When it comes to shoulder exercises, there are no shortage of options. However,
which exercises do you focus on? If you're struggling to build your delts right now,
you're going to want to watch this video to the very end because I'm going to give you
the two exercises that you need to focus on if you want to start seeing your best results. Now,
others may want you to believe that there's only two exercises that you need and that all other
shoulder exercises just don't even provide any additional benefit. That's not what I'm saying.
But if you don't have these two boxes checked in combination with each other, you're going
to struggle to build your best shoulders possible. With this bare minimum approach,
you can be assured of the fact that you're going to have an effective combination of exercises to
use and more so be able to focus on fewer things so you can get to where you want to be faster.
What's up guys, Jeff Cavaliere, Athleanx.com. So, you might be surprised to hear me say only two,
especially when it comes to shoulders, when we've got the front, middle and rear
delts. There's a lot of choices, but if you use scientific selection of the exercises you do,
you can make the right choice. Now, when we talk about the only two, they're not just the only
two you need. If you're only going to do two, then these two need to be on your checklist.
And the first one has to be some variation of a press. And we know that the Barbell Press is
providing you a great opportunity for shoulder growth, and that's all-around shoulder growth
hitting all three of those heads. But what if you've actually maxed out your gains here?
Right? You just plateaued. You can't add weight to the bar anymore. We've got other options. And
that would be something like a Z Press where we take away some of the momentum of the legs and
maybe drop the weight just a little bit to work on that pure shoulder overhead pressing strength
that when you take back with you to an overhead press, it's going to be a lot stronger.
Now, it's also no secret that I like to take myself outside the rack and tell you guys to
just grab a pair of dumbbells and do a standing version of the Overhead Press. This is a great
option except for those who start to use heavier and heavier weights trying to get the weights to
clean them up to your shoulders from a standing position is a hell of a lot harder than it is from
a seated position. So, here's the option I'm going to provide you, just a One Arm Dumbbell Overhead
Press. Because the clean is a lot easier to do when you've got two hands to help you get there.
And we get this additional benefit of shoulder stacking and joint stacking, which will allow you
to have optimal strength and efficiency while still overloading one shoulder at a time.
So, what I talk about is as I press up, I can lean just a little bit and keep my wrist over
my elbow over my shoulder. If I have any orthopedic issues at all, I can adjust the
weights from side to side and still make sure I'm getting the appropriate overload. Remember,
guys, the list of only two has to start with at least some version of an overhead press.
But that's just one. We still have one other. And when it comes to shoulders,
it's pretty damn hard because you're forcing me to pick between one that targets more of the middle
delt or one that targets the rear delt. That's like asking me to pick between my twin sons. Well,
luckily, I don't have to make that pick, and neither do you, because I've got an option
that's going to actually help you to hit both and it's going to be a version of a Lateral
Raise. And when we talk about this, guys, that is the movement. Some form of a lateral raise
needs to be in the equation here, but we don't want to have to pick between the rear and the
middle delt. And for me, that's where the side lateral raise is done with the cable because
we get some really unique benefits here. Number one, I can get my arm across my body
to get a pre-stretch on the middle and rear delts that isn't really there in any other variation.
But then what we want to do is focus on the feet, because if we can just turn our body,
all importantly, just about 45 degrees, we're going to change this exercise and we're going
to target both the rear and middle delts because of it. So, I get this resistance of
abduction because of the angle of my arm against this line of resistance in the cable. But I also
am setting up a bit of a row where I'm resisting extension of the arm behind the body. And as any
heavy rower will tell you, with huge rear delts, that's what drives the growth of the rear delt is
the extension of the arm and heavy resistance to extension. So, by having this slight tweak of my
body in this direction, I've turned this Lateral Raise into more than just a Lateral Raise. I'm
getting the benefit to the middle delt and the rear delt at the same time. With that stretch in
place that I talked about from the very beginning, it's just a great variation of a lateral raise.
Now, if you didn't have this cable set up, you're not out of luck. Try the Cheat
Lateral again. Because the Cheat Lateral is an exercise I always talk about being able
to give you that heavy resistance that has the eccentric component and overload too. But you
can turn it into extension with that slight leaning of the torso extension and external
rotation at the shoulder. You get all of these components that are allowing you to get growth
in both the middle and rear delt. Regardless of which one you choose, the Lateral Raise,
in some form or fashion, is going to be what you need to do. You pair it up with the first
exercise, you got a powerful combination. And remember, don't let others flaw this concept
of only two for you. If you only think you need two exercises, you're doing it wrong. But if
you choose to only do two, then these two have to be it. If you're looking for other shoulder
exercises that will complement it well, make sure you check out this video, I actually rank
all the shoulder exercises for you. If you're looking for a complete program from Athlean-X,
you can find it at Athleanx.com. Guys, remember to click, Subscribe and turn on your Notifications so
you never miss a video when we put one out. All right, guys, see you soon.