Calisthenics Shoulder Exercises – Introduction
What are the benefits of calisthenics shoulder exercises?
For beginning exercisers, it is best to start with bodyweight training.
A solid foundation of bodyweight training and strength before jumping to weight training exercises is a wise way to pursue fitness.
Strong shoulders will help you with everyday activities such as lifting heavy things like suitcases or groceries, besides playing your favorite sports.
Also, you will reduce your risk of injury by building your shoulder strength.
Every injury derails your training for yet another week or month.
So, opt for calisthenics shoulder exercises to accustom your joints, tendons, and ligaments to bodyweight training before moving on to heavier barbell training.
Last but not least, is that powerful shoulders are a sign of health, and fitness and look great.
This article lifts the lid on the best exercises for strengthening your shoulders, divided into beginner, intermediate, and advanced.
The Best Calisthenics Shoulder Exercises
Here are the best bodyweight shoulder exercises to incorporate into your workouts:
Beginner bodyweight shoulder exercises
#1. Shoulder Taps
Shoulder taps improve your core and shoulder stability.
To warm up, you can do them as the first exercise in any shoulder training workout.
By lifting one arm off the ground, the muscles in the opposite arm work hard to stabilize the shoulder joint. Also, your core muscles will work hard too.
How to:
- Get into a push-up position
- Engage your core, lift one arm off the ground and tap the opposite shoulder
- Lower the arm and then repeat with the other arm
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#2. Plank to Down Dog
This exercise is excellent for improving shoulder stability while also working on your core.
How-to:
- Get into a push-up position.
- Extend your elbows and keep your arms straight
- Lift your hips and drive them back while simultaneously pushing with your arms.
- The goal is to create a straight line from your wrists to the hips.
- As you reach this position, lower the hips and get back to the starting position.
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#3. Mountain Climbers
Mountain climbers are a killer abs exercise. However, your shoulders play a significant role in it as well.
Although you are not doing much with your shoulders, the isometric hold arm position will improve your shoulder’s endurance and strength.
How to:
- Get into a push-up position.
- Extend your elbows and keep your arms straight.
- Bring one knee to your chest while keeping the other leg straight.
- Keep your elbows straight and push the ground with your arms the whole time.
- Return the knee off your chest and alternate between the legs. To make it more challenging, switch the legs as quickly as possible.
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#4. Elbow to High Plank
This exercise will work your core while also improving your shoulder stability.
After each set, we advise switching your lead arm to build balanced strength in both of your shoulders.
How to:
- Get into a plank position with your elbows on the ground.
- Make sure you maintain a good plank position during the entire movement.
- Engage your core and keep your lower back from overarching.
- While keeping your core tight and maintaining good form, place one palm on the ground while resting the other elbow on the ground.
- Push yourself with that hand to the push-up position until both of your arms are straight.
- Then lower yourself to the elbows again and repeat.
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Intermediate calisthenics shoulder exercises
#5. Prone YTW
This exercise works your rotator cuff muscles, which often gets neglected in training.
Although they are pretty small muscle groups, they have a primary role in optimal shoulder health.
Therefore, you don’t want to exclude this type of exercise from your workout.
How to:
- Lie facedown on the floor or on an exercise bench.
- Extend your arms to the side with your elbows straight to a Y shape.
- Make a T shape with your arms, then raise your arms by activating your rear deltoids and your shoulder blade muscles.
- Do the recommended number of reps in the workouts below.
- Afterward, extend your arms close to your ears, and raise them off the floor.
- Do the same by making the W shape.
#6. Regular Push-ups
Push-ups work your pecs, triceps, anterior deltoids, and your core.
Push-ups are one of the basic exercises you have to do with the proper form if you want to switch to more advanced upper body exercises.
And you can do them anywhere you have a floor, so make sure you get good at push-ups!
How to:
- Get into a push-up position.
- Engage your core, bend at your elbows and lower your chest to the floor.
- Push the floor away with your palms and extend your elbows to lift yourself up to the top plank position.
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#7. Inverted Row Face Pull
This exercise is excellent for working your rear delts, back, and muscles around the shoulder blades.
The muscles in the front of our body often get trained more, leading to muscle imbalances and poor posture.
Therefore, it’s crucial to add this kind of exercise more often in your training.
How to:
- Get under a bar that is parallel to the ground.
- With your arms straight, grip it with your hands.
- Instead of a bar, you can use TRX or Gymnastic rings too.
- Keep your back straight and engage your core.
- Squeeze your shoulder blades and pull yourself to the bar until your chest touches the bar.
- Don’t arch your back, and don’t change the position of your lower body during the pull.
Bar face pulls can be done in a gym (on a smith machine for example) or street workout parks.
For home workouts, a solid broomstick between the chairs should do the trick (as long as it isn’t plastic!).
And if you have to choose between TRX or Gymnastic rings, we recommend the TRX Suspension Trainer System because you can hang it to a door (close the door and put the TRX between the door and a door frame).
Also, TRX is easier to set up for outdoor training.
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#8. Pike Push-ups
The pike push-up is an advanced version of the standard push-up.
Even if you don’t have weights at home or your ceiling is too low, you can still train the same muscles as an overhead press with the pike push-up.
It is a great way to isolate your shoulders using just your body weight.
It works your front and side deltoids the most.
How to:
- Start in a push-up position, and walk your feet towards your hands
- The closer you go, the harder it gets
- Keep your body weight shifted forward
- And stay on your toes
- From this position, bend at your elbows and lower yourself to the floor
- On the descent, don’t lose the position of your hips
- Maintain a vertical torso as much as possible
- Push with your arms and extend your elbows to get back to the starting position, and repeat
- Watch the below video for an excellent tutorial on the pike push-up from FitnessFAQ:
How to Grow Bigger Shoulders with NO Equipment
Advanced bodyweight Shoulder exercises
#9. Dips
For dips, you will need a dip bar.
