dumbells. As outdated and obsolete as some high-tech snobs may consider free weights, they are still with us despite all the advanced machine designs proliferating our gyms and health clubs. Simply put, barbells and dumbells aren’t going anywhere because they work. The additional effort and coordination it takes to balance free weights not only make them more difficult to master, but also forces the muscles to work harder. This struggle translates into a forced adaptation of the muscle fibers. In other words, they have no choice but to become larger and stronger in the face of the stress.

Begin with your feet planted firmly at shoulder width. Hold the dumbells in front of you with your thumbs pointing forward. With a slight bend in the elbows, raise the ‘bells up to just above your shoulder joints. You may either complete the movement with your palms parallel to the floor, or instead choose to tip the thumbs downward in what is frequently described as a ‘pouring water out of two pitchers’ motion. Many trainers feel a more pronounced contraction in the side delts when this extra motion is added. Slowly lower the dumbells back into the start position under strict control. The negative, or lowering, portion of the rep is just as important as the actual lifting. Never merely drop the weight back down.

Barbell Upright Row

Upright rows are often included in training programs for the back. This is because when a wide grip is utilized, the majority of the stress is directed to the muscle fibers of the trapezius. With a narrow grip, upright rows become an excellent movement that targets all three heads of the deltoids.

Place your hands no more than six inches apart on the bar. Pull the bar to just underneath your chin, allowing the elbows to flare out as wide as possible. You may see some people pulling higher, for example to the eyes, but this is a greater range of motion than is necessary.

Standing Military Press

Shown seated.

This exercise is so named due to its regular inclusion in physical conditioning programs for several branches of the Armed Forces. No movement is more basic for the shoulders. The military press is to the shoulders as the bench press is to the chest, and the squat is to the thighs. It allows for the maximum amount of resistance to be lifted, which translates into optimal results. All three heads of the deltoids work hard in the press. Such a marker of upper body strength is the military press that for decades it and not the bench press were what other trainers meant when they asked, “How much can you press?”

There are numerous machines with which to press, and you will often see trainers performing their presses seated with a back support, using either a barbell or dumbells. The standing press is far more difficult to perform, and thusly superior in terms of producing results. Unless you are already addicted to wearing a lifting belt, going beltless on this will even help you build a stronger lumbar spine musculature as the lower back muscles have to struggle to stabilize the upper body.

Either take the bar from a squat rack, or clean it to your shoulders. Your grip should be such that your forearms are perpendicular to the ground at the halfway point. For most of you, this will have your hands placed about two inches on each side wider than your shoulders. Press up smoothly to lockout, taking care not to use any hip thrust or anything but pure shoulder power to press the barbell. Feel the shoulders working every inch of the rep.

That’s the time-proven trio of shoulder shockers that will be your ticket to bigger and broader shoulders. If you’re about to buy any suits or jackets, you might just want to hold off for a while. Those delts of yours will soon be entering a growth phase, and there’s no telling how big they just might get!

Shoulder Workout Routines!

Beginner Routine Side raises 3 x 8-12
Standing military press 3 x 8-12

Intermediate Routine Side raises 3 x 8-12
Barbell upright row 3 x 8-12
Standing military press 3 x 8-12

Advanced Routine Side raises 4 x 8-12
Barbell upright row 4 x 8-12
Standing military press 4 x 8-12

Pre-exhaust Routine
Superset Side raise to Standing military press 3 x 8-12
Barbell upright row 4 x 8-12

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Likewise, your shoulders house those muscles that provide the upper body greater range of movement and flexibility.  One of the best routines to workout the shoulder is the shoulder press lockouts which can be done either seated or ordinary.  Here are the steps on how to execute the shoulder press lockouts.

1.  The Seated Shoulder Press Lockout – This routine is done with the use of a power rack which you find in most of the fitness centers.  It is recommended that you ask the assistance of a weight trainer to determine how much load can your shoulder carry but on the average, one can carry at least 50 percent weight on their shoulders.  Position the shoulder press bench in the power rack and set the pins couple of inches over your head.  After which, rest a barbell on the safety pins and then press the bar juts right off the pins from the bottom upward.  Then make sure that you do not rack or un-rack the weight.

