Summertime is here. All bodybuilders want to develop their shoulders. Even those who don’t consider themselves serious weight lifters, want bigger, stronger shoulders to fill out their shirts or just to look good on the beach!

I have a couple of shoulder exercises that can help you on your way to those bigger, stronger, more defined shoulders.

Two kinds of shoulder exercises are most common; the press and the raise. I will be writing about the raise in future articles so be sure to keep checking back in. The presses are wonderful exercises for the shoulders which primarily work the triceps, but involve other muscles as well.

Military Press:

This can be done sitting or standing but for beginner’s I’d recommend you start with sitting on a bench that has good back support.

Whether sitting or standing, grasp a barbell with an overhand grip and hold it at shoulder level ? your hands should be slightly farther apart than shoulder width. Slowly press the barbell upwards until your arms are ?locked out? (that is to say, as far up as they can go without straining). Lower the barbell back to shoulder level slowly and repeat.

Seated Dumbbell Press:

This is similar to the Military Press except you will be using dumbbells. This mainly targets the front and side deltoids so consider mixing it in with other press exercises.

This exercise uses less weight than you would normally use. It also has the extra benefit of working on your sense of balance.

While sitting on a bench, take a dumbbell in either hand. Hold the dumbbells at shoulder height, palms facing outward. Press both dumbbells up slowly until your arms are locked out. Slowly return the dumbbells to shoulder height and repeat.

These are just a few of the presses that can build those stronger, bigger, and more defined shoulders. Keep coming back as I will be adding more press exercises in the future. See you at the gym. Until then, keep working those shoulders!