Performing shoulder exercises with dumbbells allows you to lose weight and involves a large number of muscle groups. In addition to the shoulders themselves as the main muscles, the biceps, pectoralis and back, among others, are also affected when carrying out this type of training.
What are dumbbell shoulder exercises?
Dumbbell shoulder exercises are intended to strengthen the shoulder from all possible points: deltoids, lateral trapezoids… They can be done with machines, with the weight of our body, bar or dumbbells.
As in the rest of muscle groups, dumbbells are the method that allows a more personalized training adapted to our particular needs. Being a weight for each shoulder can be distributed in a better way the weight to be used and also the repetitions and intensity required for each exercise.
In addition, being a small muscle group does not require performing too many exercises to avoid falling into extreme fatigue and overtraining. Do not forget how important it is to perform the exercises, such as muscle recovery and possible subsequent contracture.
Benefits of training shoulders with dumbbells
Unlike what many people may think, performing dumbbell shoulder exercises is vitally important. The trapezoids are involved in the movement of both shoulders, in addition to supporting the weight of the head. It is also found in the area of the spine. Thus, a non-training of the shoulders causes the loss of strength of this muscle group and a possible imbalance with the head and spine.
Therefore, the most prominent benefits of exercising the shoulders are the following:
- Strengthen the shoulders and have strong and resistant deltoids and trapezoids.
- Good training and technique will also decrease the risk of major injuries.
- You will get better protection of the joints in the entire shoulder area.
- As in back exercises, a better body posture is also achieved by correcting possible deviations.
- If the training is done using the proper techniques, a better alignment of the shoulders will also be achieved.
- The trapezoids are responsible for supporting the weight of our head. A good workout will also have a positive impact on this function.
How to perform shoulder exercises with dumbbells
There are multiple possibilities to perform shoulder exercises with dumbbells. One of the best known is the shoulder press, which as with other muscle groups, varies its involvement depending on the degree of inclination of the body. The exercise consists of pulling a dumbbell with each arm up straight until reaching the maximum height, and slowly lower, after a brief pause when reaching the top, to shoulder height. It can be done standing or sitting on a bench. You have to be very careful with the technique, since the back must be completely straight to avoid any type of injury. Another variation of this exercise is the alternating press. In the first two, the dumbbells must rise at the same time. On the other hand, in the alternate one is raised first and then the next. It can also be done standing or sitting on a bench. Another possible variation is the position of the dumbbells. It can be done with the weight’s perpendicular to the body, or with the palms inward and therefore with the dumbbells parallel to the position of the two arms. To prevent the back, it is advisable to place a backrest on the bench. In this way, as in the biceps curl, the entire spine remains straight.
The lateral and frontal elevations is another of the classics, among the exercises of shoulders with dumbbells. To do this, in a vertical position, we will take a dumbbell with each arm and raise them until we are almost parallel to the ground. The frontal elevations are the same movement but raising the arms forward until we are parallel to the ground and return to the initial position. In this type of exercise, it is crucial to tighten the abdominals to prevent the back from going backwards and being able to suffer any type of injury. As with the press, both types of lifts can also be performed sitting or even with a support on the bench.
In order to train the deltoid and the posterior deltoid, we will perform the corresponding elevations. In one case, with the legs flexed and with a dumbbell, starting between both legs, we will raise the weight until it is parallel with the ground and we will return to the initial position. Once this movement is finished, we will perform the same exercise with the other arm. In the other, intended to exercise the posterior deltoid, we will sit at one end of the bench and flex our body to take a weight with each hand. From the ground, we will raise the arms to the sides until they are almost parallel with the ground, and we will return to the initial position. It is especially important to maintain the arch of the elbows to avoid possible subsequent injuries.
For the posterior deltoid we can also perform stretched lateral elevations. With a completely stretched position on top of the boat we will take a dumbbell with each arm and reach an almost parallel position with the ground, and we will slowly return to our position, monitoring the degree of opening of the elbows to centralize the work in the deltoid and not helped by another muscle group. Without changing the position of the body, we will perform the circles of posterior deltoids. With a weight in each arm and with both attached to our hips, we will move the arms forward until they enter our field of vision and return to the starting point.
The most effective exercises for the shoulders
We will finish our standing training. In the same line of the previous exercise, it is also possible to perform flights for frontal deltoids. We will take a dumbbell with each arm and place it in front of our thighs. From here, we will raise both arms to the shoulders and continue lifting them until we have both arms completely stretched out. Dumbbell shoulder exercises also affect the back and vice versa. Therefore, to train the shoulders you can also perform exercises such as rowing. With a weight in each hand, we will raise the arms until they are parallel with the ground, and the elbows form with the arm an angle of 90 degrees. Remember the importance of keeping your back straight throughout the tour to avoid possible injuries.
Shrugs are also very popular. However, you have to take care of the technique. It is very easy to gain weight quickly and, therefore, lose the north and perform the exercise badly. With two dumbbells on his arms, execution is as simple as shrugging his shoulders as if someone didn’t know the answer and returning to the starting position. Subsequently, the upper press consists of placing two dumbbells on the arms at shoulder height with the knees arched. From here, we will pull the dumbbells up in a straight line until we fully extend the arms and return to the starting position.
Flexing the legs, we can also carry out the rowing for crouching posterior deltoids. As if it were pectoral openings with rope, we will take a dumbbell in each arm and maintaining a right angle we will raise the dumbbells upwards and slowly return to the initial position. There are multiple options of shoulder exercises with dumbbells. Don’t forget the importance of stretching.