Over 860 Ways to Shape Your Delts

We have more than 860 shoulder-shaping routines for you to turn your tired-looking delts around within weeks.

Shoulders 101

Your shoulders contain three muscles – the anterior, lateral and posterior deltoids – that work together with your upper back, rotator cuffs and chest muscles to lift, rotate, swing and swivel your arms in all directions. Since your deltoid muscles surround your shoulder joint, they can therefore be seen from all sides. For ideal symmetry and optimal joint health, all three of these muscles, as well as the trapezius in the back, should be trained equally. “If you neglect an area of your shoulder it will lead to imbalances, which in turn can lead to injury in the shoulder, neck, or even the spinal area,” says Mike Hanley, CSCS, owner of The Training Studio in Morganville, New Jersey. Weak shoulders and traps can also contribute to poor posture, allowing your spine to curve in a direction that is unsafe.

Hitting all the angles

To make sure you hit your deltoids and upper back evenly each time you train, we’ve devised a simple color-coded plan for a complete shoulder workout. To hit your shoulders from all sides, simply choose one move from each color column and create a new dynamic routine each week from the lists provided. “Eventually an exercise or a routine will lose its stimulus effect on the muscle,” says Hanley. “The muscles learn the movements and figure out how to do them using less effort than they did previously, curtailing your results.” Continually changing your routine helps you avoid this pitfall, keeping your muscles guessing and your results coming on strong.

You can also tailor this routine to suit your individual purposes. For instance, if your lateral delts need work, put them first in your routine when they’re fresh. If your posture needs help, train traps first and foremost. Be objective when looking at your physique, then use the exercises provided to shape it up the way you want it!

Personalize your shoulder plan

Choose one exercise each from the blue, pink, green and yellow categories and complete three sets of each following the rep ranges provided. The magic of this plan is that these moves can be done in any order depending on your goals. Need to bring up your rear delts? Put the moves from the Green column first. Want broader shoulders? Prioritize the pink or yellow moves. No matter which move you choose to do first, do one to two warm-up sets using a lighter weight and higher reps to get your shoulders ready to rock!