The 10 Best Dumbbell Shoulder Exercises for Muscle & Strength (Plus Workout)

If you want strong and impressive shoulders, you can’t just hammer away at the overhead press and hope for the best.

Forget the guesswork, because in this article, I’ll break down the dumbbell shoulder exercises you need to build muscle, strength, and stability from any angle.

These are the 10 best exercises to get the job done.

Easy Shoulder Muscle Anatomy and Function

We’ll get to the dumbbell shoulder exercises in a minute, but first, let’s take a look at the basic anatomy and function of these workhorses of your upper body. It’s going to be quick and easy, so don’t worry about getting bogged down in textbook minutiae.

Your shoulders are more than slabs of meat that look good in a tank top. They are a complex set of muscles around an even more complex joint, responsible for the fantastic range of motion of your arms.

Your shoulder joint (the glenohumeral joint) is a ball-and-socket joint.

Go ahead and visualize it as a golf ball sitting on a tee. The ball is the head of your upper arm bone (humerus), and the tee is a very shallow socket on your shoulder blade (scapula).

That design gives you impressive mobility but makes it very dependent on a team of muscles to keep it stable and functioning properly.

Let’s meet that team.

Or perhaps you’re eager to get straight to the dumbbell shoulder exercises?

Your Deltoid Muscles

The deltoid is the big triangular muscle that caps your shoulder. It’s the one you see in the mirror and is responsible for the boulder shoulder look of bodybuilders.

The name “deltoid” comes from the Greek letter delta (Δ), which is shaped like a triangle.

It looks like one muscle, but it’s actually made up of three parts, each with a primary job. Outside of academic anatomy, you’ll often hear them referred to as “heads”. That’s not formally correct, but it’s common and acceptable in fitness talk.

Most people would probably guess that the deltoid is smaller than, say, the pecs or the lats, but most people would be wrong.¹ It is actually one of the largest muscle groups in the upper body.

It has many functions, including abduction, adduction, extension, flexion, and internal and external rotation, all performed by the three heads, sometimes on their own and sometimes together.²

Just look at this little guy demonstrating those functions:

Front Delts

Located at the front is the anterior deltoid (front delt). It originates on your clavicle (your collarbone).

Its main job is shoulder flexion, which is a fancy way of saying it lifts your arm forward and up, like when you do a front raise or hail a cab. It also helps with internal rotation (turning your arm inward).

It’s very much involved in pressing movements like bench presses, overhead presses, and push-ups.

Side Delts

The middle section is called the lateral deltoid (side delt). It originates from the acromion, the bony point you can feel at the top of your shoulder blade. It is the part that really contributes to your shoulder width.

This guy’s one and only mission is shoulder abduction, meaning it lifts your arm out to the side, away from your body, like when you do a lateral raise or make a snow angel.

You’ll often hear the lateral delt referred to as the “medial” delt, but this is not correct. It’s a classic case of gym-speak getting lost in translation. People think “front, middle, and back,” and the word that sounds kind of like “middle” is “medial.”

Simple, logical, but incorrect.

The side of your shoulder, being away from the midline, is lateral, not medial. Of course, people at the gym will know what you mean if you say “medial delt,” but now you know the right way to say it and why.

Rear Delts

Tucked away at the back is the posterior deltoid (rear delt). It originates on the spine of your shoulder blade.

Its jobs are horizontal abduction and shoulder extension, pulling your arm backward like when you do reverse flyes or reach into the back seat of your car.

Many lifters are front-delt dominant from doing more pressing than pulling movements. But if you neglect these little guys, you might end up paying for it both in terms of shoulder health and a visually less impressive upper body.

Rotator Cuff

In addition to the delts, your shoulder muscles also include the rotator cuff. It’s also not one muscle, but a group of four smaller muscles (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis) that originate on the shoulder blade and wrap around the head of your upper arm bone, forming a “cuff.”

