10 Best Resistance Band Shoulder Exercises & 4 Workouts (2024)

In this post, we will show you 10 effective resistance band shoulder exercises and breakdown several of our favorite shoulder workouts with bands.Our goal is to teach youhow to use resistance bands to build your shoulder muscles in the most effective manner, and with everything you are about to learn, you will be able to keep your shoulder workouts fresh week to week.

Best resistance bands for shoulderexercises

Just to be clear, weuse41" heavy duty loop resistance bands(aka flat resistance bands) for our shoulder workouts. They can be used for all the same exercises as resistance bands with handles and more. In fact, these resistance bands are the most versatile, so they are all you really need when it comes to any kind of band training, which includes warm up, workout, and cool down/recovery.

This is what they look like:

ARE RESISTANCE BANDS EFFECTIVE FOR SHOULDER WORKOUTS?

At SET FOR SET, 41" loop resistance bands are a staple in our strength training routine. We use them for resistance band only workouts, paired with free weights, as an assistance tool,andfor stretching and mobility. After all, 41" loop resistance bands are so versatile.

When it comes to building muscle and strength in your shoulders specifically, resistance bands are tremendously effective. One could argue that resistance bands are the best for shoulder hypertrophy because shoulder muscles don't need heavy weight to grow, they need an appropriate amount of resistance with a lot of time under tension, and with bands you can provide that perfectly.

Even if you are very strong,bands will have awide range of resistance - from 5-170+lbs. So even elite fitness enthusiasts can get a brutal shoulder workout in with bands alone.

And while you can target any muscle of your body with resistance bands, the shoulders are the easiest to hone in on and pumpthem up and hammer them into growth.

That doesn't mean the workouts are easy, though. Resistance band workouts are challenging and will have your heart rate pumping through the roof.

What's more to love about resistance bands is there areso many different shoulder exercises that you can do with them. Your workouts will never get old and you can keep your shoulders guessing. You can hityour shoulders from all angles thanks to the resistance being cause by elastic tension, not gravity.

Furthermore, they are way easier on the joints than free weights. This is a vital point, consideringout of all your joints, theshoulder is the most susceptible to injury.

Resistance bandsalso strengthen the shoulder stabilizer complex (rotator cuff) to a higher degree, as theycause perturbation force (a type of vibrational force that requires more stability - just do a banded shoulder press and you will see what we mean).

All in all, resistance bands offer so many benefitsbecause they are an extremely versatile training tool.

Shoulder Anatomy

Knowing the muscles that make up your shoulders is the most advantageous way to actually start building shoulder muscles.

By understanding the anatomy of your shoulders, you will know exactly why you are doing each exercise, and what muscle(s) to focus on. Ultimately, it will create a stronger mind to muscle connection.

Now, we aren’t going to go into full-on in-depth details about shoulder anatomy, we are simply going to run through the main muscles of your shoulders. These will be the primary muscles you are targeting with the resistance band shoulder exercises in this post.

Have a look at this picture:

As you can see, you have the anterior delts (front), the lateral delts (middle), posterior delts (rear), and your traps.

Another key component of the shoulders are the rotator cuff muscles. However, the workouts and exercises below focus on the superficial shoulder muscles (deltoids).

If you want to focus on your rotator cuff muscle to build injury resilience, check out this article: 7 resistance band rotator cuff exercises

Note: Of course, other muscles are involved when doing shoulder exercises with bands too, like yourpectoral muscles and your triceps..but let's just focus on thedeltoidsto keep things simple.

Moving on...

Now, the goal is to hit the different shoulder muscles equally. This will not only make you look better and more proportional, but it will also help you maintain proper posture, and it will make you stronger in other lifts, as each shoulder muscle works as one unit.

Furthermore, your shoulders are often stabilizers for big lifts (i.e. rear delts are stabilizer muscles for bench press, so the stronger your rear delts are, the better your bench press will be). The point is, you don't want toonly focus on your middle delts and traps, as a lot of people mistakenly do.We treatall three deltoids with respect in our resistance band shoulder workout!

We will label each exercise with the primary muscles that it targets, that way you know what muscles to focus on.

Now, before we finally get into the resistance band shoulder workouts and exercises, let's quickly go over the best way to train the shoulders (for maximum muscle growth)...

