Working the Delts for Fabulous Shoulders

I don't know about you but I think shoulders are one of the sexiest parts of the body and defined shoulders look great on both men and women.

I also must warn you that the shoulders can't take a pounding or as heavy of weights as other body parts. Take extra precaution in working them because once you have a shoulder injury, it tends to hang around and bug you for life.

There are three heads in the delts and you want to target each one. In working your shoulders it also brings your triceps and other assisting muscle groups into play.

Front raises will target the front delts, side raises target the middle delts and bending over to do side raises will target the rear delts. Knowing this will give you an all over workout in the shoulder area so one muscle head isn't worked more than the others. You want to create balance so your shoulders are strong and sexy without looking malformed or asymmetrical.

The exercises mentioned should be done with light to medium weights in the beginning, because they can cause injury since each head of the delt is pretty much isolated. You can, however, use more weight on compound moves that use more muscle groups at a time or after you've gotten used to your regular workout. Never add too much weight at one time to shoulder workouts. You may feel this is a bit slow, but it's better than a nagging injury.

Please note this is not a how-to article, but an informative piece on exercises you can use to create great shoulders.

You want to work all heads of the delts equally to have symmetrical development. If your shoulders have a look that isn't well-proportioned it will leave you looking lop-sided and not visually appealing.

Overhead press: The overhead press is one of the basic shoulder moves which target the front and middle deltoid muscles. If you use a machine for this exercise instead of a free-standing barbell, you can go a bit heavier on the weight because you won't have to balance the bar. If you're using a barbell you will have to incorporate balance into the lift so a lower weight is better to avoid unnecessary strain on any of the muscles.

Front raises: Front raises target the front deltoid muscle. If you're using a barbell with free weights you'll want to go light on the amount of weight you use. If you're using a cable machine for front raises it will add constant tension to the front delts so again, light is better in the beginning.

Seated Lateral Raises with Dumbbells: The seated lateral raise can be done sitting up straight or slightly bent over. If you normally do these in an upright position, you may want to try a bended version to really isolate and target the rear delts.

Remember that other muscle groups are brought into play when you're developing the delts. The chest and triceps also get a good workout. Either work those on a split routine two days before or two days after the shoulder workout. If you do work all muscle groups on the same day, make sure to start with the largest muscle group first. Work the chest, the delts and the triceps last.

Now go to work on those shoulders so you can look fabulous in sleeveless shirts!