Must Know Isolation Exercises To Build Muscle In Your Shoulders

The shoulders are a very important part of any physique. They give a person a more muscular and powerful look. They also make a person appear wider and broader which can intimidate others. Many of the top bodybuilders and fitness athletes have to work extremely hard to develop full, proportional shoulder development to showcase on stage. But it is just as important to have nice full shoulders to fill out a shirt or to show off on the beach.
In this article, I want to introduce you to some isolation exercises to build muscle in your shoulder heads.
The shoulders are made up of three heads which all need to be addressed and trained equally. The heads are the front deltoid, side deltoid and rear deltoid. You will be at your strongest when working the front deltoid, slightly weaker when working side deltoids and your weakest head is your rear deltoid.
I always focus on hitting rear deltoids first so that they get more prioritized attention early in the workout. By doing this, you can expect to see dramatic improvements in your total shoulder development as most people neglect the rear deltoids the most.
After performing compound movements such as the military press, dumbbell shoulder press and other variations of those exercises, then you can move on to isolation exercises to really target the heads individually.
These exercises to build muscle should be completed as they are listed in this order to give attention to the weakest all the way to the strongest.
Rear Dumbell Raises:
While seated on a bench, grab a light set of dumbbells for this exercise. Once seated, bend over at the waist until your body is at about a 45 degree angle to the floor. A while later, with a fixed arm position, raise the dumbbells to the sides only until they are parallel to your head. Slightly pause, then return the dumbbells back down slowly and under control.
Keeping your arms fixed and averting momentum will really assist to isolate the rear delts. At the top of the movement, make sure to pause and contract forcefully.
Side Dumbbell Raises:
While standing with slightly bent knees, and a dumbbell in each hand, use your shoulders to raise the dumbbells from your hips to just parallel to shoulder level. Then pause and contract and slowly lower the weights back to the starting position.
Do not bend back excessively as this will take the tension off of the shoulder muscles you are trying to target. The use of a controlled tempo should be used in weights.
Front Barbell Raises:
For the front deltoids, we will use a variation of a front raise using a barbell. Using a barbell will allow you to go heavier and really hit the front delts.
This is one of the best exercises to build muscle in your shoulders. Simply grab a barbell and position your hands shoulder width apart. Then with arms fully extended, raise the barbell until it aligns with your head position. Keep arms fixed and lower slowly back to the starting position.
Focus on using the shoulders to do the work and not using momentum.