Their collective job is to stabilize your shoulder joint. Keeping the golf ball centered on the tee during movement, if you will. They handle rotation and prevent your arm from dislocating when you reach for something.

Neglecting these stabilizers is a one-way ticket to Injury City. OK, that was an over-simplification, but compound exercises, while involving these muscles for stabilization, do not strengthen them through a full range of motion. You don’t need a rotator cuff day, but a few weekly sets for these little helpers can be a good idea.

The 10 Best Dumbbell Shoulder Exercises

And with that, it’s time to build some shoulders.

Let’s take a look at 10 of the best exercises, from compound lifts to isolation and stability movements, for all parts of your shoulder muscles, including the rotator cuff.

And who knows, maybe you’ll get some stories from the good old days of bodybuilding and other trivia along the way.

After that, I’ll show you how to combine the exercises into a complete and effective shoulder workout.

Here we go, in alphabetical order:

1. Arnold Press

The Arnold press is a variation of the standard dumbbell press where, instead of starting with your palms facing forward, you begin with them facing you, the dumbbells near your chest, as if you’re about to curl them.

As you press upward, you rotate the dumbbells so that when your arms are extended overhead, your palms face forward. You force your shoulders to work through a greater range of motion than in a standard overhead press, recruiting the front and side deltoids while also keeping the rotator cuff muscles busy for stabilization.

Now, despite Arnold saying “I always include it in my shoulder routine” in The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding: The Bible of Bodybuilding, there’s virtually no footage of him actually doing it outside of this book, not in any training videos or photos from his prime era in the ’70s or later.

What we do see in those archives is him doing a ton of heavy presses behind and in front of the neck and lateral raises. All the usual suspects for building big shoulders.

In fact, some bodybuilders, most notably Lee Priest, have mentioned several times that the Arnold press was basically gym propaganda and that Arnold supposedly talked up this fancy rotational press to get other competitors experimenting with new movements while he himself stuck to the tried-and-true basics. Or maybe it was just attributed to him by writers or editors.

Even if that story is true, even if Arnold never did a single Arnold press, that doesn’t make the exercise useless or harmful. The rotation can indeed make it less stable, which isn’t ideal for maximum muscle growth, but on the other hand, it takes the shoulders through a longer range of motion, and, for some lifters with less than stellar shoulder health, it can feel more natural than being locked into a single plane of motion.

Do I think Arnold really used it? Probably not. At least not regularly.

Do I think that makes it a bad exercise? Also no, just not automatically superior to regular presses, like some make it out to be.

One small-scale study did find that the Arnold press activates the side delt significantly more than regular overhead presses.³ So there’s that. But regardless of whether Arnold himself actually did this exercise or not, it’s still a fun and effective alternative to standard presses.

How to Do Arnold Presses

1. Start with the dumbbells in front of your chest with your palms facing toward your body.
2. As you press the dumbbells up, rotate your palms outward so they face forward when your arms are extended overhead.
3. Lower the dumbbells back to the starting position, rotating your palms inward again.
4. Repeat for reps.

2. Cuban Press

The Cuban press is a three-part exercise for your shoulders. It’s a combination of an upright row, an external rotation, and an overhead press. It trains the delts, as well as the rotator cuff, scapular stabilizers, and the small supportive muscles that standard overhead pressing misses.

It’s called the Cuban press because it was the signature exercise of the Cuban Olympic weightlifting teams back in the day. They didn’t do it as a muscle-building exercise but as prehab for healthy shoulders. But foreign coaches and athletes saw it, brought it back home, and began calling it the Cuban rotation or Cuban press.

Legend has it that famous strength coach Charles Poliquin made up the name on the spot to convince one of his athletes to do it. The story goes that this guy didn’t want to do this wimpy exercise with light weights, and Poliquin supposedly got him to do it by telling him it was the secret of the Cuban weightlifting team’s success.

I don’t know how much of that specific story is true or how much has been embellished over time, but the reason for the name is a direct tribute to the Cuban weightlifters of the day.

