Big, well-defined, and balanced looking shoulders are essential when it comes to developing a broad, powerful looking upper body. But achieving them is no easy feat. One of the biggest mistakes people make with shoulder training is failing to incorporate enough dumbbell exercises into their routine. Dumbbell shoulder exercises are crucial as they help to prevent muscular imbalances or asymmetries from developing. 
 
In this video, we’ll be covering four dumbbell shoulder exercises which will help take your shoulders to the next level.
  
One of the best dumbbell shoulder exercises is the dumbbell shoulder press.
The shoulder press can be done standing or seated. Both variations will effectively target the front delt. Dumbbell shoulder presses will also activate the middle and rear delt. This exercise will act as your primary compound movement for the shoulders. There are pros and cons to the seated and standing variations.
  
The next exercise is going to target the lateral deltoids or mid-delt.
The lateral deltoid doesn’t receive enough attention from the shoulder press alone.
Lateral raises are likely your best bet for growing this portion of your shoulders. Research has consistently shown that lateral raises elicit the highest activation when compared to other common shoulder exercises.
 
Next, we’re going to use the rear delt dumbbell row. This exercise will shift more of the focus onto the rear delts. Rear delt dumbbell rows will also activate back musculature and the lats to a significant extent. This exercise is a great choice to add mass to the rear delts since it enables you to use heavier weights than rear delt isolation movements such as reverse flyes.
 
One of the best dumbbell shoulder exercises for the rear delt is a dumbbell version of the traditional rope face pull. This rear delt exercise can be used to target the rear delts further, and at the same time, strengthen the all-important rotator cuff, mid, and lower traps simultaneously.

The rope face pull is highly effective at targeting the rear delts as it incorporates the primary movement functions of the rear delts, but also adds in external rotation. The exercises we’ve previously covered don’t incorporate any external rotation. External rotation is a lesser-known, but still an important function of the rear delts.
 
Feel free to do this as a workout on its own. You can also split it up and add a couple of these exercises to your existing working program.
 
I hope that you were able to see the importance of choosing the right shoulder exercises, but more importantly, performing them correctly. Performing your exercises correctly is just as crucial if you want to build muscle faster while also avoiding injuries.
 
Within my Built With Science programs, you’re provided with detailed breakdowns of various exercises, and the correct form to use. If you need a program which will take you through the process of building an incredible physique, then join today by taking the quiz below to determine what program is best for you:

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STUDIES:
EMG ANALYSIS

BODY POSITION AND MODALITY

ANATOMICAL ANALYSES OF LATS

ROTATOR CUFF

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