Isolation workouts help you train specific muscles without fatiguing others a lot. What are some isolation exercises that target shoulder muscles?
Isolation exercises are movements that mainly focus on one muscle or muscle group at the same time. Inevitably you will engage other muscles to some extent but there is still a big difference with compound exercises. Most of these exercises can be done with a wide variety of free weights and gym machines.
The best weights for isolation exercises vary from exercise to exercise and individual to individual. If you are not sure how much weight would be right for you, you can start with light weights and slowly build up from there.
Keep in mind that even though there are upsides, your injury risk is generally also higher when you do exercises with more weight/resistance. Isolation exercises can also lead to muscle imbalances more easily. You may want to talk to your primary care provider before starting a new workout routine.
1. Seated lateral raise
For seated lateral raises you need something sturdy and narrow to sit on and some type of resistance. The walkthrough uses a dumbbell but you can also use other free weights, resistance bands for building muscle, and the cable machine.
To do a seated lateral raise with a dumbbell take the following steps:
- Sit on the sturdy object with a good posture and hold one dumbbell in each hand with your arms hanging beside you. Your hand palms should face your body. Keep your arms slightly less than stretched throughout the exercise.
- Slowly raise the dumbbells out to the side until your hands are at shoulder height.
- Lower your hands back into starting position in a controlled motion.
The lateral raise is an exercise that isolates the middle part of your deltoids, your main shoulder muscles.
A regular standing lateral raise can also be a good shoulder isolation exercise. That being said you do have a higher risk of using the rest of your body to move the resistance.
2. Bent-over reverse fly
To do a bent-over rear delt fly with kettlebells take the following steps:
- Start standing up with your feet shoulder-width apart, an upright posture, and one kettlebell in each hand with your hand palms facing each other. Keep your arms slightly less than stretched throughout the exercise.
- While keeping your back straight bend your knees and slightly bend forward until your upper body is as close as horizontal to the ground while keeping your posture good. Let gravity do its work on your arms so that they point vertically to the ground.
- Slowly raise the kettlebells out to the side until they are at shoulder height.
- Move the kettlebells back into the position of step 2 in a controlled motion.
The bent-over rear delt fly is done to isolate the rear, the back, of your deltoid shoulder muscles. Make sure your shoulders are the only muscles doing the movement, not any back muscles.
In theory a lying down reverse fly would be an even better shoulder isolation exercise but it is hard to find a suited object for this. On a regular weight bench most people are not able to go through the full range of motion of the exercise.
3. Seated front raise
The seated front raise is another exercise where you need something narrow and sturdy to sit on. This walkthrough again uses dumbbells but there are other shoulder workout equipment options to do the seated front raise.
Once you have something to sit on and something to raise to do a seated front raise with a dumbbell take the following steps:
- Sit on the sturdy object with a good posture and hold one dumbbell in each hand with your arms hanging beside you. Your hand palms should face your body. Keep your arms slightly less than stretched throughout the exercise.
- Slowly move the dumbbells forward and upward until your arms are horizontal.
- Lower the dumbbells back into starting position in a controlled movement.
The dumbbell front raise exercise mainly focuses on your anterior, your front, deltoids.
This is the seated version of the standing front raise which is already an exercise that is great for isolating your shoulder muscles. By sitting down you isolate your shoulders even more because you can’t use body parts like legs to move up the weight.
4. Shrugs
This walkthrough uses a cable machine but you can easily do shrugs with free weights like a barbell, dumbbells, kettlebells, and even heavy backpacks or grocery bags. To do a cable shrug take the following steps:
- Set the cable machine low to the ground, attach a double D-grip handle, and select your desired weight.
- Stand right in front of the cable machine with your face toward it. Pick up the double D-grip handle. Stand up straight. Your arms start slightly less than stretched and pointing down.
- Raise your shoulders as far as you can in a controlled manner.
- Slowly lower your shoulders again.
The shrug does not look like the most impressive motion but this shoulder exercise can be great to isolate your trap muscles.
5. Isometric holds
For all of these exercises you can stop the movement in the middle of its trajectory and then hold that position.
These types of holds are isometric exercises. In simpler words, this means that you engage your muscles in a more static way, without moving a lot. On the other hand, you have isotonic exercises where you engage your muscles in a dynamic way, by moving.
Isotonic exercises are generally more useful for building muscle. That means that the other isotonic exercises on this list are likely better shoulder isolation exercises for building a lot of muscle.
