The ONLY 2 Shoulder Exercises You Need (NO, SERIOUSLY!)

What would you say if I told you that there were only two shoulder exercises you need to do? In this video, I am going to show you the two shoulder exercises that should make up the bare minimum of your shoulder workouts. Not only are these two exercises great for building big shoulders, but they ar

When it comes to shoulder exercises,  there are no shortage of options. However, which exercises do you focus on? If you’re  struggling to build your delts right now, you’re going to want to watch this video to  the very end because I’m going to give you the two exercises that you need to focus on if  you want to start seeing your best results. Now, others may want you to believe that there’s only  two exercises that you need and that all other shoulder exercises just don’t even provide any  additional benefit. That’s not what I’m saying.

But if you don’t have these two boxes checked  in combination with each other, you’re going to struggle to build your best shoulders  possible. With this bare minimum approach, you can be assured of the fact that you’re going  to have an effective combination of exercises to use and more so be able to focus on fewer things  so you can get to where you want to be faster. What’s up guys, Jeff Cavaliere, Athleanx. com. So,  you might be surprised to hear me say only two, especially when it comes to shoulders,  when we’ve got the front, middle and rear delts.

There’s a lot of choices, but if you use  scientific selection of the exercises you do, you can make the right choice. Now, when we talk  about the only two, they’re not just the only two you need. If you’re only going to do two,  then these two need to be on your checklist. And the first one has to be some variation of  a press. And we know that the Barbell Press is providing you a great opportunity for shoulder  growth, and that’s all-around shoulder growth hitting all three of those heads.

But what  if you’ve actually maxed out your gains here? Right? You just plateaued. You can’t add weight  to the bar anymore. We’ve got other options.

And that would be something like a Z Press where we  take away some of the momentum of the legs and maybe drop the weight just a little bit to work  on that pure shoulder overhead pressing strength that when you take back with you to an overhead  press, it’s going to be a lot stronger. Now, it’s also no secret that I like to take  myself outside the rack and tell you guys to just grab a pair of dumbbells and do a standing  version of the Overhead Press. This is a great option except for those who start to use heavier  and heavier weights trying to get the weights to clean them up to your shoulders from a standing  position is a hell of a lot harder than it is from a seated position. So, here’s the option I’m going  to provide you, just a One Arm Dumbbell Overhead Press. Because the clean is a lot easier to do  when you’ve got two hands to help you get there.

And we get this additional benefit of shoulder  stacking and joint stacking, which will allow you to have optimal strength and efficiency while  still overloading one shoulder at a time. So, what I talk about is as I press up, I can  lean just a little bit and keep my wrist over my elbow over my shoulder. If I have any  orthopedic issues at all, I can adjust the weights from side to side and still make sure  I’m getting the appropriate overload. Remember, guys, the list of only two has to start with  at least some version of an overhead press. But that’s just one.

We still have one  other. And when it comes to shoulders, it’s pretty damn hard because you’re forcing me to  pick between one that targets more of the middle delt or one that targets the rear delt. That’s  like asking me to pick between my twin sons. Well, luckily, I don’t have to make that pick, and  neither do you, because I’ve got an option that’s going to actually help you to hit both  and it’s going to be a version of a Lateral Raise. And when we talk about this, guys, that  is the movement.

Some form of a lateral raise needs to be in the equation here, but we don’t  want to have to pick between the rear and the middle delt. And for me, that’s where the side  lateral raise is done with the cable because we get some really unique benefits here. Number one, I can get my arm across my body to get a pre-stretch on the middle and rear delts  that isn’t really there in any other variation. But then what we want to do is focus on the  feet, because if we can just turn our body, all importantly, just about 45 degrees, we’re  going to change this exercise and we’re going to target both the rear and middle delts  because of it. So, I get this resistance of abduction because of the angle of my arm against  this line of resistance in the cable.

But I also am setting up a bit of a row where I’m resisting  extension of the arm behind the body. And as any heavy rower will tell you, with huge rear delts,  that’s what drives the growth of the rear delt is the extension of the arm and heavy resistance to  extension. So, by having this slight tweak of my body in this direction, I’ve turned this Lateral  Raise into more than just a Lateral Raise. I’m getting the benefit to the middle delt and the  rear delt at the same time. With that stretch in place that I talked about from the very beginning,  it’s just a great variation of a lateral raise.

Now, if you didn’t have this cable set  up, you’re not out of luck. Try the Cheat Lateral again. Because the Cheat Lateral is  an exercise I always talk about being able to give you that heavy resistance that has the  eccentric component and overload too. But you can turn it into extension with that slight  leaning of the torso extension and external rotation at the shoulder. You get all of these  components that are allowing you to get growth in both the middle and rear delt.

Regardless  of which one you choose, the Lateral Raise, in some form or fashion, is going to be what  you need to do. You pair it up with the first exercise, you got a powerful combination. And remember, don’t let others flaw this concept of only two for you. If you only think you need  two exercises, you’re doing it wrong. But if you choose to only do two, then these two have  to be it.

If you’re looking for other shoulder exercises that will complement it well, make  sure you check out this video, I actually rank all the shoulder exercises for you. If you’re  looking for a complete program from Athlean-X, you can find it at Athleanx. com. Guys, remember to  click, Subscribe and turn on your Notifications so you never miss a video when we put one  out. All right, guys, see you soon.