4 Dumbbell Shoulder Press Benefits

The dumbbell shoulder press benefits can help you immensely, depending on your training objectives. If building bigger, wider and more symmetrical deltoids sounds appealing, read on.

If you decide to use this exercise, be sure to read my tutorial on the dumbbell shoulder press.

Dumbbell Shoulder Press Benefits. The dumbbell shoulder press offers some very impressive benefits, which I spell out for you below:

1. Build Big Delts. This exercise allows you to really emphasize the deltoids with moderate to heavy loads. While you may not be able to lift as much total weight as with the barbell overhead press, you can still move some pretty heavy-ass iron. And in case you didn’t know, you must continually increase stress on the muscles in order to build muscle, as per the principle of progressive overload. Since you can keep adding weight to the dumbbell shoulder press almost indefinitely, it’s a prime shoulder building exercise choice.
2. Get Wider Shoulders. Since this exercise uses dumbbells, you can hold and maneuver the weights more freely than with a barbell. And so, the dumbbell press hits the lateral deltoids more intensely than barbell shoulder press movements. The end results include better developed outer deltoid head that give you more “capped” shoulders, and a more profound “V-taper” look (i.e. a high shoulder-to-waist ratio). Tip: Do lateral raises to really isolate the outer delts.
3. Work the Stabilizer Muscles. Since dumbbells force you to move the weights individually with each hand, you must utilize stabilizer muscles. This provides the benefit of improved control and balance of the shoulders and upper arms.
4. Achieve Symmetry. Unlike with barbell overhead press movements, the dumbbell shoulder press makes it impossible to complete reps by using the stronger side of your body to compensate for your weaker side. Therefore, the dumbbell shoulder press can prevent or correct strength and muscle size imbalances between your right and left upper arms.