2.  The regular Shoulder Press Lockouts – In this routine, it is recommended that you use a weight lifting belt in order to stabilize and support your mid section.  The routine requires you to lift at least five pounds more than that which you lifted the previous set.  Thus it is important to test the heaviest weight that you can carry for a number of sets and repetitions.

To complete your shoulder workout, try to do a simple dumbbell side lateral raise in three sets of at least twelve repetitions per set. You can also do three sets of the face pulls in twelve repetitions for every set since these are basic weight training routines but give focus on achieving perfect form and feeling the contraction of the muscles. Then perform the routine at least once a week for consecutive eight weeks and see the improvement in your shoulders.  You would notice then that your shoulder girdle has thickened and strengthened.

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1. Seated Front Military Press

Your shoulders consist mainly of 2 muscle groups, the trapezius and the deltoids. The trapezius or “traps” are the two large triangular shaped muscles that run across each shoulder from the back of your neck. Your deltoids or “delts” are the thick, triangular shaped muscles that cover your shoulder joints at the top of each arm. The deltoids consist of 3 sections known as the anterior, medial and posterior heads. For balanced deltoid development, you must train each section equally.

The front military press is a great starter exercise for building the anterior or front section of your delts. You can perform this exercise from a standing or seated position. For beginners, I recommend the seated position, preferably in a chair that has low back support to prevent arching or hyperextension of your spine. With proper technique, this basic military press will add thickness and power to the front of your shoulders. As you advance in your training, you should eventually graduate from this exercise to the dumbbell shoulder press.

2. Barbell Front Raises

This exercise is great for building shape and endurance in your anterior delts. Since barbell front raises put tremendous resistance on the front of your shoulders, you should not attempt to do this exercise with heavy weight. Moderate poundage with strict technique (i.e., no bouncing or jerking the weight with your body) is sufficient to add strength and shape to your anterior delts. For variety, you can also do this exercise with a straight bar attachment to a low cable apparatus.

Whether you use a barbell or low cable machine, you must stand with your arms straight as you raise the bar forward from the front of your thighs to a position parallel to the floor at about shoulder height. To put secondary resistance on your rear delts and traps, raise the bar slightly above shoulder height. It won’t take long to feel the burn from this exercise, but the payoff in deltoid development is well worth it.

3. Seated Reverse Dumbbell Press

The reverse dumbbell press, aka the “Arnold Press” is another terrific shoulder builder for your anterior delts. When done properly, this exercise also puts concentrated resistance on the upper portion of your traps. You can do the reverse dumbbell press with both arms pressing the weights simultaneously or by alternating each arm. In either event, I suggest that you do this exercise in a seated position with good back support to avoid injury.

To do this exercise, hold 2 dumbbells at shoulder height with your palms facing you. Keep your back straight and don’t bounce or jerk your body as you slowly press the dumbbells overhead. As you press the weight upward, rotate your wrists so that your hands face forward at the top of each lift. Return the dumbbells to the starting position as you lower them after each rep. If you’ve never done this exercise before, start with weight that you can easily balance and control and progress to heavier poundage when you’ve mastered your training technique. Take my word, the results will be awesome!

4. Dumbbell Front Raises

Like barbell front raises, the dumbbell version of this exercise puts extreme resistance on the front of your shoulders. In addition to building the anterior deltoids, front dumbbell raises put secondary but significant stress on the medial deltoid head. The mechanics of this exercise are basically the same as with barbell front raises. You must stand with your arms straight as you raise the dumbbells forward from the front of your thighs to a position parallel to the floor at about shoulder height. Again, due to the extreme level of training resistance that front raises produce, you should not attempt to do this exercise with heavy weight. Moderate poundage with strict form will give you great results.

5. Behind-The-Neck-Military Press

The “behind-the-neck” or rear military press is a solid mass builder for the medial deltoid or middle shoulder area. Like the front military press, you can perform this exercise from a standing or seated position. Again, I recommend that you do your military presses in a chair with lower back support to avoid arching or hyperextension of your spine. The seated position also helps to stabilize your torso so you won’t jerk the weight upward and cheat on technique. As with all overhead lifting, go slow, master your training technique and the rear military press will add mass, power and symmetry to the middle portion of your shoulders.