Despite originally being a weightlifting accessory, the Cuban press is not an explosive lift. If you can’t perform the external rotation with control, the weight is too heavy, and you’ll end up using momentum and getting zero benefit. If you haven’t done it before, you’ll be surprised at how light you have to go.

How to Do Cuban Presses

1. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, holding a pair of dumbbells with an overhand grip (palms facing down).
2. Lift the dumbbells in a controlled motion up to shoulder height, with your elbows in line with your shoulders.
3. Once the dumbbells reach shoulder height, rotate your shoulders outward, lifting the dumbbells and turning your wrists so your palms face forward.
4. Press the dumbbells overhead to full extension.
5. Reverse the movement by lowering the dumbbells back to shoulder height, rotating your shoulders inward, and then returning the dumbbells to the starting position in front of your thighs.
6. Repeat the movement for the desired number of repetitions.

3. Dumbbell Front Raise

The dumbbell front raise is an isolation exercise for your front delts. And it’s one that most people don’t need to do regularly. Every single pressing exercise, both for your chest and your shoulders, hammers your anterior deltoids. Because of that, the front delts usually get plenty of work indirectly. For many lifters, that’s more than enough stimulation to make them keep up with the rest of the upper body.

So why do I include the front raise in a list of the best dumbbell shoulder exercises? Because it is the best of all if you do need to work on your front delts. Just because it’s common not to need specific front delt training doesn’t mean no one ever does.

For example, even if it’s rare, some lifters have stubborn front delts that just don’t respond well. And, if you have an injury that prevents presses, front raises are a great way to train this part of the shoulder and get some blood flow without the heavy load.

If doing front raises like most lifters do, with your palms down, feels wonky in the shoulder joint, try holding the dumbbells with your palms facing each other (like a hammer). It can feel more natural, and it hits your front delt from a slightly different angle, too.

How to Do Dumbbell Front Raises

1. Hold a pair of dumbbells in straight arms in front of your hip.
2. With control, lift the dumbbells forward with straight arms, until the dumbbells are at shoulder height.
3. Reverse the movement and lower the dumbbells with control.
4. Repeat for reps.

4. Dumbbell Lateral Raise

The dumbbell lateral raise is an isolation exercise for the side delts, the part of your shoulders that builds width, and it’s the king for building capped delts.

It’s also a front-runner for the most butchered exercise you’ll see in a gym. Many lifters choose weights they can’t handle, transforming what should be a simple exercise into a spectacle of swinging and weirdness.

It can be a sight to behold for sure, but not really in a good way. This exercise thrives on relatively light weights. Pick dumbbells you can control and let the right muscles do all the work.

Lead with your elbows, not your hands, and don’t go too high. Once your arms hit shoulder level, that’s peak deltoid activation. Beyond that, it’s mostly trap city.

For maximum side delt activation, you can tweak the angle by tilting your thumbs slightly downward.⁴ Like this:

Keep in mind that this variation puts your shoulder joint in an internally rotated position, which can be risky if you don’t have the mobility for it. So, try it, but if you feel discomfort, switch to neutral-grip laterals (a thumbs-up grip activates the front delt more, which isn’t a bad thing if that’s what you’re going for).

You can also force even stricter form by sitting on the edge of a bench to take your legs and any potential body swing out of the equation.

How to Do Dumbbell Lateral Raises

1. Hold a pair of dumbbells in almost straight arms hanging by your sides.
2. With control, lift the dumbbells out to your sides until your upper arms are horizontal.
3. Lower the dumbbells with control.
4. Repeat for reps.

5. Dumbbell Shoulder Press

If you want shoulders that look less like pebbles and more like actual boulders, the dumbbell shoulder press is your number one mass-builder. It primarily hits your front delts but also involves your side delts quite a bit.

Pushing heavy things over your head is a fundamental human movement. Getting stronger here will make you stronger in many other lifts, like your bench press. Even better, it’ll make you stronger in life.

