Trainer’s Take: How Many Shoulder Exercises & Sets Per Week?

Need to construct some boulder shoulders? Must cap your delts? Obviously, that’s the reason that you must train your shoulders the correct way!

The shoulder muscles are unique in that they control arm movements in multiple directions, because of the three different muscle heads: front, middle, and rear delts. These heads can work together or individually, depending on the movement. Moreover, the shoulder joint’s ability to maneuver in various directions adds complexity when deciding which exercises and to include into your routine.

We’ll break all of it down in this text and inform you exactly what number of exercises you must use to coach the shoulders weekly.

Anatomy And Function Of The Shoulder Joint

The shoulder will be the most intricate joint within the human body. There may be a lot occurring that it will take for much longer than this text to totally explain it.

First, the “shoulder” refers back to the area across the “shoulder” joint. When talking in regards to the shoulder joint, there are several structures involved. These include:

• Scapula
• Rotator cuff
• Humerus

The shoulder joint is classed as a synovial ball-and-socket joint. A synovial joint is a fibrous capsule connecting bones or cartilage and increasing constantly with the periosteum, or outside, of the joined bones. This capsule forms the outer boundary of the synovial cavity and is crammed with synovial fluid.

A ball-and-socket joint is strictly what it feels like. A ball-like structure of a bone matches right into a cup-like section of one other bone. The ball-like joint is the humerus within the shoulder joint, which sits within the cup-like portion of the scapula.

Combined, this structure gives the shoulder a big degree of freedom of movement. In truth, it’s probably the most mobile joint within the human body. As such, it requires many muscles to support all of its functions.

The Shoulder Muscles

Multiple muscles help manipulate the arm and supply stabilization. Listed below are just a number of of the muscles involved within the shoulder joint.

• Teres major
• Teres minor
• Supraspinatus
• Infraspinatus
• Subscapularis

With that said, when people talk in regards to the “shoulder muscles,” they’re talking about your deltoids. The deltoids, or “delts” for brief, comprise three different muscle heads on the shoulder joint.

The three shoulder deltoids are as follows;

• Anterior delt (Front delt)
• Lateral delt (Middle delt)
• Posterior delt (Rear delt)

While all three muscle heads have their very own unique function when contracted independently, they work together for his or her primary function. After they contract together, the shoulder muscle extends overhead, reaching the arms.

Front Delt

The anterior delt sits on the front of the shoulder. It really works together with the pectorals to flex the shoulder.

When the shoulders, most individuals have well-trained front delts simply attributable to the quantity of pressing movements we do. The bench press and push ups are the most well-liked exercises within the gym, and so they each thoroughly train the front delts. Studies show they get high activation from these movements and much more during incline bench presses¹.

Middle Delt

The lateral delt sits on the surface of the shoulder. Its function is to perform shoulder abduction when the shoulder is internally rotated and shoulder transverse abduction when the shoulder is externally rotated.

The lateral delts are somewhat unique as they do not get as much indirect training because the front and rear delts. At the identical time, they’re liable for providing you with that “capped” look as a set of developed lateral delts will protrude outward.

Rear Delt

The rear delts sit on the back of the shoulder and work with lats to perform shoulder extension. In truth, the rear delts are used extensively for many various pulling movements, meaning they get plenty of work from individuals who don’t specifically train them.

Preface: How Many Exercises For Shoulders Per Week?

I’m unable to reply this query accurately and not using a little bit of a preface, so let me start with that…

The shoulders are a bit unique when prescribing a selected variety of exercises attributable to their many movements. For instance, while the chest has two different heads that all the time work together during movements, the shoulder muscles will be more selective. Some exercises goal specific heads of the deltoid, leaving others out.

To make things more complicated, as mentioned, the shoulders are involved in virtually every upper body movement. They control the arms, meaning each time your arms move, your shoulders are working. All pressing movements engage the front delts, while pulling movements goal the rear delts.

With that in mind, after we prescribe exercises for the shoulders and discuss what number of to perform, we’re referring to shoulder-specific exercises (as specific as they will be, since multiple muscles are all the time involved). If it doesn’t sound like much, that is because your shoulders are already being worked through quite a lot of upper body movements beyond just your focused exercises.

Finally, the query is best answered when it comes to sets per week, which can make sense as you proceed reading.

How Many Sets Per Week for Shoulders?

The overall suggestion is 20 working sets per week for every muscle group.

For the shoulders, meaning 20 working sets in total, targeting all three heads of the deltoid (front, middle, and rear).

You may break these 20 sets into two sessions, performing 10 working sets in each session for more balanced recovery and performance.

How Many Exercises for Shoulders Per Week?

To effectively goal all three heads of the deltoid, aim for 5-7 exercises, totaling a minimum of 20 working sets .

These exercises should cover the front, middle, and rear delts to make sure balanced development.

Weekly Breakdown of Exercises:

• Total Shoulder Exercises (Overhead Pressing): 1 exercise 
• Front Delts: 1 exercise
• Middle Delts: 2 exercises
• Rear Delts: 1-2 exercises

Explanation:

• As mentioned earlier, the anterior delts are generally well-developed in most individuals, and so they may not all the time require isolation exercises. Nevertheless, this will vary depending on the person.
• The rear delts, while involved in lots of movements, often need additional focus because they will be overshadowed by larger back muscles.
• And in fact, most individuals are likely to pay special attention to their lateral delts. The center delts need more love as they are not as involved in other movements of the upper body just like the front and rear delts are. So, you will see some extra emphasis here.

Best Exercises

Below are a number of exercises and a breakdown that fit the above suggestion. 

Remember, when training shoulders, it is important to administer the general load, which can dictate what number of exercises you’ll be able to perform effectively. It would be best to start with the larger exercises. So we are going to go so as of the exercises you ought to be prioritizing earlier in your workouts.

