three moves for strong, lean shoulders
- Clem Duranseaud
- May 7
- 3 min read
Shoulder workouts: love 'em or hate 'em, you can't ignore 'em. Whether you're chasing boulder delts or just trying to make your T-shirt fit better, training shoulders the right way makes a huge difference.
The delts muscle inserts mid way on your humerus (the upper arm) and originate from three different areas:
The clavicle (front delt)
The acromion (mid delt)
The back of the shoulder blade (rear delt)
They respond well to dense training, meaning light weights, short rest periods, and lots and lots of reps. They kinda gotta burn more than a text from your ex.
Does this mean we should never go heavy on them? Of course not.
Your delts always work whenever you are doing a push movements like the bench press or pulling exercises like a lat pull down.
For this reason, I like to do my "heavy" delt training by doing my regular heavy lifting exercises, such as the bench press, any types of rows, and my olympic weightlifting movements.
Now let's take a look at three shoulder focused movements.
The shoulder press
This move can be done either standing or sitting, with dumbbells or barbells. Standing barbell shoulder presses are one of two movements I like to go heavy (5 reps or less).
Try this next time you're in the gym.
One or two warm up sets with light weights.
Set 1: the heavy set, 5 reps. 2 min break
Set 2: take some weight off and aim for 8 reps. 2 min break
Set 3 and 4: take more weight off and aim to do 10-15 reps, 1 min break
Dumbbell press
Dumbbell shoulder presses are a classic in any delt building workout for a reason. They work. The dumbbells offer a slightly greater range of motion than the bar which will give the delts a terrific burn.
A great place to start is three sets of 8 and using the 8-10-12 rule.
Want a challenge? Finish with a triple drop set.
Do your third set
Grab lighter dumbbells and do another 8 reps
Grab even lighter dumbbells and do another 8
Finish with 20 lat raises (just for fun, you know)
If you struggle to lift your arm to brush your teeth the following day, you did it right.
This will be very challenging, so make sure to use a spotter and to always stay in control of your reps.
The shoulder press machine
Any machine will give you great stability, meaning you can push harder than with dumbbells or barbells. For this reason, I love doing drop sets on this exercise.
Triple drop sets, where you lower the weights three times, are fantastic on this. It's kind of like squeezing the toothpaste out of an almost empty roll: somehow there's always a bit more.
You'll want to squeeze out as many reps as you can and feel those delts work.
Face pulls
One of the easiest ways to isolate the rear delts. Think about ripping the rope apart as you pull it towards your forehead.
Keep things simple here.
4 sets of 15 reps
30 seconds rest in between
Slow and controlled reps are better than heavy reps here.
My favourite shoulder finisher
Heavy partials followed by strict lat raises. This super set is going to make your shoulders love you.
Start by doing 15-25 heavy partial lat raises. Pick a weight that is 2-3 times what you use for regular lat raises. It's ok to use momentum here.
Then do regular lat raises with lighter dumbbells. Make these as strict form as possible, no momentum, lead with the elbows, slight lean forward and do as many reps as possible.
Regular lat raises don't work your shoulders very well during the bottom half of the move. Heavy partials fill that gap.
Do this twice at the end of any workout.
Shoulder training doesn’t have to be complicated—it just has to be consistent. Start light, stay disciplined, and don’t be afraid to push the limits (as long as your form holds).
It's better to train them more frequently, say 3-4 times a week than doing a shoulder only workout once a week.
Let me know in the comments if you give this a shot—or if your delts are too sore to type.
Clem
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