Shoulders

About the Shoulders

Your shoulder muscles move your arm in all directions - up, down, forward, and backward. They work together with your chest and back muscles. When you raise your arms above your head, your shoulder muscles are working.

Anterior Deltoid: Front of your shoulder, helps raise your arm forward. It's most active when you do front raises or push movements.
Lateral Deltoid: Side of your shoulder, helps raise your arm to the side. It's the main muscle that lifts your arm out to the side.
Posterior Deltoid: Back of your shoulder, helps pull your arm backward. It's crucial for pulling movements and good posture.

Best Shoulders exercises

Delts have three heads. Overhead press covers the front; lateral raises the side; reverse flyes the rear. Skipping rear delts is how shoulders look and feel uneven.

Bent Over Dumbbell Rear Delt Raise With Head On Bench (dumbbell)
Straight Raises on Incline Bench (barbell)
Alternating Cable Shoulder Press (cable)
Alternating Deltoid Raise (dumbbell)
Anti-Gravity Press (barbell)
Barbell Incline Shoulder Raise (barbell)
Barbell Rear Delt Row (barbell)
Bradford/Rocky Presses (barbell)

Common mistakes

Pressing with a huge back arch that turns it into an incline bench.
Swinging lateral raises above shoulder height with traps.
Never training rear delts because they are not “mirror muscles.”

Log Shoulders work in Easy Reps

Open the lift in the app library, log weight and reps, and PRs update when you earn them. No account and no subscription. Download Easy Reps or browse the full exercise library.