My shoulders have grown bigger and wider than ever with just these 2 deltoid exercises. Find out what they are in this article.

With so many deltoid exercises out there, it’s hard to know which ones actually work.

But the truth is, you’re probably doing too many — and focusing on the wrong areas. In fact, after cutting out all the fluff and focusing on just 2 science-backed deltoid exercises, my shoulders grew bigger and wider than they’ve ever been.

And with the right form, the same will happen for you.

But here’s the thing. What makes shoulders look wide and gives you that classic V-taper isn’t every part of the shoulder.

It’s mostly down to just one main region. The side delts. But here's the problem.

Most People Focus On The Wrong Deltoid Exercises

Most people’s training doesn’t reflect this priority.

For example, when researchers analyze exercises in volume studies, they count every chest pressing set as 1 set for your chest but also 1 set for your front delts because of how heavily involved they are.

Now, add in shoulder pressing — which targets the front delts even more — and you end up with way more weekly volume for your front delts than your side delts, whether you planned it or not.

In fact, this imbalance is common in most routines online.

Take a free Push Pull Legs workout from Bodybuilding.com, for example.

Once you factor in all the pressing, the front delts get around 20 sets per week, while the side delts only get 6.

Do this for long enough, and your shoulders will become overdeveloped in the front, lacking the width that truly makes them stand out.

But here’s the good news: fixing this imbalance is simple.

It just requires a shift in focus in the deltoid exercises you pick.

If wide shoulders are your priority, I’d even recommend ditching shoulder presses altogether if they’re not helping your goal.

That’s personally what I did.

I haven’t shoulder-pressed in over a year. Instead, I shifted that time and effort to 2 deltoid exercises that helped focus on my side delts.

And that’s when I really started seeing my shoulders really widen.

As for what side deltoid exercises to focus on, the best option is lateral raises.

What You Need To Know About Lateral Raises

But here’s the thing: not all lateral raises are created equal.

Take dumbbell lateral raises, for example. They’re convenient and easy to perform, but they come with a key limitation: they challenge your delts most at the top.

Ironically, this is where your delts are weakest.

As a result, you’re forced to use lighter weights than they can really handle.

But that’s not the only downside: there’s growing evidence that exercises providing a greater stretch, and challenging your muscles in that stretched position, may lead to better growth.

If you're interested, you can check out this article to learn how you can gain muscle almost twice as fast with the stretch method.

Dumbbell lateral raises don’t do either of those.

So, how do we fix this?

Well, this brings us to exercise 1 of our deltoid exercises.

Exercise 1: Cable Lateral Raise (Arm Behind Body)

First, lock your elbow into your side and rotate your arm outward.

Where your arm naturally stops is called your scapular plane. This is the optimal arm path for lateral raises, as it maximizes tension on your side delts and provides the biggest stretch at the bottom of the movement.

This means the “best” lateral raise is one where your arm can move behind your body to maximize the stretch.

Cables are the perfect tool for this.

And by setting the cable at a slightly raised position rather than at the very bottom, you can immediately shift the challenge to the beginning of the movement where your side delts are the most stretched.

You can do this single-arm or double-arm, depending on your preference.

That said, I want to be upfront with you.

While I’ve personally seen incredible results with this variation, the science is still catching up.

For example, I recently connected with my friend and researcher, Dr. Milo Wolf, who conducted a study comparing cable lateral raises to dumbbell lateral raises.

The results? After a few weeks, they found little difference in growth.

But there’s a catch. The cable raises in that study was performed with the arm in front of the body instead of behind the body, which doesn’t provide quite as much stretch on the side delt.

Additionally, the study was relatively short, and it used ultrasound measurements, which measure overall growth but don’t pinpoint specific areas of the muscle.

That’s why I’m currently running a highly controlled study using custom machines and MRI for measurement to determine if challenging your delts in the stretch position actually offers a significant advantage.

In the meantime, I’d still recommend giving this variation a try.

If anything, there might be a novelty effect where challenging your muscles in a new way could help you break through a plateau. At least that’s exactly what it did for me. 

That said, if you’re a beginner, this exercise might feel a bit tricky to master, especially the double-arm version. In fact, I tried showing this to Kevin, our head engineer at Built With Science (who recently dropped 12 lbs in 30 days by following my fat loss diet, by the way), and let’s just say he wasn’t a fan.

Deltoid Exercises Alternatives For The Cable Lateral Raise

But don’t worry. You do have other deltoid exercises that could stand in for the cable lateral raises.

One option is to first do a normal set of dumbbell lateral raises. Then, immediately after you can’t do any more full reps, grab a pair of 5lb heavier dumbbells and perform partial reps just in the bottom range.

This ensures your delts are actually worked to their limit, especially in that all-important bottom position.