6. Dumbbell Lateral Raises

Nothing beats dumbbell lateral raises for targeting the medial head of your delts. And this is another shoulder exercise that provides great results without using excessively heavy weight. With your arms at your sides, grasp a dumbbell in each hand. Slowly raise your arms outward and upward until the dumbbells reach shoulder height in a position that parallels the floor. Return to the starting position. To work the medial delts from every possible angle, vary your workouts by doing some sets with your hands at your sides, some sets with your hands slightly in front of your thighs, and some sets with your hands behind your hips. This exercise is great for adding the shoulder girth necessary to beef up your V taper.

7. Single Arm Cable Lateral Raises

This exercise is a good substitute for dumbbell lateral raises for variety or when dumbbells may not be available to you. Except for the fact that you alternately train each shoulder, the mechanics of this exercise are basically the same as with the dumbbell version. With your arm at your side, simply grasp a low cable handle and slowly raise your arm outward and upward until the handle reaches shoulder height in a position that parallels the floor. Return to the starting position. For maximum effectiveness, you should vary your workouts by starting some sets with your hand at your side, some sets with your hand in front of your thighs, and some sets with your hand behind your hips.

8. Seated Two-Armed Dumbbell Rows

Unless you focus on training your rear delts, it’s easy to forget about them and end up with unbalanced shoulder development. This happened to me years ago when I was still more or less in my infancy when it came to serious bodybuilding. At the time I was living and training in Montreal at “Winston’s Gym,” a bodybuilding powerhouse then owned by Canadian bodybuilding great, Winston Roberts. So one day I asked Winston what I should do to build mass into my rear delts.

Without hesitation he told me to sit on the edge of a flat bench, grab a dumbbell in each hand, lean forward to about 45 degrees and pull the dumbbells toward my torso as though to touch my elbows behind my back. Wow, did this work! My rear delts responded almost immediately to this new workout, and the “Seated Two-Armed Dumbbell Row” was born! To make sure that you fully develop each section of your deltoids, you’ve got to include this rear delt builder in your shoulder workouts.

9. Bent-Over Lateral Raises

This exercise also isolates the posterior deltoid area for full, symmetrical shoulder development. Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart and your knees slightly bent. Bend forward at the waist but keep your back straight and your head facing forward. Grasp a dumbbell in each hand with your elbows bent slightly and raise your arms outward and upward until the weight reaches shoulder height. Return to the starting position. For variety or if dumbbells aren’t available, you can also do this exercise with a low cable machine.

10. Upright Rows

Finally, one of my all time favorite shoulder shapers, the upright row builds the entire deltoid area and I love the secondary biceps pump I get whenever I do this exercise. Just grab a barbell with an overhand and slightly wider than shoulder width grip. If you’re using a cambered or EZ Curl Bar, use the wide grip hand position. Raise your arms and pull the bar upward until it nearly touches your chin. To put more resistance on your traps, try pulling your elbows up a little beyond shoulder height as you complete each rep. Return to the starting position. I’m continually amazed at how seldom I see anyone doing this exercise. But you’ve got to do upright rows if you’re serious about building big, muscular shoulders.

Well, that’s it – my Top 10 list of shoulder-building exercises for beginning bodybuilders. Try them, have fun with them, and make sure that you use safe amounts of weight and proper training technique with every exercise.

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Abdominal/ad workout – This is a workout routine that targets the abdominal area and may involve crunches, reverse crunches and side crunches to be performed in a slow and controlled manner, squeezing and contracting the abs and exhale at the peak of contraction and then inhale on the way down. Doing the crunches would work effectively on the all the portions of the abs.

Shoulder workout – For an effective shoulder workout, you have to understand the three heads of the shoulder – the front deltoid, the middle deltoid and the rear deltoid.A good shoulder workout would involve using a considerable amount of weight where each rep that should be performed in a controlled and smooth way. Also remember that working on the shoulders should be done on the same day as the chest because a chest workout causes indirect stimulation to the shoulder. For the front shoulder, military press is suggested. For the middle shoulder, dumbbell side laterals will do and for the rear shoulder, dumbbell rear laterals will be effective.