Best Way ToUse Resistance Bands to Build Shoulder Muscle

The exercises in this resistance band shoulder workout are inspired and taken from conventional free-weight shoulder exercises. Such as overhead press, lateral raise, upright rows, and so on. All of these traditional exercises can be done with bands and are effective for building muscle.

Here is how we will structure the workoutin the most effective wayfor building shoulder muscles.

First, you will want to explode through your reps during the concentric phase (the upward motion), and make sure you use a full range. Then during the eccentric phase (the downward motion), you will want to move slowly down to the starting position and repeat.

This is a type of power training, and power training recruits the biggest muscle fibers.

You can also move slow on the concentric phase if you wish to do so. The goal is to maximize time under tension with slow reps and really focus on contraction.

High Reps, Lots of Volume, Low Rest Time

For shoulder hypertrophy using bands,you will get the best results with high reps (thus more time under tension).

As mentioned above, when it comes to building muscle, most people’s shoulders respond best to lower weight and high reps rather than heavy weights and low reps. So, we are going to use a light band and do high reps for this workout.

We are going to be doing 3 sets of 20 reps.

Now, if you want to go up in resistance, you can go up in the band size with each set (i.e. set 1 x 20 reps, set 2 x 15 reps, and set 3 x 10-12 reps). If certain exercises are too difficult with a heavier band, keep the rep count at 20 for all three sets.

That said, we are recommending 4 sets x 20 reps for all the exercises in this shoulder workout. And we will be using lighter bands (lower resistance level) for these exercises. Use the band size that is doable for a high volume workout but will still challenge you for 20 reps.

Usingthe right resistance levelwill allow you to perform the reps explosively on the way up and slowly on the way down, maximizing time under tension, power and stability. This will help us engage our stabilizers better, and it will force us to remain cognizant about maintaining a tight core, all of which will greatly decrease any chance of injury.

Now, don’t let this lower resistance level get you thinking this will be easy, because it won’t. You are going to be doing high reps and more volume. And with that, you’ll be working yourself to a massive pump.

Moreover, the rest time will be short. You will only be resting for 30 seconds between sets. You should be sweating big time during this workout. If you aren’t, then you are not doing it right.

To summarize, here are the key methods for building shoulder muscles with resistance band exercises:

High reps and really pump the muscles full of blood (the "pump" is an underrated aspect of building muscle, it is proven to elicit hypertrophy…no matter what strength and powerlifting athletes may say).
Increased volume (more sets and exercises)
Decrease rest time to 20-40 seconds. This will create cumulative fatigue on the muscle tissues, and it will be brutal, yet non-intrusive on your joints (joint-pain free…yes, please!)

SET FOR SET Resistance Band Resistance Levels

10 Resistance Band Shoulder Exercises

Here are 10 effective shoulder exercises that will allow you to switch up the exercises of your shoulder workouts week to week.

The goal for every resistance band workout should be to hitall three deltoid muscles effectively (refer back to shoulder anatomy if needed).

Again, we will provide the primary muscles being worked for each exercise.

1. Banded One Arm Shoulder Press

Primary Muscles: Front Delts, Rear Delts, Middle Delts

The shoulder press is a fundamental exercise for strengthening your shoulders. It is one of the best exercises for overall shoulder development.

This exercise is done just like it would with a dumbbell. You can substitute the one arm shoulder press for a two-arm shoulder press.

We often do one arm presses as it works the core more. With one arm presses, you will need to stabilize your core to remain standing straight with your spine aligned.

Nevertheless, both two arm and one arm banded shoulder presses are very effective for building shoulder muscles and strength.

Watch the one arm shoulder press with resistance bands.

2. Banded One Arm Lateral Raise

Primary Muscles: Middle delts

Lateral raises with bands are great as you can't use momentum like you can with dumbbells. Lateral raises are one of the best middle delt exercises.

For this one, make sure your palms are facing parallel to the floor at the peak position.

Aim to get your elbows higher than your hands.

Create more tension from the starting position by looping the band around your foot once or twice.

Watch the lateral raise with bands demonstration.

3. Banded Front Raise

Primary Muscles: Front Delts

The front raise is pretty straight forward making it one of the best front delt exercises.