If you don’t have a dip bar, you can improvise and make it more home-friendly by putting two chairs parallel and use them instead of the bar.
Dips are great for working your anterior delts, pecs, triceps, and core.
How to:
- Grab the dip bars, jump up, and straighten your arms at the top
- Bend at your elbows, slightly lean forward, and lower your body
- For maximum results, it’s best to go through the full range of motion by going with your shoulders below the elbows
- However, if that’s too hard for you, lower yourself until your elbows reach at least 90-degrees
- From the bottom position, push yourself up and straighten your arms
- At the top, lock your elbows
#10. Decline Push-ups
Putting your lower body into an elevated position, your shoulders and upper chest work a lot more.
The great thing about this exercise is that it is so effective for your shoulders yet simple to set up.
All you have to do is elevate your legs and rest them on a couch, bench, stairs, etc.
How to:
- Get into a standard push-up position and put your legs on an elevated surface
- Bend at your elbows, lower your upper body and do a push-up
- Repeat
#11. Handstand Push-ups
Handstand push-ups are the most challenging exercises on this list.
Therefore, before trying this exercise:
- Make sure you have mastered the handstand position
- With the support of the wall, learn how to get into a handstand and hold that position.
- Before moving to handstand push-up, make sure you can isometrically hold the handstand position.
Holding that position will strengthen your shoulders and prepare you for this exercise.
How to:
- Do a handstand against a wall
- Ensure you are not too far from the wall and don’t overarch your lower back
- Bend at your elbows and lower yourself to the ground.
- How low you can go depends on your strength level.
- From the bottom position, push yourself up. Then repeat.
Bodyweight Shoulder Workouts
No equipment is necessary other than your body weight (except for face pulls.)
Here are some valuable tips and examples of how to program your bodyweight shoulder workout:
1. Combine different exercises
Combine pulling exercises with pushing exercises.
That way, you will work your anterior shoulders as well as your back and rear deltoids.
That’s important for muscle balance.
2. Proper form is more important than high repetition
Proper form will keep you injury-free and boost your results.
If you have to take more rest between the sets to maintain a good form, do it.
Quality is more important than quantity.
3. Do supersets
Instead of doing just one exercise and taking a rest between sets, immediately do another exercise for the opposite muscle groups.
For example, after push-ups (front delts, triceps, and pectorals), do the pulling exercise immediately (rear delts, back, scapular muscles).
That way, you will need less rest between the sets.
HM Calisthenics Shoulder Exercises Workout 1
| Workout 1 | ||||
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest | |
| 1 | Shoulder Taps | 3 | 60 seconds/set | 90 seconds |
| 2 | Regular Push-ups | 3 | 12 | 90 seconds |
| 3 | Plank to Down Dog | 3 | 15 | 90 seconds |
| 4 | Inverted Row Face Pull | 3 | 12 | 90 seconds |
| 5 | Pike Push-ups | 3 | 10 |
90 seconds |
HM Calisthenics Shoulder Workout 2
| Workout 2 | ||||
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest | |
| 1 | Elbow to High Plank | 2 | 60 seconds/set | 90 seconds |
| 2 | Regular Push-ups | 3 | 12 | 90 seconds |
| 3 | Inverted Row Face Pull | 3 | 12 | 90 seconds |
| 4 | Mountain Climbers | 2 | 60 seconds/set | 90 seconds |
| 5 | Decline Push-ups | 3 | 10 | 90 seconds |
| 6 | Prone YTW | 3 | 20 | 60 seconds |
HM Calisthenics Shoulder Workout 3
| Workout 3 | ||||
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Rest | |
| 1 | Regular Push-ups | 3 | 12 | 60 seconds |
| 2 | Inverted Row Face Pull | 3 | 12 | 60 seconds |
| 3 | Dips | 3 | 10 | 90 seconds |
| 4 | Prone YTW | 3 | 20 | 60 seconds |
| 5 | Handstand Push-ups | 3 | 8 | 90 seconds |
| 6 | Plank to Down Dog | 3 | 20 | 90 seconds |
Calisthenics Shoulder Exercises – Final Thoughts
A calisthenic shoulder workout is bodyweight training designed to build bigger and stronger shoulders.
There are many benefits of having strong shoulder muscles.
First, strong shoulders look great. If you’re a guy, having strong shoulders gives you a masculine look and makes you appear wider in shoulder width, which is appealing.
For women, while resistance training like bodyweight training will not make you look too muscular (a myth), stronger shoulders are a plus for everything from sports to general activities of daily living.
Second and more importantly, having proper shoulder strength is vital for overall shoulder joint health, for men and women.
By doing compound movements with your body weight, you strengthen the muscle groups around the shoulder and reduce the risk of possible shoulder injuries.
And since the shoulder is the most unstable joint in the body, shoulder injuries are relatively common.
Therefore, having proper shoulder strength is essential for overall health and will help you avoid needing a physical therapist.
You can achieve all that with calisthenics exercises and with no equipment.
All you need is your body weight.
As you get more advanced, you can make these exercises more challenging by adding resistance bands or weights into your training.
If you want to build better shoulders, make sure you incorporate these calisthenics shoulder exercises into your weekly workouts.
What’s Next
See the Top 10 Calisthenics Exercises and Workout Plan for Beginners for more details on total body conditioning without using weights.
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Rich is a NASM-CPT (Certified Personal Trainer),