1. Overhead Pressing

Overhead pressing is an obvious movement, and there are a lot of options. Nevertheless, we wish to bring special attention to the push press. The push press is ultimately an influence movement and utilizes a fast dip followed by powerful hip extension to assist propel the barbell overhead. Doing so allows more weight to be pushed, which should be stabilized at the highest of the movement. At the identical time, you’ll still need to make use of control throughout the eccentric portion.

Other movements include:

• Military press
• Dumbbell press (seated or standing)
• Z-Press
• Arnold Press

Your weekly session should include a minimum of 1 overhead pressing movement. Take into consideration this like your “total shoulder” exercise. This will likely be your heaviest exercise and used to extend strength and overall mass.

Through the week, you simply need 1 or 2 exercises. Nevertheless, in the event you do 2, consider the push press, as though the mechanics are still similar, it trains a special system.

Assuming you are doing a little bench press or pushups, your overhead pressing will likely be sufficient on your front delts.

2. Middle Delt Exercises

The lateral delts are used during overhead pressing movements, especially dumbbell pressing².

Nevertheless, and as mentioned, the lateral delt should get some extra love. 

Unfortunately, there aren’t a ton of options to coach it optimally.

Our favourite is the , because it allows constant tension across a greater range of motion. One other alternative will be an using a rope attachment. These are two great options for muscle growth. In any case, you ought to include some upright rows and lateral raises with quite a lot of equipment (dumbbells, bands, cable machine, shoulder lateral raise machine). 

Aim for 2-3 exercises. Regarding weekly sets, you’ll be able to aim anywhere from 6-12 sets.

3. Rear Delt Exercises

Now, it’s true that the rear delt gets hit not directly attributable to its role in pulling the arm back with shoulder extension. Nevertheless, that you must use some specific exercises and proper form to get it to grow. Do not forget that the shoulder is a posh joint with so much occurring. As such, barely altering the biomechanics can alter the muscles getting used.

We recommend a minimum of 1 exercise per week for rear delt isolation, but 2 exercises with 6-8 sets is good.

The face pull is one in all our favourite rear delt exercises. It trains the complete upper back and rear delts and improves overall shoulder stability. Nevertheless, there could also be a greater method to perform it to isolate the rear delts more.While you perform them standing, your traps will likely be heavily involved as they’re your body’s primary posture muscle. Due to this fact, to limit the involvement of the traps, face pulls are performed while lying down.

Other exercises include:

• Rear delt fly
• High barbell row
• Reverse cable fly

When performing reverse flys, due so with a neutral grip to further isolate the rear delts³.

Example Of Weekly Shoulder Training

We’re now going to run through how this might play out. As a substitute of blindly saying “Do these 5 exercises,” we would love to walk through how we might arrive at the reply.

We start with the minimum. As mentioned, you get plenty of shoulder training with other movements. Everyone must have a minimum of one overhead pressing movement. In truth, this might be the one shoulder-specific movement some might have.

Now, since we’re going to select more, we will select two.

The primary will likely be a push press, which is attributable to the facility and eccentric overload we mentioned earlier. Our second pick can be the dumbbell shoulder press. This takes care of a unilateral movement, which can cause more activation growth and will be higher for muscle hypertrophy.

• Barbell Push Press
• Dumbbell Shoulder Press

The following major movement you would like is a minimum of one lateral movement. Probably the most obvious alternative is the cable lateral raise.

• Barbell Push Press
• Dumbbell Shoulder Press
• Cable Lateral Raise

Nevertheless, if you ought to think about the lateral delts, add an upright row. The opposite alternative is to simply add more sets of lateral raises.

• Barbell Push Press
• Dumbbell Shoulder Press
• Cable Lateral Raise
• Upright Row (Optional)

The last part is to make use of a minimum of one exercise to isolate the rear delts.

• Barbell Push Press
• Dumbbell Shoulder Press
• Cable Lateral Raise
• Upright Row (Optional)
• Face Pull (On the ground) Reverse Fly Or Each

You would add yet another exercise: the farmer’s carry. This exercise requires your shoulders to not only hold the burden but additionally hold the burden away from the body so it doesn’t hit your legs. It might be an excellent addition to your weekly training.

Now, if we were to divide these exercises up, we might do the farmer carry-on back day after which split the shoulder exercise across two sessions.

Session 1:

• Barbell Push Press
• Lateral Raise
• Face Pulls

Session 2:

Session 3:

• Dumbbell Shoulder Press
• Upright Row
• Reverse Flies

Take our Workout Quiz to seek out the correct program for you!

Training The Shoulders: Final Say

Training the shoulders will be slightly weird as they’re utilized in every upper body movement. Further, many individuals perceive them as being small and will even group them with training arms. The reality is the shoulders are a necessary muscle and training them ought to be one in all your priorities.

By way of what number of exercises, it will vary depending on the person. Minimalists may only use one while bodybuilders may use 2 or 3 for the lateral delts alone. Regardless, this text laid out the final guidelines that you could use to construct your individual shoulder training.

Related:

References:

1. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274010566_Influence_of_bench_angle_on_upper_extremity_muscular_activation_during_bench_press_exercise
2. Saeterbakken, A. H., & Fimland, M. S. (2013). Effects of Body Position and Loading Modality on Muscle Activity and Strength in Shoulder Presses. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 27(7), 1824–1831. https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0b013e318276b873‌
3. Schoenfeld, B., Sonmez, R. G. T., Kolber, M. J., Contreras, B., Harris, R., & Ozen, S. (2013). Effect of Hand Position on EMG Activity of the Posterior Shoulder Musculature During a Horizontal Abduction Exercise. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 27(10), 2644–2649. https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0b013e318281e1e9‌