Seated Dumbbell Lateral Raise

The most addicting exercise to me. I just want to do dropset after dropset. I feel like a bird flailing its wings while carrying an entire ecosystem of fish in my talons. Once my shoulders cannot lift the weight all the way up, I start using momentum and rock back and forth. Then, I'll start doing half reps until my shoulder dies like my motivation for this project. Absolutely addicting like alcohol to a divorced father. Now imagine a person flailing his or her arms while rocking back and forth. I probably look a little bit mentally ill while doing this exercise, but I could less because I'm addicted.

Dumbbell Lateral Raise

If your shoulders aren't spherical like boulders or death stars, I'd recommend flailing your arms while holding onto some weights. Unlike the seated counterpart, the standard standing dumbbell lateral raise is a little less stimulating, but it still certainly drives me fanatical. The reason is because standing requires a bit more stability and focus on other body parts other than the shoulder. On a side note, I typed this with my nose because I couldn't lift my arms after destroying my shoulders and rendering them obsolete.

Machine Shoulder Press

In this moment, I feel like Atlas the Titan, holding the sky with my bare hands. I feel so empowered and vigorous as I alter and lift the entire cosmos above my head. Although, I have experienced a monstrosity of a Shoulder Press machine. This machine had your arms all the way back, and I'm pretty sure that this machine gave me a pinched nerve in my back. I still feel this nerve thing every so often; I probably should get it checked out. Every once in a while, there's a brief feeling of numbness and tingling around the left side of my upper back. I blame that Shoulder Press machine. But thank the heavens that was the only terrible shoulder press machine I have experienced. I have learned my lesson not to insist on using machines with bad positioning.

Dumbbell Shoulder Press

An absolute core exercise for the shoulder. But, I prefer using a machine rather than free weights in terms of building muscle. This is because you have to balance the dumbbells whereas on the machine, all you have to do is push some weight. Now, I still do this exercise, but I used to do it more often. That is because one time I lost balance of a dumbbell and thankfully did not have a freak accident. I kicked up the left dumbbell a little too hard and it just made my arm rotate a little further back than I would've liked. Right after I almost dislocated my shoulder, I continued to do shoulder presses like nothing happened. But overall, this is still a fantastic exercise that is just a little risky compared to its alternatives.

Barbell Shoulder Press

To begin, I often find myself replacing this exercise with the Machine Shoulder Press. And oftentimes, I feel like it is just a tad better. Now, if your gym's shoulder press machine is mediocre at best, then I would do this exercise instead. That is actually a lie. I would use dumbbells. Typically, I hit shoulders twice a week. One day I will use the machine and the other I will use dumbbells. But barbells are still very good for Shoulder Press, I'm just used to doing the things I do.

Cable Reverse Fly

The only rear delt exercise I enjoy. Although, sometimes my right shoulder gets a little crunchy and actually hurts while performing this exercise. This is funny because my left shoulder is the one that usually hurts. But besides that, I love to spam this exercise, and although I can't go too heavy, my rear delts are blowing up. As in, they are getting massive. Whenever I flex them, they look like rocks embedded in that cavity. I may have poor clavicle width genetics, but I have great rear delt genetics. I'll take what I can.

Cable Lateral Raise

I used to do this exercise religiously. I would superset this with a Cable Front Raise, which isn't listed here, but it felt amazing. That was going well and all, but one day I realized that the gym is taking way too much time, especially as a college student. So, I just went back to doing lateral raises with dumbbells to train both shoulders at once. Then, I started to do Seated Lateral Raises religiously and I still do. The point I'm trying to get at is that this exercise is the best exercise for isolating the lateral deltoid, but it just takes more time than its counterparts.

Machine Lateral Raise

I actually don't really like this machine. Maybe if I did it more I would like it better, but now the gym I go to doesn't have this machine. All I remember is that this movement feels a little wrong and awkward. I've seen another type of lateral raise machine where you're standing and holding onto its handles. That is something I would love to try. In theory, it has more stability than dumbbells and keeps your arms stretched out.

Smith Machine Shoulder Press

All of these shoulder pressing exercises are all pretty similar; picking the best one just really depends on your preference. I never really liked Smith Machines, so I am biased. However, I will say that using a Smith Machine is completely viable and is even a fantastic option for the Shoulder Press. But I'm just too stubborn to give Smith Machines a chance. Plus, no one needs to perform all Shoulder Press variants. I'll just stick my two (machine and dumbbells) thank you very much.

Arnold Press

I can hear Arnold himself in the back of my mind every time I do this exercise. He and his little accent. What a pleasure to hear. Anywho, I actually preferred this exercise over a regular dumbbell shoulder press at one point in my life. That is until I had some sort of epiphany and gained experience within the gym. Sometimes less is more. And doing that whole rotation thing doesn't really do much. Instead of focusing on rotating your arms like helicopter blades, focus on pressing that weight over your head and imagine that you are lifting a semi-truck.

Machine Reverse Fly

I am absolutely dog on this exercise, meaning that I perform terribly. I just can't improve on this machine. Plus, it just feels like dogwater and wretched scum. Maybe I'm just built utterly wrong. Maybe my skeletal structure was just constructed in the most horrific manner. But this exercise just makes me feel dumb and rotten. It most definitely ruins my workout and my day and my life in general. It makes me want to collapse and implode into nothingness. Therefore, the only rear delt exercise I perform is the Cable Reverse Fly and that makes me a happy man. This exercise should be last, but I know that this is pretty much the standard exercise for rear deltoids and other people enjoy it.

Front Raise

I used to do this exercise. It was pretty cool. Now, I find it a bit useless. Well, not useless, but more of an auxiliary exercise. Shoulder presses already destroy the front deltoid, and they are most necessary when training the shoulders. So, doing front raises after some sort of shoulder press is very redundant since you have already obliterated your front deltoids. I guess some people may want to even further demolish their front deltoids? Why? Who knows? I mean, doing this exercise does no harm, but I just find it unnecessary and excessive.

Seated Reverse Fly

I feel like I would enjoy this exercise more if my shoulders let me. Sometimes my joints will just hurt while doing this exercise. Other times, my shoulders will pop with every rep. I don't know what's wrong with me. I've mentioned that I am built wrong, and I truly believe that. It has to do with my posture and how my shoulders roll forward or something. But as of now, I just avoid this exercise and use cables instead. Cables are much easier and pain free most of the time.

Reverse Fly

Just like the seated version, my shoulders prevent me from doing this exercise. All of these rear delt exercises give me some sort of trouble. At least I can always rely on the cables. Also, it is a little tough for me to stand in this position without incorporating pain in my lower back. Also also, I very seldom see people actually doing this exercise. It is always either using the machine or the cables. Maybe people just neglect their rear delt, which I have heard to be a true statistic. Anyways, this exercise is quite the terrible for me, and I will never consider doing it again.

Overhead Press

I've done this exercise exactly once. It was decent. But there's just so many other shoulder press variants that I would much prefer over this one. I know there are people who love to do this exercise and that this exercise engages the core. To be honest, I don't care. If we are solely just trying to build the shoulder muscle, I much prefer to do a seated version. Plus, there are many other exercises that engage the core. Anywho, like I said earlier, this really isn't a bad exercise at all; I called it decent. I actually would rate this higher if I did it more.