Best Workout for Building Shoulders

Your T-Shirts Will Never Fit the Same Way Again

Shoulders are by far one of the most important body parts to build if you want to take your physique to the next level. I would argue that great shoulders — similarly to a great back — are what truly separate those with awesome physiques from those with average ones.  

Why? Because shoulders are hard to build. You can walk into any commercial gym and find a guy with a great chest or great arms without much of a problem. Everyone knows how to work those muscles — and they spend an inordinate amount of time doing so.

But not everyone knows how to work their shoulders (and work them well). Think about it: How many times have you seen a guy with great delts? The kind of shoulders that make him look bigger and better than everyone else? It doesn’t happen often. 

Great shoulders fill out your upper body, add size and width to your physique, and help you achieve that classic, coveted V-taper look. If you are the proud owner of a wide set of shoulders, your waist is going instantly look more narrow. This is going to make you look more attractive to the ladies — and make other men wonder how they can get that same yoked look. 

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Besides aesthetics, shoulders also contribute to your overall strength: If you’ve got strong shoulders, you’re going to be stronger on other pushing and pulling movements. Meaning that you will be able to get better back and chest workouts as a result. And if you’re getting stronger and lifting more during your chest and back workouts, you’re also filling out your frame and emphasizing that V-taper even more. It’s like a continuous circle of gains. Why wouldn’t you want to make that happen?

How to Build Boulder Shoulders 

One of the reasons that plenty of people don’t have awesome shoulders is that shoulders are a difficult muscle group to train. Most people just think of doing some overhead presses and lateral raises and call it a day. Overhead presses and lateral raises are great — and they’re staple moves for any shoulder routine — but there are many more forgotten moves and tricks that you should be incorporating into your workouts. 

To get boulder shoulders, you need to realize that the shoulder is a ball-and-socket joint, and because of that it can move damn near anywhere it pleases. Which means the delts and traps have to be able to support it in all of these various positions.

And because the shoulders have to work during any upper-body movement, they have a high tolerance for work. Just hammering out heavy set after heavy set won’t do the trick. To truly get your shoulders to grow, you need to incorporate heavy weights and some tension.

If you’re not following along, that means that to get the best results, you need to train your shoulders in a variety of positions, and sometimes go slow. 

Because I want to see a world where all of us walk around with cannon-ball delts, I’ve written up a little shoulder routine for you. This isn’t an easy routine. So unless you’ve had more than a year of dedicated lifting experience under your belt, you shouldn’t really give this a try.

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If you’re relatively new and don’t have a year under your belt, spend six to eight months trying to build as much strength as possible. Get good at basic movements such as the squat, deadlift, bench press, row, and overhead press. Then, give this bad boy a try.

The Boulder Shoulder Workout:

Warm-up

• Resistance band pull-apart: 2×20
• Resistance band lateral raise: 2×20
• Resistance band overhead press: 2×20

Superset A

• Barbell overhead press: 4×8 (Keep your butt and abs tight, as this maintains your lower back in a safer position)
• Lateral raises with dumbbells: 4×12 (To load the deltoids with as much tension as possible only raise until your arms are parallel with the ground, and stop 3-4 inches short of your hips)

*Rest 90 seconds between each superset then repeat.

Superset B

• Barbell upright rows: 4×8 (Take an extra wide grip here. I like to put my pinkies on the ring of the barbell: The wider your hands, the more emphasis on your deltoids)
• Dumbbell Arnold Press: 4×12 (Think about pressing up and out here so your triceps don’t take over the move — and it forces your deltoids to work more)

*Rest 90 seconds between each superset then repeat.

Superset C

• Face pulls with rope: 3×12 (Keep the elbows high, and think about initiating the movement with your shoulder blades.)
• Dumbbell iron cross 3×8 (Grab a set of dumbbells and do a front deltoid raise, then immediately move to the top position of a lateral raise, then down. That’s one rep.)

*Rest 90 seconds between each superset then repeat.

Finisher:

• Farmer walks: 4×30 yards (Pick a weight that is roughly half your body weight in each hand, and try to hold the dumbbells in a shrug position. Walk with perfect posture, keeping your abs tight and shoulders pulled back.)
• Resistance band lateral raises: 4×10 (This shouldn’t be an extremely difficult level of resistance, but follow the directions for lateral raises above. The key is to produce as much tension as possible in the deltoids.)

*Rest 90 seconds between each superset then repeat.

There you go. It’s simple, but brutally effective. If you’re looking for serious shoulder growth, I’d suggest doing this two times a week for the next six to eight weeks — and enjoy the new you staring back at you in the mirror. 

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