Unlike the barbell press, dumbbells involve more stabilizer muscles and allow you to get a more natural range of motion in your shoulder and wrist joints.

You can do them seated or standing.

I’m a big fan of the seated version for hypertrophy. You can load up the delts for maximum stability and focus more on your shoulders doing most of the work.

For overall athletic strength, however, you could argue that the standing variant has the edge, recruiting stabilizing muscles and involving your balance significantly more.

But regardless of which one you do, you have a top-tier exercise for your delts. In fact, if you had to choose a single shoulder exercise and stick to only that one, you wouldn’t have made a wrong choice if you went with the dumbbell shoulder press. It ticks almost every box you’d want, from strength to muscle growth to being joint-friendly and easy to do.

If your shoulders feel good, you have the mobility, and you’re controlling the press, some elbow flare is both fine and normal, but it’s generally better to press with your elbows slightly in front of the body. Flaring them straight out like wings will involve your side delts more, but can irritate the shoulder joint over time, and most people are a bit stronger with the elbow slightly in front of the body anyway.

6. Dumbbell Shrug

The dumbbell shrug is an effective isolation exercise for the upper trapezius. That’s the meaty part at the top of your back that stretches from your neck out to your shoulders and gives you the yoke-like appearance where your neck blends into your shoulders when well developed.

Shrugs don’t hit your delts, but they still play an indirect and important role for complete shoulder development. Why? Because while the trapezius is anatomically a back muscle, it’s very much part of the shoulder complex, working with several other muscles to stabilize and move your scapula, which is the launchpad for any shoulder movement. Strong traps = more stability in pressing and pulling exercises.

Dumbbells allow a more natural hand position and greater range of motion than a barbell, especially if you’ve got longer arms or issues with shoulder mobility.

Shrugs are a very simple exercise, but many people still mess them up. They grab weights that are too heavy, roll their shoulders (don’t do that), and turn it into some weird full-body spasm.

Do them this way to grow Mt. Trapmore:

• Use heavy dumbbells, sure, but not so heavy that you can’t go all the way up and get a good contraction. At the very top, try to touch your shoulders to your earlobes. Then lower the weights with full control and feel the stretch in your traps all the way down.
• Shrug straight up and down. Gravity pulls down, so rolling does nothing to work the muscle against resistance and just grinds your shoulder joints for no reason.

Shrugs are an isolation lift, so they usually belong at the end of your pull day or shoulder workout. Do them after your big, heavy movements like deadlifts, rows, or overhead presses. You generally don’t want to do those with pre-fatigued traps.

How to Do Dumbbell Shrugs

1. Hold a pair of dumbbells at your sides.
2. Lift your shoulders straight up as high as possible.
3. Lower them again under control.
4. Repeat for reps.

7. Dumbbell Upright Row

The dumbbell upright row is a classic upper-body compound pull for the delts and traps. It’s not a pure shoulder isolation exercise like a lateral raise, but it’s excellent for adding upper-body thickness and density.

Upright rows are probably my favorite shoulder exercise. They feel great, and I get a fantastic pump in all the right places. I heartily recommend them. If you can do them safely, that is. Upright rows do have a bit of a reputation as an express ticket to Shoulder Impingement City. When your elbows climb past shoulder height, your shoulders rotate inward, which can be something of a danger zone for your rotator cuff.

I’ve never had any issues over 35 years of doing them on a weekly basis, but for some people, they can pinch the tendons and bursa in the shoulder joint. You want to pull them up toward your lower chest or collarbone. Not all the way to your chin. Your upper arms shouldn’t end up higher than your shoulders. And dumbbells inherently have the advantage over a barbell in that you get more range and can move your wrists and shoulders freely.

If you already have less-than-tip-top shoulder health, limited mobility, or the movement just feels off, the risk-to-reward ratio is just a bit skewed for my taste. If you feel pinching or discomfort, drop the weight or switch to a lateral raise + shoulder press + shrug combo. But if it feels awesome and you can do it without limitations, you’ve got a great old-school favorite for both cannonball delts and thick traps.

