Compound Shoulder Exercises – Introduction
What are the best compound shoulder exercises to build big shoulders?
If you want to build serious shoulder size and strength, you need to focus on compound exercises.
Compound movements involve two or more joints and several muscle groups working together, which allows you to lift more weight and put more tension through the target muscles – in this instance, the deltoids.
That doesn’t mean there is anything especially wrong with isolation exercises like the dumbbell lateral raise or front raises.
It’s just that compound exercises should be your shoulder workout priority.
Build your shoulder muscles with 10 of the best compound shoulder exercises for size and strength.
Programming
To build strength, you should do 1-5 reps with a weight of 80 – 90 percent of your one-rep max, resting 3-5 minutes between sets.
If you want to stimulate hypertrophy and increase muscle size, you should work in the 6-12 rep range with a weight of 70 – 80 percent of your one-rep max.
Want a bit of both?
Do most of your training in the 4-8 rep range.
Anatomy brief
Your deltoids, the proper name for your shoulder muscles, are made up of three sections or heads. Their names signify the anatomical locations of each shoulder muscle head:
- Anterior head – located on the front of your shoulder
- Medial or lateral head – situated on the side of your shoulder
- Posterior deltoid – location is in the back of your shoulder
While all compound exercises involve all three heads, your upper arm’s position and the direction of movement means that one or more of your shoulder heads may end up doing a little more work.
For that reason, under each exercise name, you’ll see one or more deltoids listed as the focus muscle.
This focus doesn’t mean the other deltoid heads are not working; it’s just that the one named is the ‘prime mover’ and doing more work.
1. Barbell overhead press
Focus: Anterior deltoid
This classic mass-building exercise is a tremendous total shoulder exercise.
It will add width to your deltoids and also increase triceps size and strength.
To do it, hold a barbell with an overhand, slightly wider than shoulder-width overhand grip in front of your chest, and just below your chin.
Your elbows should be directly under your hands.
Push the bar up and overhead to arms’ length.
Return to the starting position and repeat.
You can do the overhead barbell press seated or standing as preferred.
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2. Barbell push-press
Focus: Anterior deltoid
The barbell push-press is a shoulder size and power exercise.
It allows you to lift more weight than usual, increasing muscle-building tension.
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent.
Hold a barbell with an overhand, slightly wider than shoulder-width grip in front of your chest, and just below your chin.
Bend your knees and descend into a shallow squat.
Extend your legs powerfully and use this momentum to help you push the weight up and overhead.
Lower the weight back to your shoulders and repeat.
You can also do this exercise with a pair of dumbbells.
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3. Barbell Bradford press
Focus: Anterior deltoid
The Bradford press combines regular with behind the neck barbell presses.
While it’s an excellent exercise for building bigger shoulders, it can be hard on the shoulder joint, so only perform this move if you have excellent mobility and pain-free shoulders!
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent.
Hold a barbell with an overhand, slightly wider than shoulder-width grip in front of your chest, and just below your chin.
Press the bar up, so it’s level with the top of your head.
Do not lock out your elbows.
Instead, lower it down behind your neck.
Next, press the bar up again and bring it back to the front.
The bar should just skim the top of your head.
You can also do the barbell Bradford press while seated.
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4. Barbell upright row
Focus: Anterior and medial deltoids
Most compound shoulder exercises are pushing exercises.
However, there are a couple of exceptions, one of which is the barbell upright row.
Hold a barbell with an overhand, slightly wider than shoulder-width grip in front of your thighs.
Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent.
Bend your arms and pull the bar up the front of your body.
Lead with your elbows so that they are higher than your hands.
Pull the weight up to around upper-chest height.
Lower the bar and repeat.
You can also do upright rows using an EZ bar, dumbbells, or a low cable machine.
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5. Barbell high-pull
Focus: Anterior and medial deltoids
The barbell high-pull is the plus-sized version of the upright row.
By using your legs, you’ll be able to lift more weight.
It turns a compound shoulder exercise into a total body power exercise.
To do it, hold a barbell with an overhand, slightly wider than shoulder-width grip in front of your thighs.
Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent.
Hinge forward from your hips and lower the bar to about knee-height.
Do not round your lower back.
Stand up explosively and use this momentum to help you pull the bar up the front of your body to mid-chest height.
Lower the weight and repeat.
You can also do this exercise using dumbbells.
Barbell High Pulls | Shoulders | How-To Exercise Tutorial
6. Dumbbell overhead press
Focus: Anterior deltoid
A lot of exercisers find dumbbells more comfortable to use than barbells.
Dumbbells allow you to move your arms more naturally and independently, taking stress off your shoulder joints.
