Top Shoulder Exercises

The Top 5 Best Shoulder Exercises

1. Hang Clean & Press
This is the ultimate shoulder exercise if you ask me. The hang clean resembles a power upright row and if you press without hesitation you can utilize momentum and the stretch reflex to press more weight than you could from a dead stop. However, when using momentum like this, the press tends to turn into more of a push (using the legs and other joints to generate momentum). This is not an exercise designed for any specific kind of training. The hang clean and press mixes Olympic lifting with standard weightlifting and can be used with heavy weight to develop strength or light weight to develop speed and power.
To set up: you will want to load a standard Olympic barbell with some weight, or if you are female you might consider one of the small pre-built barbells that are sometimes setup on weight trees in the free weight area of your gym.
Position your feet on the ground and your hands on the bar, both just outside shoulder width. Keeping your back flat and chin up, deadlift the weight into a standing position with the bar resting against your thighs. This is the starting position.
To hang clean & press: from the starting position you should lower the bar down to just above your knees bending at the knees and waist. From this position you will perform a hang clean to get the bar up to your shoulders.
When you execute a hang clean you want to extend your ankles, flex your knees, flex your traps, and execute something that resembles a 3/4 upright row in order to bring the bar up in a straight line in front of your body until it reaches your shoulders.
At this point you want to rotate your elbows under the bar, catching it on the front of your shoulders, chest, and upward-facing palms. Bend at the knees slightly to assist with the catch.
Immediately press the bar up to full extension. Lower the bar back to your shoulders and drop it back down to your thighs to complete the rep.
The hang clean is not a reverse curl. The movement itself is a combination of a quarter squat, a calf raise, a shrug, and a 3/4 upright row. It is a power movement and should be explosive.
Variations: clean and press, hang clean and push, clean and push. 2. Standing Overhead Press / Military Press
The military press is in league with squats, deadlifts, and bench presses as one of the mandatory exercises for all serious weight lifter. If you are not overhead pressing you are not really lifting. This is the ultimate compound pressing exercise for your shoulders. To set up: either set the bar up in a power rack or squat rack, or you will have to clean the weight up to your shoulders to start the exercise. This is usually what I do since my gym lacks a decent rack of any sort. Grip the bar 2-3 inches outside of shoulder width.
To press: starting with the weight resting on your upper chest and shoulders, press the bar up in front of your face, extending the elbows just short of lockout. Return the weight under control to your upper chest to complete the rep.
Like the guy in the video below, you can take advantage of the stretch reflex by not pausing at the bottom.
Do not bounce, use your legs, or use your hips to get the weight up, as this would be a push press. Push presses are really great too, but we are talking about plain old military presses right now.
Variations: push press, standing dumbbell press. 3. Dumbbell Shoulder Press (3 variations)
In this case I have to point out 3 important variations of the dumbbell shoulder press, all of which I think are important in different scenarios. 1. Standing One Arm Dumbbell Press
I chose this exercise because sometimes you can lift more when you alternate sides in rapid succession. To set up: while standing, clean both dumbbells up to shoulder level or have someone hand them too you if you are a wuss.
To press: lift one dumbbell straight up while resting the other on the opposite shoulder. As you return the first dumbbell to your shoulder, the second dumbbell should already be moving. There should not be any rest between reps.
Variations: seated one arm dumbbell shoulder press.
I could only find a seated version of this exercise with someone doing it the way I would do it. 2. Seated Dumbbell Press
Because you are seated, you are able to drive more with your legs and press back against the bench for added strength and stability. To set up: while seated, rest the dumbbells on each respective knee. When you are ready, use your legs to pop each dumbbell up to your shoulders. You will most likely have to pop up one at a time or have someone hand them to you if you are a wuss.
To press: keeping your feet flat on the floor and your back straight against the bench, press both dumbbells up simultaneously, stopping just short of full lockout. Return the dumbbells to your shoulders to complete the rep.
Variations: standing dumbbell shoulder press – this is one of the few exercises that I find to be awkward, which probably means I should do it every workout until it becomes habit. The standing alternating one arm version is much less awkward in my opinion and I can lift more weight when I alternate. 3. Seated Arnold Shoulder Press
This is a slightly awkward exercise that is very beneficial because it hits the front and side heads of your delts. Don’t plan on using super heavy weight though, as this is a more difficult exercise than regular dumbbell or barbell presses. To set up: start just like a seated dumbbell press, but start with the dumbbells in front of your face, palms facing towards you, the sides of the dumbbells will probably be touching.
To press: rotate the dumbbells externally and press them up at the same time. By the time you reach full extension your palms should be facing away from you and you will have rotated the dumbbells 180 degrees. Return the weights to the front of your face to complete the rep.
Variations: standing Arnold shoulder presses are awkward. I don’t like to do them standing, which again probably means I should. 4. Upright Barbell Rows
Some people seem to indicate that upright barbell rows are tough on the rotator cuffs, but I don’t find this to be true so long as you don’t attempt to rotate the bar higher once it has reached shoulder level. Rather, I believe upright rows are a great exercise for the medial or outside heads of the shoulders. To set up: you will have to choose between straight bar or ez curl bar, but I prefer ez curl. Standing, grab the bar roughly one inch inside of shoulder width.
To upright row: bring the bar straight up alongside the front of your body, bending only the elbows. Your elbows should end up point straight out to either side and the bar should end up just under chin-level.
Variations: two arm, one arm, wide grip, medium grip, close grip, high pulls, dumbbell cleans, barbell cleans, upright cable rows, upright dumbbell rows (slightly awkward).
 5. Lateral Dumbbell Side Raises
Definitely not compound by any means, lateral dumbbell raises are the equivalent of dumbbell curls for the shoulders. I recommend this exercise more for bodybuilding than for powerlifting, strongman training, Olympic lifting, or martial arts. To set up: standing up, hold a pair of dumbbells in your hands with your arms hanging straight down to the side.
To raise: using the medial delts (the side of the shoulders), raise the dumbbells straight up to the side until both arms are parallel to the floor. Bend your elbows as little as possible. Technically your arms should be straight the whole time.
Then lower the dumbbells back down, but not such that your arms or the weights touch your thighs, nor should your arms ever be perpendicular to the floor. You always want to keep tension on the shoulders.
Variations: one arm side raise, cable side raise. Honorable mentions: internal rotations and external rotations for the rotator cuffs, bent over reverse dumbbell or cable flyes.