Shoulder Workout With Dumbbells at Home (Build Muscle & Strength)

Looking for an effective shoulder workout with dumbbells at home? If so, you’ve come to the right place.

This article breaks it down for you: the best exercises, how to organize them into different workouts, volume recommendations, how-to instructions, and everything else you can think of.

Ready? Let’s dive in.

What Makes For a Good Shoulder Workout With Dumbbells At Home?

The shoulder (deltoid) is a relatively small muscle that consists of three parts: anterior (front), lateral (middle), and posterior (read) heads.

Each of the three heads serves a unique function, which means you need to do various shoulder exercises to target all areas and drive balanced growth.

A good shoulder workout with dumbbells at home is one that:

• Includes at least one movement for each deltoid head
• Mixes compound (multi-joint) and isolation (single-joint) exercises
• Encourages proper technique, and a full range of motion
• Includes some form of progressive overload (doing more work over time)
• Has enough sets and reps to stimulate hypertrophy and strength development

We will go over specific examples below. 

What Dumbbells You Should Have For Shoulder Training at Home

You can have a fantastic shoulder workout at home with only two pairs of dumbbells: one lighter for isolation exercises (e.g., lateral raises) and one heavier for compound lifts (e.g., shoulder press).

Here are some basic recommendations:

• Beginner - 5 to 10 lbs (light) and 15 to 25 lbs (heavy)
• Intermediate - 10 to 20 lbs (light) and 20 to 40 lbs (heavy)
• Advanced - 20 to 30 lbs (light) and 40 to 80 lbs (heavy)

An alternative is to get a pair of adjustable dumbbells that allow you to switch between multiple resistance levels to fit your needs. For example, the Bowflex SelectTech 552 Dumbbells allow you to go from 5 to 52.5 lbs in 2.5 lb increments.

6 Effective Dumbbell Shoulder Exercises You Can Do At Home

1. Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press

Seated dumbbell shoulder presses are a multi-joint exercise that overloads your deltoids, upper chest, and triceps with more weight. Performing the movement from a seated position allows you to use slightly more weight.

You can do these seated on a chair.

How to:

1. Grab a pair of heavier dumbbells and sit on a chair or adjustable gym bench.
   
   
2. Lift the weights and place them on top of your thighs.
   
   
3. Take a deep breath, engage your abs, and hoist the dumbbells to your sides. You can kick up through your thighs for a bit of extra force.
   
   
4. Retract your shoulder blades and take another breath.
   
   
5. Press the dumbbells up and in, tapping them lightly at the top.
   
   
6. Slowly lower them to your sides, taking care to have your elbows slightly lower than your shoulders at the bottom. Exhale.

2. Standing Dumbbell Shoulder Press

The standing dumbbell shoulder press is a more athletic exercise requiring greater core strength. Pressing weights to an overhead position while standing is more challenging, and you likely wouldn’t be able to use as much weight or do as many reps.

How to:

1. Grab a pair of dumbbells and stand tall with your feet shoulder-width apart, arms to your sides, and shoulder blades retracted.
   
   
2. Take a breath, engage your abs, and hoist the dumbbells to your sides. Your elbows should be slightly lower than your shoulders.
   
   
3. Take another deep breath, engage your abs, and squeeze your glutes.
   
   
4. Press the dumbbells overhead, tapping them lightly at the top.
   
   
5. Slowly lower them to the starting position as you exhale.

3. Arnold Press

Named after Arnold Schwarzenegger, this shoulder press variation includes arm rotation, which makes it more challenging but also more beneficial for training all three deltoid heads.

How to:

1. Grab a pair of dumbbells and sit on a sturdy chair.
   
   
2. Lift the dumbbells and place them on top of your thighs.
   
   
3. Retract your shoulder blades, engage your abs, and squeeze your biceps.
   
   
4. In one fluid motion, lift the dumbbells in front of your chest while keeping your elbows bent and palms facing your body.
   
   
5. Take another breath and press the dumbbells as you externally rotate your arms.
   
   
6. Your hands should rotate 180 degrees by the time the dumbbells are above your head.
   
   
7. Pause briefly and slowly lower the weights to the starting position, internally rotating your arms and bringing the dumbbells together. Exhale.

4. Dumbbell Lateral Raise

Dumbbell lateral raises are the simplest isolation exercise to add mass to your deltoids and target the middle (lateral) head.

How to:

1. Grab a pair of dumbbells and stand tall with your feet shoulder-width apart and arms to your sides.
   
   
2. Bend your elbows slightly, retract your shoulder blades, and take a deep breath.
   
   
3. Slowly raise the dumbbells to your sides until your elbows and wrists are at shoulder level.
   
   
4. Pause briefly and slowly lower the weights to the starting position as you exhale.

5. Dumbbell Front Raise

Similar to lateral raises, front raises are a shoulder isolation exercise. But rather than targeting the middle deltoids, it emphasizes the front shoulder area.

