Shoulder exercises

The shoulder complex is made up of the deltoids (anterior, lateral and posterior heads) and the trapezius (the back of the neck and upper back).

There are three specific areas of your deltoids (shoulders): the anterior (front), lateral (side), and posterior (rear). The front shoulders help in rotate the arm inward. The lateral muscle helps to lift the arm to the side and posterior muscle helps to pull the arms backward.

Many shoulder exercises also work the trapezius muscle. The trapezius muscle raises your shoulders and rotates your shoulder blades, and is helpful in lifting activities, such as moving furniture.

Below are a number of exercises which will allow you to exercise each area of your shoulder muscles. Simply click on the name of an exercise to watch a free video demonstration of that exercise.

Shoulder exercises: Video demonstrations

 Arnold press
 Bent over lateral raises (Cable)
 Bent over later raises (Dumbbell)
 Cable lateral raises
 Front shoulder press
 Front shoulder raises (Barbell)
 Front shoulder raises (Cable)
 Front shoulder raises (Dumbbell)
 Shoulder press (Dumbbell)
 Shrugs (Barbell)
 Shrugs (Dumbbell)
 Side raises
 Upright rowing 
 Upright rowing (Cable)
 Upright rowing (Dumbbell)

Latest health and fitness news

• Drinking tap water can make you fat
• 8 in 10 men will be overweight by 2020
• Swine flu could return to the UK with a bang
• Risks of breast cancer higher for skinny girls
• All women have an inbuilt fear of getting fat

Latest quizzes and tests

• Back & shoulder pain quiz
• Test your blood pressure knowledge
• Test your cancer basics knowledge
• Will you get diabetes?
• Do you have a healthy prostate?