How to Do Dumbbell Upright Rows

1. Grab two dumbbells and stand feet shoulder-width apart. Let the dumbbells hang in front of your thighs with your palms facing your body.
2. Lift the dumbbells straight up, leading with your elbows, until your upper arms are around shoulder height. The dumbbells should stay close to your body, but not scrape it.
3. With control, lower the dumbbells back to the starting position.
4. Repeat for reps.

8. Lying Dumbbell External Shoulder Rotation

The lying dumbbell external shoulder rotation is not an exercise that’ll make you look like a bodybuilder or powerlifter, but it might be the one that keeps your shoulders from falling apart when you train like one.

It works the rotator cuff, specifically the infraspinatus and teres minor. Nobody gets hyped to do it, and you’ll never see someone bragging about their 1-rep max in it, so why should you care? Because almost everything you do in the gym (benching, push-ups, overhead pressing) and in life works your internal rotators, like your pecs and lats. External rotations pull everything back and keep the joint stable.

This is one exercise where you don’t want to chase heavy weights for the sake of doing so. Once you go too heavy, your bigger and stronger delts and traps will jump in to help, and your rotator cuff will clock out.

Also, try holding a small towel between your elbow and ribs. It’ll put your arm in a more advantageous position, and, if the towel drops, you know you’re cheating.

Do these either as part of your warm-up (with light weights) or at the end of an upper body workout. You don’t want to exhaust these little guys before you need them for heavy benching.

How to Do Lying Dumbbell External Shoulder Rotations

1. Lie down on your side, with your upper arm close to your side, and your elbow bent to 90 degrees.
2. Grab a dumbbell and rotate your arm externally (upward) against the direction of resistance, as far as possible.
3. Reverse the movement, and repeat for reps.

9. Reverse Dumbbell Fly

The reverse dumbbell fly (also often called rear delt fly or bent-over reverse fly) is the number one classic exercise for the rear delts. It also works the upper back to a lesser extent, especially the rhomboids and trapezius.

For bodybuilders, it builds 3D shoulders that pop from every angle. For powerlifters, it gives you a solid base for your bench press and a “shelf” for the barbell when you squat. And for everyone, it contributes to balanced shoulder health and posture.

I prefer to train my rear delts with my back, not my shoulders, so this exercise usually ends up on pull day. I like to do it towards the end of a workout, but if your rear delts are lagging behind, consider training them earlier in the session, when you’re strongest and mentally fresh (this goes for any muscle and exercise, by the way, not just rear delts or reverse flyes). If you’re tired after a ton of compound sets, it’s easy to blast through them to get them done instead of focusing.

You can do reverse flyes standing and bent-over, seated at the end of a bench, or prone on an incline bench. That last one is my #1 pick. Lie face down on an incline bench set at 30–45 degrees, and it’ll take your lower back and all momentum out of the equation.

How to Do Reverse Dumbbell Flyes

1. Hold a pair of dumbbells, lean forward, and let your arms hang toward the floor.
2. With almost straight arms (just a slight bend at the elbow), slowly lift the dumbbells by raising your arms out to the sides.
3. Reverse the movement and lower the dumbbells back to the starting position.
4. Repeat for reps.

10. Y Raise

The Y raise is an isolation exercise for the muscles in your upper back and around your shoulder blades, including the lower traps, rear delts, rhomboids, and the serratus anterior muscles on the side of the rib cage. It gets its name from the Y shape your arms make at the top of the movement.

Y raises are an accessory exercise, not a main lift. Use stupidly light dumbbells to start. If you have to bend your elbows, heave your chest off the bench, or swing the weights, the wrong muscles take over, and you’re not doing a Y raise anymore.

You can do them as part of a warm-up before you train your upper body (just a few light sets to activate your stabilizers) or as a finisher after a back or shoulder workout. They also work great as shoulder insurance (both rehab/prehab): if your shoulders are cranky, you can help them rebuild, and if they aren’t cranky, you can keep them that way.

