11 Amazing Dumbbell Exercises for Sculpted Shoulders At Home

Learn how to master these movements to build strong, sculpted shoulders at home or at the gym. I work these 11 exercises into my upper body workouts on a weekly basis.

Why Should You Care About Building Strong, Sculpted Shoulders?

There’s no denying that strong, sculpted shoulders look good on everyone. They’re the perfect compliment to a fit frame. But the benefits of building strong shoulders go beyond aesthetics.

Your shoulders take on a fair amount of work any time you push or pull with your upper body. Every back and chest exercise, and most arm exercises that you do at the gym recruits the shoulders to do a bit of the work. Strong shoulder make real life easier (and safer), too. From throwing a ball, to carrying groceries, to passing something across the table – nearly every upper body movement you perform involves your shoulders.

If you’re shoulders are weak you open yourself up to injury. Every time you perform a chest or back exercise at the gym, weak shoulders take a beating. You’re also more susceptible to every day accidents while just having fun, like when you’re throwing a baseball around with friends or kids. Shoot, simply picking up a heavy, lopsided object can cause a tear if you’re not careful – or prepared.

The good news is, it doesn’t take much to strengthen your shoulders. Because you do recruit those muscles with most upper body lifts already, your shoulders are almost always working. But to build strong, sculpted shoulders like you want – you have to consistently pay attention to a few things:

• Progressive overload: when you gradually increase the weight, frequency, number of reps or intensity in your strength training routine to challenge your body and trigger growth.
• Variety: your shoulders push, pull and rotate in all directions. It’s important to include strength training exercises that mimic that natural range of motion.
• Rest: you can easily over-train shoulders. My advice is to mix a few of these shoulder exercises into your weekly routine at a time and slowly build up the strength and recovery capability necessary to add more.

Amazing Dumbbell Exercises for Sculpted Shoulders At Home

Standing Dumbbell Shoulder Press

How to: hold the dumbbells by your shoulders, one in each hand, with your palms facing forwards and your elbows out to the sides and bent at a 90° angle. Without leaning back, extend through your elbows to press the weights above your head. Then slowly return to the starting position.

Trainer Tips: if you want to lift heavier weights, take the standing dumbbell press down to a seated dumbbell press. A bench with a back supports your core and stabilizer muscles so you can recruit more power and strength to your shoulders.

Dumbbell Upright Row

How to: begin with a dumbbell in each hand, arms straight down in front of you and palms facing your body. Bend your elbows out to the sides and draw the dumbbells up towards your armpits. Pause at the top and slowly return to the start position.

Trainer Tips: keep your shoulders down and back (in your back pockets, as I like to say), so that the movement doesn’t become a shrug. Also, be sure to keep the dumbbells close to your body so that you don’t strain the joint.

Side Lateral Raise

How to: begin with a dumbbell in each hand, arms at your sides and palms facing each other. Keeping your arms straight with a soft elbow (not bent, but not locked out), slowly lift the dumbbells laterally away from the sides of your body until the dumbbells reach shoulder height. Stay in control as you return your arms to the start position.

Trainer Tips: start with a strong grip on the dumbbells. That will create tension from your wrist, up your forearms and biceps to the shoulders. With the tension in your grip and the softness in your elbow you should be able to complete this lift without feeling discomfort in your elbows.

Alternating Front Raise

How to: stand with a dumbbell in each hand, arms straight down in front of you, palms facing in towards your body. Keep your arms straight and raise your right arm until the dumbbell is straight out in front of you. Return to the start position and repeat with the left side.

Trainer Tips: your goal should be to feel in control at all times. That means that you can exert just as much control as gravity forces the weight back down as you did raising the dumbbells in the first place. Moral of the story: use very light weight until you build the strength and muscle control it takes to increase force.

Arnold Press

How to: begin with a dumbbell in each hand, elbows bent with your palms facing you, as if at the top of a bicep curl. Bring your arms wide to the side and then press up to straighten your arms, rotating your wrists so that palms end up facing forward. Pause at the top with straight arms and then slowly retrace the movement to return to the start position.

Trainer Tips: if you need a break during your set, bring your upper arms in towards your chest at the bottom of the movement to give them support. Otherwise, keep your arms just out from the body so as to create more (continuous) time under tension.

Bent Arm Lateral Raise

How to: begin with a dumbbell in each hand, arms bent at a 90° angle, elbows at your sides. Slowly lift the dumbbells laterally away from the sides of your body, maintaining the elbow bend, until the dumbbells reach shoulder height. Stay in control as you return your arms to the start position.

Trainer Tips: bent arm raises, also known as delt raises, target your rear delts. Since you can’t see these muscle as you lift, it’s important to try to tune in your focus to the muscles and visualize the work. Lead with your elbows, keeping them at the highest point of your arm.

Bent Over Trap Raise

How to: begin with a dumbbell in each hand, feet shoulder width apart. Hinge at the waist so the your torso bends forward at a roughly 45° angle. Brace your core and keep your lower back straight. Your arms should hang straight down towards the ground with palms facing each other. Slowly raise both arms forward until your arms form a straight line with your spine. Return to the start position.

Trainer Tips: again, your goal is to feel in control at all times. That means that you can exert just as much control as gravity forces the weight back down as you did raising the dumbbells in the first place. Start with very light weight – this move will surprise you!

Dumbbell Push Press

How to: stand with feet shoulder width apart and a dumbbell in each hand, resting on your shoulders with your elbows pointing forward. Bend slightly at the knees. Exhale, push up through the heels and push the dumbbells up towards the ceiling, fully extending your arms overhead. Pause for control and then slowly lower the weights back down to your shoulders.

Trainer Tips: the first part of the movement should be explosive. Your heels might even come up off the floor. The second part of the move however, the part where you lower the weight back to your shoulders, should be done in a slow, smooth and controlled fashion.

Side Plank Dumbbell Raise

How to: begin in a side plank position on your left side, gripping a light dumbbell in your right hand, right arm resting along the right side of your body. Slowly raise the dumbbell away from your body, extending towards the ceiling. Pause and lower back down. Complete all of your reps on one side before switching to the other.

Trainer Tips: the efficacy of this exercise for your shoulders can really depend on your core strength and your confidence in you side planking abilities. If you’re uncertain of either, try a modified variation of the side plank: bend your bottom leg and rest your knee on the floor for extra support.

Neutral Grip Y Press

How to: stand with feet shoulder width apart and a dumbbell in each hand, resting on your shoulders with your elbows pointing forward. Straighten arms towards the ceiling at a slight angle wider than your shoulders. Once fully extended, return to the start position.

Trainer Tips: if you experience shoulder pain during other shoulder press variations this is a good one to test out with light weights. It’s also great for anyone without shoulder pain to use as a light weight shoulder finisher.

Around the Worlds

How to: stand with feet shoulder width apart, a dumbbell in each hand, and arms straight in front of you with palms facing away from your body. Begin the lift by raising the dumbbells laterally to your sides and the all the way up over your head. Pause and then slowly return to the start position.

Trainer Tips: use a light weight and maintain a soft bend in the elbows at all times. This will help you stay in control and avoid discomfort in your elbows.

If you want sculpted shoulders and you’re working out from home, these 11 exercises are as good as it gets! There’s a variety of lifts – changing up your range of motion, your intensity and your control. Nail your form first! Slowly increase the weight you’re lifting on certain exercises like the Push Press, Arnold Press and Standing Shoulder Press.