This page is all about the best shoulder exercises for building strong, healthy, and muscular shoulders.


The shoulders often get ingored in many weight lifting programs. Some people believe the bench press works the shoulders well enough that they don't do any direct shoulder work.


The overhead press should be included in every weightlifting program. The overhead press is a better exercise than the bench press yet everyone loves the bench press and ignores the overhead press!


Let's take a look at all of the best shoulder exercises...

Best Shoulder Exercises

In no particular order... Overhead Press Upright Rows Lateral Raises The links above take you further down this page.

Overhead Press

There is no better overall shoulder exercise than the overhead press. The overhead press doesn't just rank at the top for shoulders, it ranks near the top as one of the best upper body exercises!


If you learn how to do the overhead press correctly, I guarantee you will gain unbelievable amounts of strength. I did the overhead press incorrectly for 5 years and limited my strength and muscle gains! I don't want that to happen to you. Learn how to do the overhead press correctly.


To get you started, let's take a look at some videos of the overhead press...




The overhead press can be done with a barbell, dumbells, kettlebells, cables, machines, logs, and pretty much anything that allows you to safely lift a weight over your head. I recommend you try different variations! All of the variations are fun!

Upright Rows

Upright rows are one of the best shoulder exercises. Upright rows aren't as good as the overhead press, but upright rows are much better than lateral raises. Upright rows allow you to overload the shoulder muscles much more than lateral raises! This overload builds muscle and strength.


I do not recommend upright rows with a barbell. Dumbbells allow this movement to be much safer! If the barbell doesn't bother you at all, then go ahead and do them with a barbell. The barbell just doesn't work well for me and upright rows.




Upright rows with a barbell are very awkward on the wrists and forearms. I don't do them for this reason. Feel free to try them. I prefer dumbbells because the wrists are not stressed at all.

Lateral Raises

You've got three types of lateral raises you can do. The front lateral raise targets the front deltoid. I don't recommend front lateral raises because the front deltoids get plenty of work from the overhead press and bench press.


The second type of lateral raise is the side lateral that targets the side deltoid muscle. The rear deltoid is targeted by rear lateral raises. You'll see these two types of lateral raises in the videos below...




I suggest you do your lateral raises as shown in the video above. This is the method I have been using for years, and it works much better than the strict side laterals everyone else are doing.

Weightlifting Exercises by Major Muscle Group
		Lower Body Muscle Groups Quad Exercises Hamstring Exercises Calf Exercises Upper Body Muscle Groups Chest Exercises Back Exercises Shoulder Exercises Tricep Exercises Bicep Exercises Forearm Exercises Trap Exercises Ab Exercises

Other Weight Lifting Exercises

	Best Butt Exercises You can find the best exercises for working the all important glutes here. Are you including the right exercises to get a great butt?
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Go back to Weightlifting Exercises from Shoulder Exercises