How to Do Y Raises

1. Lie face down on an incline bench (about 30–45°) with your arms hanging straight down.
2. Raise your arms forward and slightly outward in a Y shape (about 30–45° from your torso), thumbs pointing up.
3. Pull your shoulder blades down and together as you lift your arms to head height.
4. Pause briefly at the top, then lower under control.
5. Repeat for reps.

Should You Get Fixed or Adjustable Dumbbells?

If you train in a fully equipped gym, you can skip this section. You have all the dumbbells you’ll ever need.

But if you train at home, you have a big decision to make: should you buy fixed or adjustable dumbbells?

TL;DR: For most people, I recommend adjustable ones. They have benefits that make them a better choice, both budget- and space-wise.

Consider This…	Go with Adjustable Dumbbells if…	Go with Fixed Dumbbells if…
Your Space	You’re tight on space and need a compact solution.	You have a dedicated workout area with room for a rack.
Your Budget	You want the most bang for your buck in the long run.	You’re starting with just a couple of pairs or have a bigger budget for a full set.
Your Workout Style	You like a lot of variety and different exercises in your routine.	You prefer fast-paced workouts like circuit training.
Durability	You’re careful with your equipment and won’t be throwing your weights around.	You want something that can take a beating and last a lifetime.

But I remember when I first tried adjustable dumbbells decades ago.

They were probably the spin-lock kind, where the plates clanked around, the collars constantly came loose, and it felt like I was spending more time re-racking and tightening than lifting. And there was the constant nagging feeling that a plate was about to slide off mid-set and smash my toes.

Fortunately, modern adjustables are (mostly) solid, secure, and click into place with a nice and satisfying thunk. I say “mostly” because you can always find cheap, rinky-dink contraptions that feel like they came from the early ’90s. But in general, the rattle is gone, as is the “will this fall apart?” anxiety, and they feel like a premium piece of training equipment today.

That being said, they’re still different from fixed dumbbells, and there are pros and cons to both.

Fixed vs. Adjustable Dumbbells: Pros and Cons

• The biggest benefit of adjustable dumbbells is that you save space. One or two pairs of adjustables can replace 15+ pairs of fixed dumbbells. And they fit in the corner of any room. If you want a full set of fixed dumbbells from 5 lbs to 90 lbs (in 5 lb increments), that’s 18 pairs of dumbbells. And you need a big, long rack to hold them all, too.
• A high-quality set of adjustables might cost you $400, $600, or even $800 if you want one that goes all the way from 5 to 90 lb. That sounds like a lot, but compare that to the $2,000+ you’d spend on a full rack of fixed-weight dumbbells, and suddenly it’s a bargain.
• On the other hand, adjustable dumbbells still have internal mechanisms and moving parts. Dropping a $700 adjustable dumbbell after a heavy set of presses is a great way to turn it into a $700 paperweight. With fixed dumbbells, you can drop them, kick them, throw them (please don’t), and they’ll be fine.
• And, if you want to move fast from set to set, like doing supersets or drop sets, you just drop one pair and grab the next if you have all the fixed dumbbells you need in front of you. There’s zero adjustment time. No matter how easy-to-use adjustable dumbbells have become, there’s still some fiddling to be done.

So, what’s best?

For the vast majority of people training at home, adjustable dumbbells are the winner. The space and cost-saving are just too good to ignore, and the rinky-dink factor is a ghost of workouts past.

Fixed dumbbells are only better if:

1. You have a dedicated garage or cellar gym space.
2. You have money that you don’t know what to do with.
3. You absolutely have to be able to drop your weights or move from one weight to another with no downtime.

The Best Dumbbell Shoulder Workouts for Muscle & Strength Gains

With the dumbbell shoulder exercises we’ve just covered, you can design a workout for any experience level and training goal.

But what if you don’t want to design your own?

