Los 3 mejores ejercicios para hombros con mancuernas

The 3 best dumbbell shoulder exercises

Benefits of performing dumbbell shoulder exercises

One of the greatest advantages of training your shoulders with dumbbells is that you need very little equipment. With a pair of dumbbells, you can fully work all three heads of the deltoids (anterior, medial, and posterior) without needing gym machines or cables. This allows you to train both at home and in the gym with great versatility (Waterbury, 2003).

Dumbbells also offer certain advantages, including:

  • Greater range of motion: they allow natural movement paths, avoiding forced positions (Schoenfeld, 2010)—something that can sometimes occur with machines.
  • Superior muscle activation: they allow unilateral training, which helps correct imbalances and improve symmetry (Nuckols, 2015b).
  • Joint safety: they place less stress on the wrists and shoulders compared with a barbell (Simmons, 2007) or other machines.
  • Adaptable to any level: simply vary the weight and repetitions, making them a useful tool for both beginners and advanced trainees (Nuckols, 2015a). Although the weight jumps may be too large for some exercises, they usually offer more advantages than disadvantages.

Now that you know the benefits of training with dumbbells, let’s look at what exercises you can perform with them—and the three best ones for the shoulders.

Exercise 1: Dumbbell military press

The military press is the foundational movement to develop strength, stability, and muscle mass in the anterior and medial deltoids. Using dumbbells increases the range of motion and joint stabilization (Schoenfeld et al., 2016). If you do not feel entirely comfortable with the bench at 90°, you can always incline it by reducing the angle to around 75–80°. This often happens the first few times you perform this exercise because most people have limited shoulder mobility. Little by little, you will be able to increase the bench angle. 

Step-by-step technique

  1. Hold the dumbbells at shoulder height with your palms facing forward.
  2. Work in the scapular plane.
  3. Push upward until your arms are extended without locking your elbows, and remember not to let the dumbbells collide.
  4. Lower in a controlled manner to the starting position and pause before beginning the next repetition.

Variations

  • Unilateral: to improve shoulder stability.
  • Seated: greater safety and ability to apply force.
  • Standing: greater core and glute activation.

Progression

Scientific evidence indicates that training in rep ranges of 6–12 repetitions at 65–85% of 1RM is the most effective for hypertrophy (Schoenfeld et al., 2016). It is recommended to increase the load progressively, always prioritizing technique.

We have already seen how to work one of the shoulder heads (anterior); now let’s see how to work the one that gives the shoulder the most shape, the lateral head. 

Dumbbell military press with Moremuscle

Exercise 2: Dumbbell lateral raises

Lateral raises are the best exercise for adding width to the shoulders because they directly work the lateral or medial deltoid, the head that gives the shoulder its width.

Technical cues

  • Keep a slight bend in your elbows, but do not overdo it.
  • Raise the dumbbells to shoulder height and lower them slowly; do not let them drop.
  • Avoid swinging or using momentum, except for the last repetitions, when you are very close to failure.

Rep ranges

This exercise responds best to moderate-to-high rep ranges of 12–20 repetitions, which increases metabolic stress and mechanical tension, benefiting hypertrophy (Waterbury, 2003). In addition, methods such as dropsets or rest-pause work very well with this exercise because, being single-joint, it is minimally fatiguing (Marion, 2008).

Common mistakes

Lateral raises are one of the exercises most often performed incorrectly in the gym, mainly for these 3 reasons, which you should avoid: 

  • Use too much weight, working the trapezius more than the lateral deltoid.
  • Fail to control the eccentric phase.
  • Reduce the range of motion.

Let’s move on to the last of the shoulder heads, the rear head. Although it receives much of its stimulus from back training, it is still worth working in isolation.

Lateral raises with Moremuscle

Exercise 3: Reverse flyes or rear raises

The rear deltoid contributes to aesthetic balance, adds strength to the posterior area, and improves posture. Training it is essential for shoulder health and a “3D” aesthetic (Nuckols, 2015b). For this purpose, exercises such as reverse flyes are a good option.

How to do it?

  • Lean forward with the dumbbells; if you want, you can support your chest on a bench set at about 60° for greater stability.
  • Raise your arms out to the sides (as if you wanted to open a curtain), keeping your elbows slightly bent.
  • Keep your back straight and tilt your pelvis backward to avoid lower-back discomfort.

You already know the 3 best exercises for training your shoulders with dumbbells. Next, we will see how to organize these exercises in your training routine to get the most out of them.

Moremuscle rear delt raises

How to organize these dumbbell shoulder exercises in your routine

Recommended order

The most efficient programming places compound movements (overhead press) first, followed by isolation exercises (lateral and rear delt raises) to maximize strength and volume (Simmons, 2007).

Example training session

  1. Dumbbell overhead press 2 x 4–6
  2. Lateral raises 3 x 10–12
  3. Rear delt flyes 3 × 12–15

Types of routines in which you can include them

  • Full body: include 1–2 exercises at the end of the session, or at the beginning if the shoulder is your priority muscle to develop.
  • Upper body/lower body: include the overhead press on upper-body day and isolation exercises on lower-body day.
  • Push/Pull/Legs: The shoulders are trained mainly on push day, although if they are a high priority, you can add isolation exercises on leg day. 

Nutrition and supplementation to enhance shoulder muscle growth

Protein and macronutrients

The intake of 1.6–2.2 g/kg/day of protein is the most strongly supported recommendation for maximizing hypertrophy (Morton et al., 2018). The higher ranges are recommended for fat-loss phases (2–2.2 g/kg), and the more moderate ranges for muscle-mass gains (1.6–1.9 g/kg). 

Strategic carbohydrates

Increasing carbohydrates on training days improves performance and recovery (Marion, 2008). It is not necessary to reduce the number of training days; however, carbohydrate cycling (high and low days) has produced very good results in terms of gaining muscle mass while keeping body fat under control.

Key supplements

Supplements are one of your best friends in training; when it comes to gaining muscle mass, they will help you get an extra boost in both recovery and performance, while also making your life much easier. 

Conclusion

Having strong, shapely, and defined shoulders isn't a matter of luck, nor of spending endless hours in a gym packed with machines. It's a matter of knowing which exercises you need to do and training close to failure (when appropriate). 

With just a pair of dumbbells and three main movements (overhead press, lateral raises, and rear delt flyes), you can build shoulders with good muscle mass and that “3D” look you want so badly. 

And before finishing this blog, remember that consistency is the main tool that produces results; short-term thinking won't give you those shoulders you want so badly, but patience will. 

References

 

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