Having firm, rounded shoulders can help you fill out your favourite outfits and have you looking extra sculpted when you hit the beach or pool. Strong shoulders can also help you bear the weight of other difficult physical activities. Here are some of the best shoulder exercises you can do to build up your muscles so they can handle the load of your fitness goals. As with most exercises, don’t try to overdo it right away. It’s always better to start out with too little weight than too much. Using weight that you can’t smoothly control through the entire movement can lead to major damage to your shoulder joints. Seated Dumbbell Press Sit in a chair with good posture. Grab a dumbbell in each hand using an overhand grip. Lift the dumbbells up on each side of your head to ear height. Your palms should be facing forward. From that position, raise your arms up over your head, gradually bringing the dumbbells together. By the time you’ve reached all the way, they should be touching. Hold them together for a second before slowly bringing them back down. Side Lateral Raise Start standing straight up with your arms at your sides. You should be holding the dumbbells with an overhand grip so your palms are facing inside toward your hips. Keeping your arms mostly straight with just a slight bend at the elbow, raise them up and out to the side of your body. Stop raising them when the dumbbells reach shoulder height. Then slowly let them back down to your sides. Front lateral raises, in which you hold the dumbbells in front of you and raise your arms forward, are a solid variation that can also help your shoulders. Dumbbell Shrugs These are pretty simple and the name is pretty self-explanatory. Stand straight up with your arms hanging down by your sides and a dumbbell in each hand. Your palms should be facing inward toward your hips. Keeping your arms at your sides, lift your shoulders up as high as you can in a shrugging motion. Pause for a second at the top of the movement before releasing back down. If you really want to start building up the strength in your shoulders, consider using protein supplements such as Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey or Dymatize Iso 100, which can take your workouts to the next level. Read More:

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