To stimulate all three heads of the deltoid muscle, you must target them from diverse angles to grow strong shoulders. Dumbbells are an excellent choice for this task.
While barbell techniques sometimes necessitate the use of a spotter, and most machines limit your movement to one plane of motion, dumbbells engage all of your stabilizing muscles, drive your core to keep everything together, and provide a wide range of exercises.
Shoulders (Workout 4) (Week 1)
1A Pressing overhead:
Tip: Getting these muscles to work through their complete range of motion is crucial to creating bigger, wider shoulders, so make sure you lower the dumbbells all the way back to the start position at the end of each rep.
Sets 4 reps 10 reps 10 reps 10 reps 10 reps 10 reps 10 reps 10 reps 10 reps
How to do it:
With your hands facing each other, stand with dumbbells by your sides.
Lean forward slightly, then raise the weights to your sides with your elbows leading the way.
Slowly lower them back to the starting point while maintaining control.
Arnold Press, 2A:
Why: It's similar to the straight overhead press, however you rotate your wrists as you move the weights, which activates even more muscle fibers.
Tempo 2010: Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 0sec
How to do it:
Stand erect with a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing you, at shoulder height.
Press the weights squarely overhead, rotating your wrists as you raise, until your arms are straight, then return to the starting position.
2B Upright row:
Tip: To build bigger shoulders, you'll need to strengthen your traps as well, which this lift excels at. Don't go too heavy at initially — quality reps are preferable to max-weight reps – and don't jerk the weights up and down.
Sets 4 reps 10 reps 10 reps 10 reps 10 reps 10 reps 10 reps 10 reps 10 reps
How to do it:
Stand tall with your arms straight and a set of dumbbells in front of you.
Row the weights up to chin height while keeping your chest high and leading with your elbows.
Return to the beginning.
3A Raise from the front:
Tip: This movement primarily targets the front of your shoulders; like with all shoulder moves, make sure you are always in control of the weight - it should never be controlling you. If you're injured, you won't be able to gain muscle.
Tempo 2010: Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 0sec
How to do it:
Hold a pair of dumbbells in front of your body with straight arms and stand tall.
Raise the weights in front of you to shoulder strike while keeping your chest up and arms straight.
Return to the beginning.
Shrug 3B:
Tip: It's another terrific technique for bigger traps, and the greatest part is that because the range of motion is so limited, you can go heavy with it. To make it more effective, keep everything tight and aggressively shrug the weights up.
Sets 4 Reps 10 Rest 60sec Tempo 2010
How to do it:
Hold a dumbbell in each hand with straight arms and stand tall.
Shrug your shoulders while keeping your chest up, core braced, and arms straight.
Pause at the top, then return the weights to the starting position.