Another option is to try the “lean-in” dumbbell lateral raise.

By leaning into the movement, you shift the challenge to the bottom of the range, targeting the stretch position more effectively.

Exercise 2: Rear-Side-Delt Focused Cable Lateral Raise

But while the first exercise focused on the main part of your side delt, there’s more to your shoulders than meets the eye.

Believe it or not, muscle activation research suggests that your shoulders might have up to seven different heads, all of which can be independently activated by your nervous system.

Now, this doesn’t mean you need seven different delt exercises to target them.

But it does mean that small adjustments to your lateral raise technique can work areas of your side delts that you’ve probably never hit before.

One area that often gets neglected is the rear portion of the side delt.

I know it sounds weird and super specific, but developing this part not only adds width to your shoulders but also gives them a more complete, beefy look in the back.

Personally, I’ve noticed a huge difference in how my shoulders look since I started emphasizing this part of the muscle.

So, which deltoid exercises target it?

You have 2 options here: cables and a dumbbell alternative.

So, for cables, start by setting the cable at wrist height, as we did with the first exercise.

But this time, rather than grabbing the cable behind your body, grab the cable in front of your arm.

Next, take a few steps to the side and rotate your body about 45 degrees toward the cable. This slight adjustment lines up the tension perfectly more towards the rear part of your side delt.

From here, raise your arm in a straight line away from the cable. Your arm should move slightly back behind your torso as you lift.

Now, you might be unable to raise your arm as high as you would in a standard lateral raise before it feels like your shoulder gets "stuck."

That’s fine. Don’t force it past that point. Simply focus on keeping the tension on the muscle.

As for the dumbbell version, first set up a bench at a slight incline, just 1 notch down from vertical.

Support your chest against the bench, let your arms hang straight down in front of you, and then raise them out to your sides.

While this doesn’t provide as much stretch or challenge in the bottom position, it’s still an excellent option that targets the same area. 

Progressing On The 2 Deltoid Exercises

But before you jump into these 2 deltoid exercises, there’s one key principle you need to apply.

See, the tricky thing about lateral raises is you’re not lifting nearly as heavy compared to other exercises. This means a small increase — like 5 lbs on dumbbells or moving one pin down on the cables — can be the equivalent of adding 40 lbs to your bench press in one jump.

So when you think you’re ready to increase the weights, as soon as you do, your form breaks down. Leaving you stuck doing the same weights forever on your delt exercises.

But here’s the good news.

Research shows you can build muscle either by adding more weight or by doing more reps. This opens up a smarter way to progress on your deltoid exercises.

Here’s what I do.

I stick to a broad rep range of 10-20 reps with my deltoid exercises.

Once I can perform at least 15 controlled reps across all my sets, that’s when I’ll bump up the weight. But when I’m using cables, where even one pin heavier can be too much, I’ll use a simple hack: grabbing a 5 lb or even a 2.5 lb plate and sticking the pin through it to make much smaller jumps.

This small adjustment allows me to keep progressing without sacrificing my form.

While progress on the 2 deltoid exercises might feel slower compared to your big lifts, that’s normal with smaller muscles and will help you avoid injury or form breakdown.

Incorporating The 2 Deltoid Exercises Into Your Routine

Lastly, what’s the best way to program these 2 exercises into your workout routine?

Well, I’d suggest doing 4-5 sets of each but splitting them up across different days to give your delts enough recovery time before hitting them again.

TL;DR

• Most people pick the wrong deltoid exercises (e.g., OHP) when trying to build wider shoulders; in actuality, the 1 main region they need to target is the side delts.
• Hitting the side delts with dumbbell lateral raise is problematic because it challenges the delts at the top, which 1) limits the weight you can handle and 2) leads to you missing out on better muscle growth from training at long muscle lengths.
• To fix this, exercise 1 of our deltoid exercises is cable lateral raise, with the arms behind the body.
• Exercise 2 of our deltoid exercises, rear-side-delt focused cable lateral raise, targets the rear portion of the side delts to achieve a wider, more complete, beefy shoulder look.
• Increase reps before increasing weight on the deltoid exercises (e.g., bump up the weight only once you can perform 15 controlled reps across all sets).
• The best way to program the deltoid exercises into your routine is to do 4-5 sets of each but split them across different days for recovery.

But if you want me to take care of all the guesswork for you with a done-for-you workout and nutrition plan based on the latest science, just take our quiz below to discover the best program for your body:

Click the button below to take my analysis quiz to discover the best program for you:

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But nothing pairs better with wider shoulders than a big chest, so check out this article next for the only 2 exercises that actually helped grow my stubborn chest.

Thanks for sticking to the end, and I'll catch you next time!

By the way, here’s the article summed up into a YouTube video: