5 Super Rare Shoulder Exercises to Force Maximum Muscle Growth

Use these super rare shoulder exercises to force maximum muscle growth for your training and results.

Chosen and explained by Troy Adashun, they will help you to transform your body and keep your sessions fun and challenging by throwing some new movements into the mix.

5 Super Rare Shoulder Exercises

Add these into your training.

1. Dumbbell 6 Ways

This complex is an excellent way to start your shoulder training. It will challenge your shoulders from multiple angles.

1. Lat raise
2. Across to forehead
3. Go up and overhead (the hardest part of the movement)
4. Control on the eccentric
5. Back out to your sides
6. Down to the starting position

Make sure to stay slow and controlled at all times.

Go very light on this movement.

3 set of 8 – 10 reps with a rest of 60 seconds between sets.

2. Wide Grip Upright Row

With this next one, go wide so that you don’t go into the traps.

The wider the grip, the more it will be focused on the lateral deltoid.

Set it up on an incline bench with your chest resting on the top of the pad on the bench.

The Bench should be pinned at an angle of 45 – 90 degrees.

Lift your elbows straight up into the air.

3 sets of 10 – 12 reps, no more than 60 seconds rest time.

Source: Photo courtesy of CrossFit Inc

3. Incline Rear Delt Fly

This movement will blow up your rear deltoids and you will feel it in your upper back and your teres major muscle.

The key with this movement is hand positioning. Rotate your hands so that your palms are facing opposite directions. Come straight out with a slight elbow bend. Slow and controlled on the eccentric.

Grab a light pair of dumbbells because it is very challenging.

3 sets of 12 – 15 reps. Rest no longer than 60 seconds between sets.

4. Isolateral Lat Raise

This is a great exercise because you are using gravity to make it harder on the side delts.

You can grab any object to give your body stability as you perform the exercise. Lean against the object to give yourself a longer range of motion. Stand at an angle.

5. Shoulder Press

Now this may not look like a rare shoulder exercise, however, it will be performed in a non-traditional way in order to maximise hypertrophy.

Go lighter, never lock out totally at the top or rest at the bottom. Maintain tension on the muscles at all times.

These are performed as partial reps. Stop about 20% before you reach the top.

Go about 20% lighter as well, because you don’t have the luxury of resting at any point.

3 sets. 10 – 12 reps. Rest for no longer than 60 seconds.

Video – Super Rare Shoulder Exercises

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Muscles of the Shoulders

The shoulders are made up of a group of muscles that help you move your arms and rotate your shoulders. T

hese muscles also support the weight of your arms and allow you to perform everyday activities such as combing your hair, brushing your teeth, washing dishes or lifting heavy objects.

Super Rare Shoulder Exercises – Deltoid muscle

The deltoid muscle is a large triangular muscle with its base attached to the upper arm bone and its apex at the shoulder joint. It is named for its resemblance to a Greek letter delta (Δ).

The deltoid helps raise your arms forward and laterally. It also helps keep your arm steady when you lift or carry something heavy. This is because the deltoid attaches at several locations on your upper arm bone, which allows it to move your arm in different directions.

Super Rare Shoulder Exercises – Infraspinatus muscle

The infraspinatus muscle is a rotator cuff muscle, which means it’s one of the four muscles that make up the shoulder joint. It lies on the posterior aspect of your scapula (shoulder blade) and works with other muscles to rotate your arm inward.

This is a small, triangular muscle that points toward your spine. In addition to rotating your arm inward toward your spine, this muscle can also stabilize and fixate the shoulder joint when it’s under stress during activities such as throwing or reaching overhead.

Super Rare Shoulder Exercises – Teres minor muscle

The teres minor muscle is a small, triangular-shaped muscle that lies deep within your shoulder joint. It also assists in rotating your arm inward. This muscle plays an important role as one of the four rotator cuff muscles.

Super Rare Shoulder Exercises – Teres major muscle

The teres major, the smallest of all three muscles in the rotator cuff, is located on the lateral side of your shoulder. It acts to extend and rotate your arm. The posterior fibres act to retract (move back) your scapula (shoulder blade). The anterior fibres act to adduct (bring together) and medially rotate (turn inward) your arm.

Super Rare Shoulder Exercises – Supraspinatus muscle

The supraspinatus muscle is the largest of the rotator cuff muscles. It originates from the infraspinatus fossa and inserts into the greater tubercle of the humerus. The action of this muscle is to abduct your arm away from your body.

Subscapularis muscle

The subscapularis muscle is located in the upper arm, and its function is to rotate the arm inward and sideways. It also helps stabilize the shoulder joint.

These are the muscles of the shoulders.

You have four muscles in your shoulders. You can see them on the outside of your arm (anterior) and on the front of your chest (pectoralis major). The pectoralis major is a large, fan-shaped muscle that helps with lifting things. It attaches to the clavicle, or collarbone, and runs all the way down to attach to ribs 3 through 5.

The deltoid is located right above these muscles and also helps lift things. It’s shaped like an egg in three parts: anterior, lateral, posterior; they each perform different tasks related to movement of their respective body parts—the scapula (shoulder blade), humerus (upper arm bone), ulna/radius (elbow joint).

Conclusion – Super Rare Shoulder Exercises

The shoulder is a complex joint that requires careful and attentive muscle balance. The deltoid muscle works with the infraspinatus muscle, teres minor muscle, teres major muscle and supraspinatus muscles to maintain shoulder stability.

These muscles are also important for posture and movement in daily life as well as sports activities such as throwing or swinging an object like a bat or racquetball paddle.