5 Effective Shoulder Workouts

Your shoulders are two of the bigger muscles in your body and they definitely deserve some attention in the gym or in your home workout room. Here are 5 effective shoulder workouts.

1. Overhead dumbbell presses are extremely helpful for developing stronger shoulder muscles. This particular type of exercise produced lean muscle mass. This exercise is executable while standing up or sitting on an upright workout bench. This type of workout also does a fine job at working your core muscles through stabilization efforts.

2. Lateral dumbbell raises are another great addition to your shoulder workout routines. However, these are tricky exercises as they include a higher inherent risk of injury-don't raise your arms too high! But if you avoid raising them to high, this lateral movement is an excellent way to work on the middle part of your shoulder.

3. Even the brawniest of weight lifters and bodybuilders will attest that resistance workouts actually provide great shoulder strengthening. All you have to do is grab a couple of really light weights and hold your arms up so that they form a "t" with the rest of your body. Now just hold them in that position for 15 seconds or so and repeat this throughout several sets. Even though you're using lighter weights, it really shouldn't take very long to feel the burn through these resistance type workouts.

4. You can also try a posterior stretch to stretch and work your shoulders. Simply use one hand to pull the elbow of other arm. Pull your elbow gradually until you can't pull it any further and hold it. You will also be working your upper back as well. You can also try an overhead stretch to work both of your shoulders. To do this properly, you will need to bend your body midway at a 90-degree angle while stretching both shoulders. Hold this for a 20 count and then release.

5. Another effective shoulder workout is the Olympic bar push press. This one may sound intimidating, but it's pretty friendly for most levels of expertise. This exercise is highly effective and extremely efficient as it works the shoulders and a bunch of other muscles as well. Another reason it's so well liked is because the mechanics involved mirror the same mechanics found in so many other sports and activities, making it a highly functional workout. To get the most intense workout from this, increase your upward angle to fully engage your shoulders.