How To

How to Build “PERFECT” Shoulders (DUMBBELLS ONLY!)

Posted on by
14
Dec

Learning how to build “perfect” shoulders with dumbbells only will require two things. The first is a knowledge of how the shoulder muscles work and the best way to train them with dumbbells to make them grow bigger and wider. The second, an understanding that even close to perfect is going to take your shoulders from where they are now to an amazing place within weeks or months if you stick to the advice shown in this video.

When it comes to building big, wide shoulders it starts with an understanding that warming them up is imperative. The shoulder joint is one of the most often injured in the body because it also happens to have some of the greatest mobility. Luckily, the dumbbell allows us to hit our shoulders with three easy exercises that can be done as part of a circuit. The halo, sword raise and cauldron make the perfect shoulder mobility exercises for getting them loose and ready to train.

The second thing you want to make sure you do is remember to train the front delts. Too many people will tell you that as long as you’re doing a bench press you don’t have to train the front delts directly. This isn’t true if you are looking for perfect shoulders. Be sure to hit them with dumbbell front raises and pressouts to name a few for maximum shoulder hypertrophy.

Next, you want to be sure you remember to apply overloaded stretch to the delts when possible. The shoulders, more than any other muscle group, don’t often get the eccentric stretch during shoulder exercises. You can incorporate this directly with the cross body lateral raise and the incline front delt raises into your shoulder workout.

When it comes to building bigger shoulders, you must remember to not just perform your overhead press exercises heavy. All dumbbell shoulder exercises, especially the lateral raises, should at some point include some heavy work. Perform a heavy front delt raise, middle delt raise, and even rear delt exercise to be sure you provide the necessary overload for muscle growth.

Of course, heavy weight alone is not enough to build perfect shoulders. Light dumbbells will also come in incredibly handy when you are looking to increase shoulder size and width. Be sure to include slow motion raises as well as upper range of motion variations to keep the muscle tension high to spark new growth.

Next, you likely know how much I like face pulls for building up the rear delts and muscles of the upper back and shoulders. Well, if you don’t have access to a band or cable to perform them that doesn’t mean that you are out of options. The Urlacher is one of the best dumbbell shoulder exercises for building up the rear delts and upper back. It is the dumbbell version of a facepull. Be sure to include it when you are looking to create the perfect shoulders.

When it comes to overhead shoulder presses, a lot of us will stick to just a barbell to perform them or a bilateral pressing of two dumbbells. This is a mistake if you want to build big shoulders. Try putting one of the dumbbells down at some point and press with just one. This will allow you to press with 10-20 percent more weight because your core doesn’t have to stabilize the combined load from both arms being pressed overhead. Take this new strength gain back into the bilateral press and you will have increased your strength in the long run and ultimately your overall muscle growth.

Finally, dumbbell shoulder exercises like a run the rack drop set are great for building big shoulders. Dumbbells give you the option to quickly change weights rather than having to strip plates off a bar making it the perfect option for overload and training through failure when doing a shoulder workout.

If you are looking for a step by step plan to build more than just your shoulders, be sure to head to athleanx.com and check out the program selector below. This will give you the exact program that matches your specific goals and will help you build a ripped, athletic body in no time.

It is possible to build bigger front, middle and rear delts without needing a lot of gym equipment. In fact, you can learn how to build perfect shoulders – dumbbells only on a daily basis with any of our step by step plans.

For more videos on how to build bigger shoulders and the perfect shoulder workout, be sure to subscribe to our channel via the link below and remember to turn on your notifications so you never miss a new video when it’s published.

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48 thoughts on “How to Build “PERFECT” Shoulders (DUMBBELLS ONLY!)”

  1. ATHLEAN-X™ says:

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    If you don’t win, no worries, you’re not going away empty handed. Just be sure you have your notifications turned on so you can get to my next video quickly and try again. Good luck and thanks for being a loyal subscriber…

    • Scott C says:

      I had one, it had to be fixed twice 20 years apart. That’s why I’m here. Follow your PT, when done start light they have a lot of great videos on this channel on getting back to normal.

  9. Kosfinger says:

    When Jeff opens his mouth to eat, he makes sure he goes through the full range of motion and focuses on the eccentric part of the movement

  12. OH_RLLY says:

    This pretty much debunks VG’s stupid video about Jeff’s advice regarding shoulder training. He clearly said heavy and light weights have their place. VG is such a clown lmao.

  13. PJG Paintings says:

    (1:15) The Halo
    (1:41) Sword Raise
    (2:02) Cauldron
    (2:15) Any front delt work
    (3:43) Heavy lateral raises
    (3:00) Range Of Motion raises
    (3:20) Incline dumbbell raise
    (5:10) Scare Crow row
    (5:26) Rear delt row
    (6:30) light/slow raises (sitting or standing)
    (6:52) W-Raise done light
    (7:15) Urlacher (Jesse)
    (8:50) One arm press
    (9:20) run the rack

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