Super Shoulder Shaper

Many have asked me what’s the best exercise to build and shape shoulders. You can always do military presses but they don’t work all three heads of the deltoid (front, medial, and lateral). It’s a great exercise, but far from ideal. After you finish shoulder presses, you would have to do lateral raises, front raises and rear delt flys to work the whole muscle. Here’s a time saving shoulder exercise that does the “triple” trick.

  • Set an incline bench at a 45 degree angle.
  • Grab some light dumbbells, use an overhand grip.
  • Sit down, lean forward and rest your chest against the bench pad.
  • Let the dumbbells hang directly below your shoulders, at arms length.
  • Keeping your arms straight (elbows NOT locked), raise the dumbbells in front of you until your arms are parallel with the floor. Like you’re flying.
  • Pause for one second. Then, rotate your arms to your sides until they are perpendicular with your body and in line with your shoulders.
  • Pause for one second. Then slowly (four seconds) lower the dumbbells to starting position.


This exercise is great because you are isolating all three heads of the deltiod in one fluid movement. Also, slowing down the movement and pausing at critical points in this exercise forces you to to control the movement with your muscles and not rely on momentum. It’s total, burning, isolation and it will give you the results you desire… strong, shapely shoulders.

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