So if you are really looking to get in shape check out the New P90X workout routines at Xtreme Body Fitness, and get Ripped in just 90 Days.

These are only some of the workout routines that you have to religiously follow to have the perfect body. As they say, “no guts, no glory,” so if you do not have the diligence and the perseverance to perform each of the workout, you will never gain the perfect

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Seated and Standing Shoulder Press

This exercise surpasses all the others when it comes to building your deltoids. This is because it is one of the few exercises that afford enough leverage to lift large loads. When performed in a careful, controlled, manner, this press will offer you round, well-toned, impressive deltoid muscles.

There are several variations of the military press. One suggests that the best way to utilize the down movement is to lower the bar to the back of the neck. Another claims that the best way to utilize the down movement is to lower the bar to clavicle height at the front of the body. Both variations of the downward movement are advantageous in different ways. The advantage of lowering the bar to the back of the neck is that the shoulder muscles stretch deeper, meaning that the lateral and anterior deltoids get plentiful stimulation due to the positioning of the shoulder socket. The advantage of lowering the bar to the clavicle is that this position is actually safer for the shoulder socket. This position however, isolates the anterior deltoid whilst exercising the upper pectoral as a synergist.

Lateral Dumbbell Raises

Lateral Raises are often sadly under-utilized by more experienced bodybuilders. Such users tend to use them as a muscle-defining or shaping technique, rather than as a tool to develop added mass and strength in their shoulders. The raises target the lateral and posterior deltoid muscles. As a lifting beginner, it might be hard to provide your muscles with enough weight resistance to feel like you are getting enough stimulation. Over time however and when the correct techniques utilized, you will begin to see sizeable gains in your deltoids.

There are several different ways to perform Lateral Dumbbell Raises, and your choice may depend on the amount of equipment you have available. A cable machine can be used or free weights. You have the flexibility to decide whether you want to sit or stand, and also whether to exercise both arms at one time, or spend time on each arm individually.

Whatever your choice might be, the movement is basically the same. You should securely hold your dumbbells at hip level. The inverted nature of your palms will ensure that the dumbbells are parallel. Extend your arms and raise them until your weights are level with your shoulder. At this point, they will be perpendicular to the ground. If you elevate the weight higher than your shoulder, you will put unnecessary strain on your shoulder socket.

You should never swing the weights. It is the careful, continuous, controlled movement, both to the shoulders and back to the hip that strains the muscle and gives you maximum gains. If you are having difficulty with your technique, use a mirror or ask someone to help you with this.

Upright Rows

The rows target the traps with the lateral and posterior deltoids. They are common exercises for both beginners and advanced lifters, and are often seen in the gym setting. Upright rows are easily performed and highly effective. The mixture of heavy loads and good posture make them a staple in many routines.

There are many different aids you can use to perform this shoulder exercise. The cable machine, and dumbbells are oftentimes used, but the barbells tend to better suit beginners, as they leave little room for poor technique. Use a secure overhand grip on the barbell, which should be resting at your waist. Holding the bar tight to your abdomen, lift the weight vertically, and finally rest it around chin height. Your eyes should be focusing straight forward at all times.

Heavy Barbell Shrugs

Historically, many experienced bodybuilders have exercised the trap muscles as part of their back routine. It has long been argued, that for efficiency reasons, the traps should instead become part of the shoulder workout routine. Your aim is to develop expansive, angular trap muscles, which can be difficult to do because of their nature and position. Heavy loads are needed to utilize the shrugs to the maximum effect.

You will need an Olympic barbell and a standing barbell rack to perform this exercise. Grip the bar overhand with one hand, and underhand with the other. This is known as an alternate grip. Carefully rise to a straight standing position using a shrugging motion. Take care to strain your trapezius muscles and not your back.

The shrugging movement can be achieved by rolling the shoulder in a rotating arc, or by simply shrugging vertically. You can try shrugging both ways and see which way you prefer – though it should be noted that cartilage problems can occur if the rotating method is not done in the correct way. This is because the weight of the barbell can overstrain the joint.

Earlier in the article, it was mentioned that the shoulders are a key part of the physique. The mentioned shoulder exercises and workouts will make an effective addition to any routine, but they do not by any means represent an exhaustive list.

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