Working out at home because your gym is closed or just trying to save a bit of money, by avoiding monthly gym fees?
I get it!
The best home shoulder workouts you can do without weights are lifts like lateral raises, overhead presses, and front raises. These will increase the strength, range of motion, flexibility, and will prevent chronic conditions like tendonitis, and bursitis. The good news, you can do these easy exercises at home or on the go.
We use our shoulders daily, from putting on our shirts, brushing our teeth, to crawling back into bed at night. We must keep our shoulders in good working condition. Whenever we do anything with our upper bodies, it’s almost guaranteed our shoulders will be involved.
That means it’s very important we build and maintain strong shoulders, so we can perform daily activities, from pouring milk out of a gallon jug to lifting your kids out of their car seats.
Our shoulders are very maneuverable and the range of motion is pretty high. But at certain points during that range of motion, they are vulnerable to strain, tear, and dislocation.
I don’t say this to scare you, but to persuade you to be mindful of your shoulders and the workouts you’re doing with them.
I want to first discuss the muscular anatomy of your shoulders so that as you’re learning what workouts to do, you’ll be informed on what part of the shoulders you are working on. You don’t want to work the same muscles every time, but you want to work the entire shoulder so that you’re fully functional in your movements and range of motion.
Table of Contents
Anatomy of The Shoulder
The shoulder contains several muscles, but the one you’ll hear most often is the deltoid. The deltoid is made up of three parts, the front (anterior), the side (lateral), and the back (posterior). All three serve a different function. But the overarching principle you need to focus on is, it’s important to work all three “heads” of the muscle.
While I could explain in words what exercises to do to build the deltoids, I’ve selected a couple of different short videos that will show some easy to follow exercises you can do at home with little to no weight.
How to do Shoulder Workouts at Home
Like virtually any other muscle in your body, it’s best to work the shoulder muscles about twice a week. What makes the shoulder muscle unique is that any time you’re doing any kind of push or pull exercise (which encompasses most upper body workouts) you’re using your shoulder.
So to just focus on doing should workouts might not be in your best interest, because you’ll be using them on other upper body workout days.
Shoulder workouts are probably best incorporated when doing either chest or back exercises.
Just using your body weight will work great for a while, but at a certain point you’ll start to build muscle and you’ll need to introduce additional weights or other resistance.
Workout bands are an ideal home gym piece of equipment. They’re versatile, inexpensive, and easy to store.
I would highly recommend getting a set of bands to incorporate into your home gym routine, especially if you plan on exercising at home for any length of time. They are also ideal for traveling.
Without further adieu, here are some great videos showing you how you can build stronger shoulders at home with little to no weight.
And here is another video.
Benefits of Strong Shoulders
The benefits of having strong shoulders might seem pretty obvious, but here is a short list to encourage you to focus on them.
- Practical for daily life.
- It allows for a greater range of motion.
- Stabilizes your shoulder joint.
- Prevents shoulder injuries.
- It makes you less susceptible to bursitis and tendonitis.
- Sculpted shoulders look great on anyone, especially tank tops during the summer!
“I ask not for a lighter burden, but broader shoulders.”
Conclusion of Home Shoulder Workouts
We use our shoulder muscles every day. This makes them strong, but also vulnerable. If you lose capacity from your shoulder it will affect your daily life.
You don’t need heavy weights to get a great shoulder workout. The videos above show you easy at-home workouts you can do. Implementing these workouts into your home exercise program….well….it falls on your shoulders!
For full-body workouts (Bodyweight Burn Review), you can do it at home with little to no weight, read my reviews of two programs I’ve used and recommend. Bodyweight Burn and Turbulence Training are great for those new to home workouts.
What is your go to shoulder workout at home? Leave a comment below.