Shoulder dumbbell exercises help you achieve a toned shoulder. Whether you’re looking to build muscle mass or just tone up, adding dumbbell exercises to your workout should be a great idea. The interesting part is that if you get the form right and follow a proper routine, you can start seeing positive results in no time.
The shoulder joints consist of several muscles, tendons, as well as ligaments. These grips of muscles help the joints in the muscles to move freely. Individuals who need to build their muscles can perform different types of shoulder exercises; however, we will be looking at how to do shoulder exercises with dumbbells.
What are dumbbell exercises?
Dumbbell exercises for the shoulder build the muscles, which in turn provide support for the upper body. Building your shoulder requires that you exercise often. This exercise enhances the muscles around the joint and reduces problems such as aching. In addition, it helps to improve the flexibility level and also reduces the rates of suffering injuries.
Benefits of shoulder dumbbell exercise
1. Tone the muscle
Of all the benefits of shoulder dumbbell exercises, toning of muscles, particularly, is one of the most outstanding benefits. This muscle exercise focuses on the deltoid muscles, which, when exercised, develop and shape the shoulders to give them a more firm look.
2. Increases shoulder strength
You can improve shoulder strength by doing the exercises with dumbbells. This is for general upper body development, and if you perform it properly, it makes the shoulders stronger.
3. Better posture
Shoulder dumbbell exercises improve one’s posture. In addition, it eases pains in your neck or back caused by poor posture.
4. Enhances balance
This exercise activates the muscles in your shoulders and upper back. Also, it helps the body to gain better balance as you perform other exercises.
5. Prevents shoulder impingement
If one has weak shoulders, he/she may develop shoulder impingement syndrome that triggers discomfort and reduced mobility. This painful condition can be prevented by making the shoulder muscles strong.
6. Burns excess calories
The shoulder dumbbell exercise increases the intensity of your workouts; this helps to burn more calories. When you perform shoulder exercise, it not only work on the muscles in the shoulder but also helps you burn calories in the arms or neck area.
7. Prevents muscle imbalances
Weak shoulders do not only affect the upper body but also the other parts of the body. Standing up straight and adding shoulder dumbbell exercises in your workout can prevent this from happening.
The best shoulder dumbbell exercises
The Shoulder Press
The shoulder press targets the front, side, and rear deltoids. To perform this exercise, sit or stand with a dumbbell in each hand, raise the weights above your head, and then lower them back down to shoulder level. Repeat for a total of 12–15 reps.
Lateral Raises
This exercise works on the side delts to help develop that all-important shoulder width. Lateral raise requires that you hold a dumbbell in either hand, with palms facing each other and your arms at your sides. Take the dumbbells up to the sides, ensure that they are horizontal to the floor, and then bring them back down. Aim for 12–15 reps per set.
Bent-Over Reverse Fly
The bent-over reverse fly also helps to balance your deltoids since they work on a part of your shoulder muscles. You perform this exercise by bending forward at the waist with your hands holding a dumbbell, facing each other. Holding the dumbbells, lift them to the sides up to the level of the shoulders; then bring them down. Aim for 12–15 reps per set.
Front Raises
Front raises exercises target the front deltoids to help build a rounded shoulder look. To carry out this exercise, grab a dumbbell in each of your hands with your palms facing downwards and your arms by your sides. Use both arms to lift dumbbells in front of your body as far as possible to be parallel to the ground surface and then drop down. Aim for 12–15 reps per set.
Upright Rows
The Upright Row shoulder dumbbell exercise works on the traps and side delts. To do the upright row, get a dumbbell in each hand, wrists facing your body, and position your arms by your sides. Slightly retract your shoulders. Bring the dumbbells up to the chin level with high elbows and bring them back down. Aim for 12–15 reps per set.
Read also: Abductor Exercises for Hips, Tighs, and Glutes
Common mistakes to avoid
Shoulder dumbbell exercises are a great way to tone your shoulder muscles; however, there are certain pitfalls that a majority of people overlook. Here are a few to avoid:
1. Using too much weight
Unfortunately, one of the most common errors that people make is using too much weight. Many believe that adding too much weight will help buld their shoulders quickly; this is true to some extent; however, the extra weight can result in poor form and injury. A good example is to start with a lighter weight before adding more weight.
2. Ignoring proper form
Another mistake that many people make is doing the exercises in a way that standing or sitting in an awkward position causes neck pain afterward.
Remember to always stand up straight with your shoulders back and down, engage your core while doing the exercises, and do full reps of every exercise. This will help you focus on the right muscles and prevent you from getting injured.
3. Overtraining
It’s a good thing that you do shoulder exercise, but too much training is not always good. This is a very important point, so ensure that you give your muscles time to recover after workouts to avoid burnout and plateaus.
4. Not warming up properly
It is advisable to warm up before any exercise. It may come as a surprise, but your shoulders are a very delicate joint that, if not well warmed up, could easily get injured. Before you begin your regular workout, take a few minutes and do some dynamic stretching for the shoulders.
5. Ignoring the rear delts
When training shoulders, most individuals pay all their attention to the front and side of the delts, but they rarely train the back delts, which causes problems down the line. Do not forget about shoulder exercises such as reverse flyes or rear delt raises to hit all parts of your shoulders.
6. Rushing through reps
When it comes to shoulder exercises, it is simple to rush while doing them, and this makes one use the momentum while exercising instead of weight. Take exercise at a gradual pace, and learn to concentrate on the communication between muscles of the brain and shoulders.
7. Not adding other varieties
Your shoulders also require a change in workout routine like any other muscle group. So, you must add different exercises to your shoulder exercise.
Read also: Ankle Mobility Exercise: Top Exercises For It
Tips for shoulder dumbbell exercises
1. Start with the right weight
So in relation to the shoulder exercises, select dumbbells that will give you a little trouble but allow you to execute the movements correctly. Never add on the weight without slowly building up the strength.
2. Focus on proper form
One of the tips that will help build your shoulder quickly is ensuring that you sit or stand properly. A bad posture can affect your posture and, in addition, ruin the entire shoulder exercise. You should not make mistakes when exercising with dumbbells on your shoulders so that you do not injure yourself.
3. Warm up before starting
It is important before you start with shoulder exercises to stretch your muscles; you can do this through dynamic stretches or some kind of cardio exercise. This will help prevent injury during exercise and warm your body for the training session ahead.
4. Mix it up
Do not make the mistake of performing the same shoulder exercises over and over again. You must change your shoulder exercises with such movements as lateral raises, front raises, shoulder presses, and reverse flys to affect different areas of the shoulder muscles.
5. Control movements
Make sure that during the exercises you perform all the movements slowly. This will help you get the most out of each rep. The shoulder exercise is not what you rush to do; the aim is to start slowly and control each movement.
6. Include compound movements.
To be more productive, add exercises that target several muscles, like compound movements. Take shoulder presses, for instance. Besides building up the shoulders, they also work out the triceps and the core.
Conclusion
Dumbbell shoulder exercises are particularly important when it comes to working out and building up the muscles of your shoulders. A wonderful exercise is the dumbbell overhead press, which assists in toning every one of the heads of the shoulder muscles.
Another nice move is the raised side or the side deltoid lift that targets the side muscles of the bicep. Make sure to also add front raises and rear delt flys in order to target all parts of the shoulders. However, like any workout routine, you must be consistent. To see positive results on time, it will require that you exercise often.
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