How to:

1. Grab a pair of dumbbells and stand tall with your feet in a comfortable stance.
   
   
2. Straighten your arms, position them in front of your body, and have your palms face your thighs.
   
   
3. Retract your shoulder blades, take a deep breath, and engage your abs.
   
   
4. Lift both dumbbells forward until your elbows and wrists align with your shoulders.
   
   
5. Slowly lower the weights to the starting position as you exhale.

6. Bent-Over Reverse Fly

The final exercise on our list is also an isolation movement. The bent-over reverse fly is a simple way to target and develop the rear portion of the shoulders.

Doing the movement can contribute to shoulder health and lead to more balanced development.

How to:

1. Grab a pair of dumbbells and lean your torso forward by hinging at the hips. Your back should be in a neutral position.
   
   
2. Position your arms straight down with your palms neutral (facing one another). Maintain a slight elbow bend.
   
   
3. Take a deep breath and raise the weights to your sides, squeezing your upper back muscles at the top.
   
   
4. Slowly lower your arms to the starting position as you exhale.

3 Shoulder Workouts With Dumbbells At Home: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced

Workout 1: Beginner

This is your most basic shoulder workout with dumbbells at home. It features three exercises, which are enough to target the three deltoid heads.

Workout 2: Intermediate

The intermediate dumbbell shoulder workout is slightly more challenging and features a superset, where you do the two assigned exercises back to back before taking a break.

Doing more volume should result in superior growth, so long as you’re not going overboard and are recovering well between sessions.

Workout 3: Advanced

The advanced workout is the most challenging because it includes more volume, has one superset, and there is a finisher.

A finisher is simply a way to conclude a workout more intensely, hopefully stimulating your muscles more. Doing so allows you to accumulate extra volume and promote better growth.

To perform this finisher, pick a pair of light dumbbells and do a lateral raise. Slowly lower the weights to the starting position, trying to last at least 10 seconds. Do another rep and repeat.

With each repetition, your shoulders will be more tired. Continue until you cannot hold the negative position for at least three seconds.

Fair warning: You won’t be able to lift your arms for at least 30 minutes after that.

Tips For Safe And Effective Training At Home

1. Warm Up Well

A good warm-up is crucial for optimizing your training performance and reducing the injury risk. Doing so is particularly important when training your shoulders because these joints are mobile but unstable.

Warming up doesn’t have to be complex. Here’s how to approach it:

• 3-6 minutes of low-intensity cardio (jogging in place, jumping jacks, high knees, using a piece of cardio equipment if you have it, etc.)
  
  
• 2-5 minutes of dynamic stretches - arm swings, arm circles, etc.
  
  
• A few warm-up sets with a lighter weight before starting the workout

2. Train With Proper Form

Training with proper form is crucial for staying safe and stimulating the correct muscles, especially on isolation exercises.

The shoulders are relatively small muscles, which means they can’t produce that much force. For instance, when picking the weight for lateral raises, go with dumbbells you can lift smoothly and through a full range of motion for at least 10-12 reps.

Controlled execution would allow you to keep the tension on the target muscles and cause them to grow.

Sure, you can use heavier weights and swing your body back and forth to complete more reps, but to what end? Doing so would force other muscles to get involved, shifting the emphasis away from the shoulders.

3. Overload Intelligently

Even the best training plan is only a starting point because it might provide the necessary stimulus now, but it will cease to be effective in time.

The way to ensure ongoing progress (strength gain, hypertrophy, etc.) is by doing increasingly more work: lifting more weight, doing more reps, training the muscle more frequently, resting less between sets, etc.

When doing a shoulder workout with dumbbells at home, strive for overload on compound lifts (e.g., shoulder press) but be more conservative on isolation exercises (e.g., lateral raises).

A simple way to overload a compound exercise is to lift more weight, but that won’t be the case for lateral raises and similar activities. The best way to make isolation exercises more disruptive over time is to focus on other tactics:

• Do more reps per set
• Do more total sets
• Slow down the tempo
• Increase the range of motion

Progression is rarely linear. Be patient, train hard, and push yourself intelligently without sacrificing your form.

4. Eat Well And Hydrate

Don’t forget that growth occurs when you’re resting. Working out provides the stimulus, but good nutrition and proper hydration allow your body to make the most of it and adapt.

Eat enough protein (at least 0.7 grams per pound of body weight) and consume the appropriate amount of calories for your goals.

• Looking to gain weight and bulk up? Consume 150 to 300 calories over maintenance.
  
  
• Looking to shed weight and get lean? Maintain a 350 to 500-calorie deficit (below TDEE).

Final Words

There you have it: shoulder workouts with dumbbells at home.

As you can see, putting together an effective workout isn’t complicated, but there are some details to remember.

Home training is a viable way to exercise, so long as you follow the fundamental rules: intelligent exercise selection, applying progressive overload, and training with proper form.

Read next:

• Perfect The Overhead Shoulder Press With These 16 Tips (Updated)
• The 8 Best Adjustable Dumbbells Sets On The Market (2023)
• List of 113 Dumbbell Exercises For Every Muscle Group