I am having a hard time working out my shoulders. It just doesn't seem that I work them hard enough. I do front and side/lateral raises to try and target my shoulders with 10lb dumbells. By my third set my shoulders are a little tired but it's mostly my upper back/traps that keep me from doing another set or more reps.

What other exercises can I do that specifically target the muscles in the shoulders?

Butterflies and behind the neck pull downs. That will make for a sexy looking deltoid!

Overhead presses, pullups (assisted), heavier weights, pushups.

I generally stay away from any "behind the neck" exercises because there is a VERY high rate of injury with them.

Mel

Heavy dumbell overhead presses will do a lot more for your delts than laterals. I would consider those more of a "finishing" exercise to fine tune your physique.

I did overhead presses and rear delt flys yesterday and I am sore. I like shoulder exercises but it takes a bit to build them up in strength (at least for me).

Shoulder muscles are tiny. It can take years to see major strength gains, and real definition can generally only be seen at real low body fat levels. I Would love to have nice round "shoulder caps", but even through I lift pretty heavy for someone my size, genetically I just don't develop them naturally. Most people don't because the primary function of the shoulder joint depends on full range of motion. Heavily developed delts cut down on ROM.

In six years of dedicated lifting, I've increased the weight I use on side raises, for example, from 8 pounds to 17.5 pounds. While that's double what I started with, I've more than quadrupled other lifts. Shoulders are fragile, tiny muscles!

Mel

Thanks for the info. I had read about the possibility of injury with behind the neck presses and pullups and things so I don't do those. I don't really want or expect huge shoulders overnight or anything I just don't want to neglect them when I'm lifting. Luckily for me I put on muscle pretty quickly and I think I can already see some changes as far as larger muscles (quads and biceps mainly). Now if only the darn fat would get out of the way!

Thanks again.

BTW I was thinking about it last night and perhaps the reason that it doesn't feel like my shoulders are getting much of a workout has to do with my form.

Very interesting stuff; explains why in my ubwo today I had to lower the weight for my shoulders when compared to back, bi/tri. But I just had a thought with it being swimsuit season. Can anyone explain why the cute little babies and toddlers in swimsuits have such cute little shoulder cap muscle definition and cuts? Can't be because of low body fat so is it just their unique stage in development? I often would give blood to have a body like my 6 year olds, but upon closer examination, if I rode my back 2 hours a day, ran instead of walked, and constantly stayed on the go and only ate when I was starving and could stop moving long enough to eat, I probably would! But really, I want to know about the pre-school shoulder cuts if anyone knows!

Low body fat. Check out the abs on some of the 7 year old boys. It's all about body fat.

Mel

Wow tae-bo billy blanks bootcamp... will surely do the trick. I am secretly in pain from last nights work out session.

Shoulder muscles really do seem to be quite slow to develop. I can only do 5 lb dumbbells for side and front raises if I want to get 12-15 reps in. It's gotten a bit easier than when I started, but not enough so I can lift significantly more weight. None the less I can still feel the difference, I think.

I find the Bradford press (A Pressing Situation to be a really good shoulder exercise.

I can go to 8# for front and side raises. I do a combination that someone here at 3FC suggested quite some time ago. I do a front raise, move my arms to the side at shoulder level, then down in a controlled fashion. These and shrugs (15#) are my main shoulder exercise. And though it's taken at least 6 months, I can see the difference.