Best exercises for shoulder mass?

AM07

Well-known member
What are the best exercises for increased shoulder mass? I would assume incline bench, shoulder press, upright rows, and cleans are the best?
 
Snatches, Upright Rows, and DB Presses FTW!!!

If the focus is more towards developing their shape and size, I strongly recommend either upright rows or a modified version of side lateral raises (see below for description) as well as some rear delt work.

*To develop shoulder width, the main part of the shoulder you want to work is the medial head. Recruitment of the medial head is at its highest when your palms face behind you. Draw a little eyeball on the palm of your hand if you need help. As you draw the dumbbells up to the top of your lateral raise motion, your thumbs will point down.
 
How about clean and jerk? I tried it today after being out of the gym for so long, and I'm really digging that exercise! Really kept my heart rate up and seemed to work a lot of the body.

Is the hang clean any different from a clean, or is the proper term for it hang clean?
 
As far as pure shoulder mass. Your shoulder presses are going to be the way to go.

Sinner covered the width idea very well.

If you haven't tried DB Military as opposed to BB Military I would suggest that. I get MUCH better results with DBs.
 
Gixxer82 said:
next shoulder day i'm gonna start doing those lateral raises with palms facing backwards...never done them, see if I can get some more width..thanks sinner
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It wasn't until I started doing these that I started to develop that "capped" look to my shoulders. This is A LOT harder than regular side laterals, so don't be afraid to start out with really light weights (15's, 20's).
 
has anyone had good success with the arnold press. My shoulders are far from huge but once I added these in i noticed an increase in shoulder strength and gradually, some size
 
The best shoulder exercise that I have used is the clean and jerk, or just the hang and clean. I've done the dumbbell laterals and every shoulder machine out there, but I've noticed the best when I clean and jerk.


The problem is that I have to be careful b/c it is very stressful on my shoulders.
 
i've noticed the biggest improvement off of doing arnold presses. They give me that "cannonball" shoulder look. Those with db side laterals work great.
 
SteelEntity said:
Behind the neck shoulder press on the smith did wonders for my shoulders.
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Behind the neck is superior to in front (in my honest opinion); however, it becomes a case (as strength increases) where it puts too much stress on the shoulder joints. Since these are recommendations for a beginner, I'll say they're good, but be prepared to do something else as you get further down the line.
 
Since I can't do any squats, I think I'm going to do a 1 on/1 off routine. On my off days, I'll do cardio.

On Day 1 of the week, I'll do back, which includes sumo deads (can't do conventional right now due to ankle injury), lat pulldown, and seated rows. Keeping weight light to gain back a lot of the strength I lost.

On the second day, will do clean and jerk, bench press, incline press, DB standing shoulder press, upright rows, modified lateral raises described above.

Repeat.

This will be my workout for the next 3-4 weeks, then I may switch it up.

I'm really wanting to get back to doing squats, it's my favorite exercise.

Do you guys think my routine looks alright? I'm trying to keep it to mainly compound lifts.
 
thesinner said:
Behind the neck is superior to in front (in my honest opinion); however, it becomes a case (as strength increases) where it puts too much stress on the shoulder joints. Since these are recommendations for a beginner, I'll say they're good, but be prepared to do something else as you get further down the line.
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Yeah I limit the range of motion slightly by not going all the way down to my neck, I stop at about 1/2 way down my head where my ears are approx. But yeah I agree lots of people injure them selves doing this. I don't think a lot of weight is needed.
 
Distilled Water said:
B, do you put an emphasis on the turning of your wrists at the top and the bottom or just minor?
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only minor if any actually but there seems to be many variations of the arnold press, here's a couple from you tube



or this (the forms pretty sh*t btw)

 
i love the clean and press because of the explosive power it builds, plus it really gets my heart rate up
 
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