The average bodybuilder or fitness enthusiast primarily aims for good arms, chest, and abs. Broad shoulders rank a bit lower on the list but are still very popular.
The way most athletes try to achieve this in the gym is by doing a lot of lateral exercises like side laterals, which certainly have a place in training, but the foundational exercises often don’t get as much attention as they deserve.
Broad Shoulders with Overhead Presses
What do I mean when I talk about foundational exercises? Well… pressing overhead, of course!
There are many different shoulder pressing exercises that develop shoulder muscles and help achieve the broad look of shoulders. While most pressing exercises mainly develop the front of the shoulders, the muscles around the entire shoulders benefit from heavy overhead pressing.
Overhead presses engage muscles in your entire upper body as a unit, which also has benefits for participating in other sports.
There are many different shoulder pressing exercises, but I’ll show you the ones that, in my opinion, are the best.
Military Press
The military press or barbell press is the cornerstone exercise for your shoulders, just like squats are for your quads. This exercise targets the front of your shoulders, with support from the sides of your shoulders, your triceps, and many other smaller muscles. Anyone can do the military press as long as you have a barbell.
You can perform the military press standing or sitting on a fitness bench. If you’re doing the exercise standing, it’s best to wear a heavy weightlifting belt to protect your lower back.
If you’re doing the exercise sitting, use a shoulder press bench with back support, or use an incline bench with the backrest set vertically. This protects your lower back and prevents you from falling backward when losing control of the weight.
Depending on the variation you choose, either stand with your feet shoulder-width apart or sit on the bench, feet firmly on the ground, and your back against the backrest.
- Grab the barbell with an overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and bring the bar to your upper chest
- Throughout the exercise, keep your elbows slightly forward, do not let them point backward
- Press the weight overhead – watch out for your nose! – until your arms are fully extended
- Lower the weight slowly to the starting position (again, watch out for your nose!)
If you struggle to lower the barbell all the way to your upper chest, stop at your chin.
Behind-The-Neck Press
The behind-the-neck press or neck press is an exercise most instructors will advise against.
The reason for this is that the position of lowering the barbell behind your head compresses the muscles in your neck and back, which can cause problems. Additionally, this exercise can lead to issues with your rotator cuff muscles (the muscles around your shoulder joint) due to the extreme movement.
However, if you’re flexible enough and don’t lower the barbell too far, you can do the neck press. Personally, I don’t lower the barbell beyond the bottom of my skull to protect my rotator cuff. The neck press primarily targets the front of your shoulders, but the sides also get a good workout.
You can perform this pressing exercise variation standing or sitting as well. Depending on the variation, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart or sit with your feet firmly on the ground and press your back firmly against the backrest.
- Grab the barbell with an overhand grip, hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, and bring the barbell to your upper chest
- Press the barbell overhead until your arms are fully extended
- Lower the barbell slowly behind your head until it touches the bottom of your skull – or possibly halfway down your ears – then press it up again
- Lower the barbell behind your head until the set is complete, then bring it back to your upper chest and place the barbell down
Remember to let your elbows move backward so you can lower the barbell behind your head without having to bend your head forward to let the barbell pass. If you can’t lower the barbell behind your head without bending your head forward, don’t do this exercise, you’re just not flexible enough!
Machine Press
Naturally, there are also machine variations of the regular barbell press.
The machine press is a machine you’ll find in some variation in most gyms. The advantage of the machine press is that you can focus on training the front of your shoulders without worrying about balancing the weight.
The downside of machine presses is that the muscles in your body don’t work together as much to lift the weight. If you include machine presses in your training, don’t let them replace free weight exercises.
On most good machine press machines, you can also sit backward, facing the machine, so you can also perform neck presses. Make sure the machine fits your height before putting too much weight on it, or you might injure yourself.
Dumbbell Press
To allow your arms to move more naturally than possible with barbells, you can also perform shoulder pressing exercises with dumbbells. Besides military presses, the dumbbell press is one of the best shoulder exercises.
Dumbbells allow for much more freedom of movement, which also means they are more difficult to control. Other muscles come into play, encouraging muscles in your upper body to work together. The front of your shoulders takes the brunt of the work, but the sides of your shoulders and your triceps also get a good workout.
Although you can do dumbbell presses standing, I recommend doing them seated on an incline bench with the backrest set as high as possible. This prevents you from moving in all directions when pressing the weights up, which protects your lower back.
- Sit on a bench with two dumbbells and place your feet shoulder-width apart to keep your body stable
- Bring the dumbbells up next to your shoulders, palms facing forward or toward each other
- Press the weights overhead simultaneously until your arms are straight
- Lower the weights slowly to the starting position
Arnold Press
A very good variation of the regular dumbbell press is the Arnold press, ‘invented’ by Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Arnold press primarily works the front of your shoulders, but the sides of your shoulders endure a greater-than-normal workload.
The execution of the Arnold press is more challenging than that of the regular dumbbell press; therefore, it’s best to try this exercise first with light weights until you get the movement down.
- Grab two dumbbells, sit on a bench, and place your feet shoulder-width apart
- Bring the dumbbells up as you would with a dumbbell curl, so the weights come to your chest with your palms facing your chest
- Press the weights up while moving your elbows outward and slowly rotate your hands until the palms face forward
- Slowly lower the weights by reversing the motion until the dumbbells are back in front of your chest
This exercise takes some getting used to, but it’s a fantastic addition to your shoulder workouts.
One-Arm Dumbbell Press
The last exercise I want to show you is another variation of the dumbbell press: the one-arm dumbbell press. You can do this exercise standing or sitting, but I prefer the seated version because you can hold onto the bench with your free hand to keep your body stable.
- Sit on a bench with one dumbbell, place your feet shoulder-width apart, and hold onto the bench with your free hand
- Bring the dumbbell up to your shoulder
- Press the weight overhead until your arm is straight
- Slowly lower the weight back down to your shoulder
