If getting firmer shoulders is on your to-do list, one thing that you need to make sure of is that you are using a proper workout design. Far too many people aren’t structuring their workouts as they should be and that is the primary reason that they go on to see lacklustre performance.

If you choose the right exercise, rep, and set scheme, you can move forward and create the look you’re after.

Let’s go over the key points that you need to know.

Go Heavy On The Compound Movements

First and foremost, make sure you have one or two compound movements for the shoulders in place. These are going to be your primary strength builders and what will help add the bulk of the mass you develop.

Good options here include the barbell shoulder press, the dumbbell shoulder press, or the incline bench press.

All three will work the shoulders to full capacity and allow you to push the most weight, therefore producing the greatest strength gains.

Make sure that you do keep the weight heavier during these and take the rep range to around 6-10 reps per set, performing 2-5 sets per workout.

Add Your Isolation Exercises

To your compound movements, add some isolation exercises. This includes your front raises, your side raises, and your rear delt fly’s.

Lateral (side) raises are especially important because they will target the side head of the deltoid, which is most noticeably when nicely developed.

Furthermore, the shoulder press will place more emphasis on the front deltoid, so having the lateral raises in there will ensure they are stimulated as needed.

You will lift lighter amounts of weight on these exercises since you will be taking the rep range higher as well. You’ll want to perform 10-15 reps per set, so use a weight that allows you to do this.

Remember To Rest

Finally, make sure that you are giving your shoulders enough total rest time as well. This means not only resting between your shoulder workouts themselves, but also resting sufficiently between other workouts as well.

If you are doing shoulders and chest on a separate day for example, leave at least one day between sessions otherwise you risk overtraining yourself due to the fact that the shoulders will also be worked whenever you’re doing a chest workout as well.

So get these principles into place with your shoulder workout and you can ensure that you reach whatever goals you have set for this area of the body.