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Shoulders workout

Dumbbell Shoulders Workout

A full shoulders session built from a pair of dumbbells and nothing else — 5 movements, 16 working sets, about 47 minutes including rest.

Exercises
5
Working sets
16
Time
~47 min
Goal
Hypertrophy

Warm up first

  1. 5 min easy cardio to raise your temperature
  2. Band pull-aparts — 2 x 15
  3. Two ramp-up sets of your first movement at 50% and 75%

The session

  1. 1
    Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press
    Dumbbell · Front delt, Side delt
    4 × 6-10rest 150s
  2. 2
    Arnold Press
    Dumbbell · Front delt, Side delt
    3 × 6-10rest 150s
  3. 3
    Bent-Over Rear Delt Fly
    Dumbbell · Rear delt
    3 × 10-15rest 75s
  4. 4
    Dumbbell Lateral Raise
    Dumbbell · Side delt
    3 × 10-15rest 75s
  5. 5
    Lu Raise
    Dumbbell · Side delt
    3 × 10-15rest 75s

Why this order

The heaviest movements come first, while you are freshest: the 2 compounds at the top are the ones that decide whether the session was worth doing. The 3 isolation movements come after, when being a little tired costs you less. Rest shortens as the movements get smaller: 150 seconds after Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press, 75 after Lu Raise.

Shoulders wants 12–20 hard sets a week and 2-3x per week, so this is a session you can run twice a week and land in that range. More about training the shoulders.

Same muscle, different kit