Take a dumbbell in each hand and raise them to shoulder height with your palms facing forward.
Press the dumbbells up and overhead, so they come together at the top of each rep.
Lower them back to your shoulders and repeat.
You can do this exercise seated or standing as preferred.
However, getting on your feet will help you to develop more athletic strength over the long term.
It also works well if you use an alternating arm action or just one dumbbell at a time – a single-arm dumbbell overhead press.
Dumbbell Overhead Shoulder Press – 3 Mistakes!
7. Dumbbell seated power clean and half-press
Focus: Anterior, medial and posterior deltoids
This super-compound exercise combines two movements in one to absolutely hammer your shoulders.
If you don’t have a lot of time to train your delts, this do-it-all exercise is a great choice.
Sit on the end of an exercise bench with a dumbbell in each hand and your arms down by your sides.
Lean your upper body forward slightly without rounding your lower back and then sit up straight.
Use this momentum to help you lift the weights to your shoulder level.
From here, press the weights up about half-way.
Do NOT lock out your elbows.
Lower the weights back to your shoulders and then back down to your sides.
That’s one rep – keep going!
See the seated dumbbell power clean and half-press at the 50-second mark
8. Dumbbell Arnold press
Focus: Anterior and medial deltoids
The Arnold press is named after the one and only Arnold Schwarzenegger.
It was his favorite compound shoulder building exercise, and it could be yours too!
To do it, hold the dumbbells together in front of your chest with your upper arms parallel to the floor, palms facing inward.
Next, open your arms and press the weights up and overhead, keeping a slight bend in your elbows at the top of each rep.
Lower the weights until your upper arms are parallel to the floor, bring the weights together in front of you, and repeat.
You can do this exercise standing or seated as preferred.
Why the Dumbbell Arnold Presses Work so Well for Your Delts
9. Face pulls
Focus: posterior deltoid
This compound exercise emphasizes your posterior deltoids or rear delts.
These are important muscles for posture.
Most compound exercises target your anterior or front delts.
Because of this, you could develop a shoulder imbalance without at least some rear delt exercises in your workouts.
Add some face pulls to your program to keep your shoulders balanced and healthy.
Set an adjustable cable machine to about head height and attach a rope handle.
Take an end in each hand and step back with your arms straight.
Bend your arms and pull the handles into the sides of your head.
Imagine you are trying to stick your thumbs in your ears.
Extend your arms and repeat.
Do not drop your elbows as doing so turns face pulls into a standing row, which works more of your latissimus dorsi than your posterior deltoids.
The Face Pull | An Essential Shoulder Prehab Exercise
10. Shoulder press machine
Focus: Anterior deltoid
This final exercise is straightforward, but that doesn’t mean it’s not highly effective.
Because a shoulder press machine uses rods to guide the weights, you are left free to focus on training to failure without having to worry about dropping a loaded barbell on your head!
Also, with no stability issues to think about, it’s easier on your rotator cuff too.
To do it, adjust the seat on your shoulder press machine so that your shoulders are level or slightly below the handles.
Sit down and grab the handles with your preferred grip – wide, narrow, or palms turned in.
Press the weights up and overhead, and then lower them again but do not allow the plates to touch down.
Because shoulder press machine designs vary, make sure you follow the manufacturer’s instructions or those of the gym staff as not doing so could result in injury.
Recommended Gear
Here are a few items of gear that will help make your shoulder workouts even more productive.
Lifting and pressing heavy weights overhead can be hard on your wrists.
Wrist wraps provide your joints with extra support, making your workouts safer and more effective.
These wrist wraps are strong enough to give you the support you need but supple enough to be comfortable.
PASYOU Adjustable Weight Bench
While you can do a lot of shoulder exercises while standing, some exercises may be more comfortable if seated.
Using an adjustable weight bench means you can customize the back support angle to suit your needs and preferences.
75-90 degrees is usually about right for most pressing movements.
Add an extra dimension to your shoulder workouts with Fat Gripz.
All you do is clip the grips to your bar to increase its diameter and make it harder to hold.
As a result, Fat Gripz increases forearm activation, decreases stability, and makes whatever shoulder exercise you are doing that little bit harder.
Compound Shoulder Exercises – Final Thoughts
If you are serious about building bigger shoulders, make sure you include some of these compound exercises in your workouts.
As always, start with a light weight, and focus on increasing your weights or reps performed from one week to the next to keep getting bigger and stronger.
By all means, include a couple of isolation exercises in your shoulder-building workouts, but for best size and strength results, your focus should be on compound shoulder exercises.
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Rich is a NASM-CPT (Certified Personal Trainer), an