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Shoulder Exercises Ranked (BEST TO WORST)

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Rating: 4.0; Vote: 1

m going to give you the most popular shoulder exercises ranked from worst to best and help you to determine which you should be doing and which you can probably ditch. With that said, we have to lay out the criteria for the shoulder exercise selections. The first thing is that it has to be a multi-dimensional exercise if possible. This means, if it is only good at hypertrophy but provides no opportunity for overload and for building progressive strength, then it is not going to rank up there with the exercises for shoulders that do a good job at both. Furthermore, if the exercise is harmful to the shoulder joint or can cause shoulder injury over time, it is simply not going to rank high no matter what type of short term benefits it can provide the person that does it. With that being said, we start laying out the list and work our way up the rankings from the worst to the best shoulder exercise. WORST 1. Upright Rows 2. Cuban Press 3. Behind the Neck Press 4. Pour the Pitcher Side Lateral Raises The upright row is simply a terrible exercise biomechanically for the shoulders and should not be part of a shoulder workout routine long term. It places the glenohumeral joint in a position of impingement and increases the likelihood of developing symptoms if they don-t already exist. The cuban press is just a step away from joining the upright row as the worst of the worst but it-s still pretty bad. Even though it includes an element of external rotation, it does so from an elevated and internally rotated position. The behind the neck press takes the shoulders out of the scapular plane and forces motion from an awkward position of the elbows. Again, overhead presses are a great exercise for building boulder shoulders but it shouldn-t be done from this position when we know there are better ones without the risk. Stop pouring the pitchers on a side lateral raise and instead turn the thumbs up and you-ll take a bad shoulder exercise and make it a great one, just like that. BETTER 5. DB Pressouts - Front Delts 6. DB Cheat Laterals - Middle Delts 7. DB Reverse Flys - Rear Delts DB or plate press outs are a good exercise for building up the front delts but they lack the range of motion possible with other exercises for the front head of the delts. The cheat lateral raise is a good middle delt builder as it gives you an opportunity to load the exercise heavier than you might be used to. This gives you a chance to place a good eccentric overload on this head of the delts to drive growth. Muscle substitution however limits your ability to target the middle delt specifically. The db reverse fly may be the most popular rear delt exercise but it has its limitations. Not enough of an ability to extend the arm behind the body makes this an inferior choice to the ones coming later. BETTER STILL 8. Arnold Presses - Front Delts 9. Abduction Rows - Middle Delts 10. Facepulls - Rear Delts The Arnold Press is a good multi-head shoulder building exercise. It keeps the elbows out in front of the body which is safer for the joint but as with all presses, is limited in its ability to target the front head more specifically. The face pull is normally my favorite exercise for everything - that said - it involves too many other muscles like the rotator cuff and mid scapular muscles that tends to limit it-s position on this list of the shoulder exercises ranked. ALMOST BEST 11. DB Scoop Press - Front Delts 12. Side Lateral Raises - Middle Delts 13. Hip Huggers - Rear delts These three shoulder exercises are near the top of the heap when it comes to the best exercises for building big shoulders. Watch the video to see why they stand alone. BEST 14. DB Front Raise - Front Delts 15. Cable Lateral Raises - Middle Delts 16. Rear Delt Rows - Rear Delts There simply are no better shoulder exercises for building big delts than these for the front, middle and rear delts. They combine the ability to load up the best, target the head in question and do so in the safest way possible. If you want just overall shoulder mass and growth, then be sure to watch the bonus segment on the variations of shoulder presses and overhead presses. For a complete step by step workout program that was created with the same level of science behind the selection of every exercise in the plans, be sure to head to athleanx. com via the link below and
Date: 2022-04-22

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Comments and reviews: 10

RyanZ
Ouch. Jeff pretty much red X'ed my entire shoulder workout.
I'm primarily trying to build size, but found that my front delts would outpace my mid delts when my routine was heavy on presses. Because of this, I was doing:
behind-the-head press - BAD
upright row - BAD
some other press
upright row - BAD
lateral raise - pour the pitcher form but I can change that
Any ideas for size gaining exercises that will prioritize the mid delts? Most of the mid delt exercises in the video seemed a bit lower on the weight side. Will I get the same results from them as the dreaded upright row? Thanks!
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HPG
Jeff I have done behind the neck press but only to top of the ear level, with knuckles up and reduced weight and wider grip- all my life. I'm 46 and have no shoulder issues. I wonder if the exercises contraindication lies in the close grip you demonstrated coupled with the long range of motion where you go all the way to the neck with the knuckles back putting the weight way behind your center of gravity.
Thoughts sir? Thanks for all the great content over the years!
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sport
I fractured and dislocated my shoulder 2 years ago and I remember my physiotherapist telling me to NEVER do over head press again. I'm not sure why she said that, is it true that I should stay away from that since my shoulder was fracture?
Basically 40% of the shoulder head was fractured and several ligaments were torn. I'm good now but a few days ago i was shoulder pressing 140lbs and my shoulder was in severe pain for 2 days following that workout.
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Phillip
I love the explanation of Pros 'n- Cons behind performing each of these workouts as this helps to assist me in my training and addressing injuries. These are also useful points to highlight as they will provide me with awareness to prevent new or ongoing injuries.
I truly do look forward to seeing and hearing more about the science behind exercises, while also impacting more depth in my understanding of the art of effective training.
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JanisSmithe
God I hate the upright row. I've commented before about being a woman who lifts and has for about fifteen years. I regret the time wasted on watching videos of -fit chicks- putting together exercises with no real knowledge based in reality. just some shit they're parroting from other women and holdovers from the dark ages of -jazzercise- and eating lettuce as the peak of women's fitness from the 50s-90s.
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Hudson4351
I noticed when you do DB shoulder presses you hold the DBs at about a 45 degree angle with respect to your body and don't touch them together at the top of each rep, whereas a lot of other websites show the exercise with the DBs parallel to the body and touching at the top of each rep. Do you have a video that explains why you do DB shoulder presses this way? Thanks.
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Ashley
I'm finally watching all of these videos, and I'm finding that all of the exercises that people say are great or that I should incorporate into my workouts give me pain. So I end up not doing them. Well, guess which exercise gives me intense shoulder pain. Upright row. I haven't done them for some time and will not do them again. Thanks for this video!
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Joe
I'm a calethenics guy. Lateral raises are one of the few weights based exercises I employ. The benefits are great and the motion is hard to replicate naturally. Hint - that's because it ain't natural. So the biggest thing is don't go too high with the weight. The best alternative to infinite flawless form is a serviceable margin of error.
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David
Actually all these exercises are good provided the weight is appropriate. Flexibility and mobility is different for everyone. Just cuz Jeff is a bit older and has limits on his ROM doesn't mean a younger more flexible person can't do the exercises. He never mentioned nutrition that also helps recovery after hypertrophy.
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Nathan
Jeff, I don't like your best for rear delt. Try bent over rear db raise that goes out around the waist instead of the shoulders to gets equal parts extension and abduction. Also, the machine reverse fly gives the best emg results. Every other detail of this video was easy to agree with.
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