How To Find The Right Weight For Shoulder Exercises

by DWD
(Denver CO)

Question: How to find the right weight for shoulder exercises?

I've trained for around two years steady. But still contend with using the right amounts of weight for shoulders.

I'm sure pride can blind us to the fact that less is sometimes more. Still an old school thought process is hard to break until your shoulders start hurting.

Nun the less, add a little tendonitis and a person tends to rethink his position. I've seen good response with lower weight, still tempted to go big. Could you advise maybe a rule of thumb?

It's easy to bring up the front head, but the middle always seems to be lacking as does the rear. This may be a source of pain following my workouts.

Willing to try something new or diff. Please provide any examples or advise. thanks

Answer: Great question! It's very common to see people going way too heavy, especially on shoulders...

Here's a good rule of thumb to follow:

When you are lifting the weight, whether that be an isolation exercise, or a compound exercise, get into the habit of moving the weight slower, and instead of focusing on getting the weight up, focus more on the muscle group it is working. Put more attention on the performance of the exercise.

When using too much weight, you end up jerking the weight around, and are using mostly momentum, and that does not isolate the muscle group enough to reach your full potential.

Pick a weight, and trying moving it 2 seconds up, and then 2 seconds right back down again.

You'll obviously have to 'feel' that out, and see how well it works for you, but it certainly is a step in the right direction.

Sometimes with shoulder presses, people bring the weight down too far, and that can put a lot of stress on the shoulder muscle.

With rear delts, try doing bent over laterals, and do steady controlled form. Hold the weight for a second or two when you reach the top portion of the movement, then proceed to lower the weight slowly. You won't need much weight for this.

Typically, if you can do anything more than 12 reps on your first set, it's time to bring the weight up. 8 and 12 is a good rep range.