Then follow one of ours!

For Beginners

If you are new to strength training, you don’t need a separate shoulder day workout with 10 or more sets for your delts alone.

Instead, I suggest you go with full-body workouts, training your entire body each session, two or three times per week.

Dumbbells work great with this approach. In fact, we have built a highly effective dumbbell workout you can follow directly in our workout app, StrengthLog. It targets all major muscle groups, and you can do it anywhere.

Home Dumbbell Workout for Beginners

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Goblet Squat	2	10
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift	2	10
Dumbbell Floor Press	2	10
Dumbbell Row	2	10
Dumbbell Shoulder Press	2	10
Dumbbell Curl	1	10
Dumbbell Triceps Extension	1	10

You train your front, side, and rear delts with the presses and rows. And that’s plenty, if you’re new to lifting. Do 10–12 reps per set, and go through this workout twice or thrice weekly for best results.

For Late Beginners / Early Intermediates

If you’ve been training a while and want to try your hand at splitting your body into different parts, the following workout is a great start.

You can train it as a stand-alone workout or with any other muscle or muscles of your choice. Many people prefer to train their shoulders with their chest and triceps, as all three are pushing muscles, so that’s something you can try to see if you like it. Others prefer combining back and shoulders, arms and shoulders, or even legs and shoulders, and all of them work fine as long as you enjoy them and feel good.

Beginner Dumbbell Shoulder Workout

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Dumbbell Shoulder Press (seated or standing)	3	10
Dumbbell Lateral Raise	3	10
Reverse Dumbbell Flyes	3	10

This workout also hits all parts of your shoulders, but more intensely and directly than the full-body workout; perfect as the next step after your first beginner phase.

For Intermediates and Advanced

If you’re an intermediate-level (or above) lifter and looking for a dumbbell workout to build as much muscle mass and strength as possible, this one fits perfectly into almost any three–, four–, five–, or six–day split, including popular routines like Push/Pull/Legs (on Push day).

It is a premium workout, meaning it requires a subscription to follow in StrengthLog, but you can activate a 14-day free trial to see if it’s for you.

Shoulder Workout With Dumbbells

Exercise	Sets
Dumbbell Shoulder Press (standing or seated)	3
Dumbbell Upright Row or Monkey Row (if your shoulders don’t like uprights)	3
Dumbbell Lateral Raise	3
Dumbbell Front Raise	3
Reverse Dumbbell Fly	3

You can see the exact set configuration and rep ranges in StrengthLog.

What’s the best way to track these workouts?

With StrengthLog, our workout log app.

That way, it’s super easy to keep track of your weights and reps and make sure you’re on the right track.

The app remembers what weights you used in your last session, and automatically loads them into your next session. And trying to improve on your last workout is the key to improving and getting stronger over time.

Download it and start tracking your gains today.

Final Rep

Alright, so there you have “what”: a whole arsenal of shoulder-smashing exercises to build strength, muscle, stability, and posture.

The “how” is up to you. Pick your favorites, create your own dumbbell workouts, or follow one of ours. Remember to download our workout log to track your gains.

Want more?

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get notified of new articles and get weekly training tips!

Leave this field empty if you’re human:

Click here to return to our full list of strength training exercises.

Last reviewed: 2025-10-23

References

1. Strength and Conditioning Journal 39(5):pp. 33-35, October 2017. Large and Small Muscles in Resistance Training: Is It Time for a Better Definition?
2. McCausland C, Sawyer E, Eovaldi BJ, et al. Anatomy, Shoulder and Upper Limb, Shoulder Muscles. StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan.
3. Indian Journal of Public Health Research and Development 8(4):653. Comparison among the EMG Activity of the Anterior Deltoid and Medial Deltoid During Two Variations of Dumbbell Shoulder Press Exercise.
4. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Sep; 17(17): 6015. An Electromyographic Analysis of Lateral Raise Variations and Frontal Raise in Competitive Bodybuilders.