Fitness Friday #2: Shoulders!

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Oh gosh. Thank God it's Friday. By the end of the week, I am always so exhausted and just ready for the weekend. This weekend is fully embraced, but then again, isn't every weekend?

Last week I did my first official "Fitness Friday" and I talked about T-bar Rows. This week, for my second Fitness Friday, I am going to talk about my now favorite muscle group to work... shoulders!

I thoroughly enjoy working my shoulders and my back, but lately shoulders seems to be inching closer and closer to the top position. I used to really not like working them but now I have totally fallen in love. 

Shoulders are a very difficult muscle group to grow. It takes a lot of time and energy to get rounded boulder shoulders. And by a lot of time, I don't mean three months. I mean years. I am always so fascinated by figure competitors and how amazing their shoulders look. I can't imagine how hard they had to have bust their butts to get that kind of shoulder definition:

Erin Stern recently winning 1st place at the 2012 Valenti Cup! (Source)

I love doing all kinds of shoulder exercises. I would have to say that these are my top 3 favorites:

1. Military Press

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This is a very effective compound movement, included in nearly every workout regimen. You can do this with a barbell, which I typically do as it also challenges my core. But sometimes, I admit, I do these with the Smith machine to fatigue the shoulders. In all, this is an excellent exercise and one I always look forward to.

2. Shoulder Press

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This is also a compound movement that is very effective. I always do these with free weights but sometimes I will use the machine just for burnout. In fact, I shoulder pressed the 30 lb. dumbbells with my trainer other day. Yes, 30 in EACH hand for a total of 60 pounds. Talk about feeling mighty!

3. Clean and Press

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I've talked about these before and I still love them. With that being said, they can still be extremely dangerous so ALWAYS start off light and have a spotter watching you. These are not only great for the shoulders but for overall body strength, so get cleaning and pressing!

I basically just named the top three most effective shoulder building exercises, but there are many others that are awesome: lateral raises, front raises, upright rows, etc. I am continually trying to get these babies to grow. The coconut shoulders look just calls to me, what can I say. ;)

Have a great day everyone! Enjoy your weekend!

Questions: Do you like working shoulders? What's your favorite shoulder exercise?

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