Some tips are as follows: Keep your elbows slightly bent in a fixed position. Don’t rock your body back in forth, keep your core tight, body upright and your shoulder back and packed. Lastly, make sure the band has tension at all times. Feel the burn!

Watchthe resistance band front raise in action.

4. Banded Upright Row

Primary Muscles: Traps, Middle Delts, Front Delts

Standing upright with a neutral spine, core tight, and your feet shoulder width apart, wrap the band around your feet and grab the band with both hands about 4-5 inches apart and raise it up to about upper chest level (if your shoulder mobility is lacking, you may not be able to get as high).

Aim to keep your elbows above your hands at all times. Really feel your traps and side delts working on this one!

Check out the resistance band upright row.

5. Banded Reverse Fly

Primary Muscles: Rear delts, middle and lower traps

For this one, you are going to anchor the band. Simply wrap it around an anchor at chest height (just like the video).

Keep a slightly fixed bend in your elbow. And keep your hands just above elbow level. Make sure you keep your elbows and arms up at all times. If it is working, you will feel it in your rear delts and traps.

Pro tip: pause at the back position for a second or two to really hammer those rear delts!

Follow this video demonstrating the resistance band reverse fly.

6. Banded Thrusters

Primary Muscles: Quads, Glutes, Shoulders, Triceps.

This is a full body exercise, and although this is a shoulder workout, we like to add this as the last exercise to really end the workout with a bang.

Thrusters will elevate your heart rate, so you will be increasing your cardiovascular fitness, metabolism, balance, and muscle endurance on top of the strength and hypertrophy gains.

This is one of the most effective full body exercises there is. If you are trying to get lean muscle growth, this is a great exercise to add to your shoulder workout. With the black band, it’s not going to really beef up your legs but it will put your shoulders to the test and it will surely help to burn off pesky fat!

We are not going to go through an entire how to, but a few tips are as follows: You will do a normal squat with your hands/band at chest level, when you come up from the squat, press your arms up like a military press. To engage your shoulder even more, press your hands up and out a bit. Lastly, explode up and descend slowly.

Watch the explosive resistance band thrusters.

7. Banded Behind the Neck Presses

Primary Muscles: Rear delts, middle delts, front delts, traps

This was one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's go-to exercises on shoulder day. If done right, it is a very effective exercise.

8. Banded One Arm Front Raise

Primary Muscles: Front Delts

This is an alternative to the two-handed front raise. This exercise will help prevent and fix muscle imbalances in your shoulder strength. What’s more, it will work your core stability as you need to remain upright with tension being only on one side.

To make this exercise easier, you can put the band around one foot (the same sideas the shoulder you are working).

By doing two feet on the band at shoulder-width apart, it causes more tension, thus more resistance. The more you spread your feet, the more resistance there will be.

Watch the demo of the single arm resistance band front raise.

9. Banded Rear Delt Fly

Primary Muscles: Rear delts, middle and lower traps

For this one, you will need an anchor. The movement is very similar to a reverse fly. The main differences are that you will be standing to the side of where the band is anchored instead of directly in front of it, you will be keeping your hand at the same level as your elbow, and you will pull the band straight back with your elbow bent more at the peak position.

Check out the single arm rear delt fly in action.

10. Banded Bear Crawl

Primary Muscles: Shoulders, Arms, Glutes, Core

This is a very popular exercise among strength coaches for athletes.

Like thrusters, bear crawls are a super effective full body exercise. You can do this one as your burn out exercise instead of thrusters, switching it up each week to add variety…You will need a friend for this one or you can tie two bands together and anchor them and crawl forward then backward (which can count as 1 rep).

Not only will it build strength, but it also increases mobility and improves overall conditioning. This is the definition of a total body exercise.

Watch the sweat inducing resistance band bear crawls.

How to Increase the DifficultyofResistance Band Shoulder Exercises:

You can increase the difficulty in a few ways…

Anchor the band to something rather than wrapping it around your feet or stepping on the band. By anchoring the band, you can start from a position with more tension.
Wrap the band around your foot/feet one or two times. This will also create more tension from the starting position.
If you are standing with both feet on the band, spreading your stance apart more will increase the tension from the starting position as well.

Safety tipfor all resistance band exercises: Always bring the bands back to the starting position before releasing it, do not let them fling off from peak position or during the eccentric phase.

4 Resistance Band Shoulder Workouts

Here areseveral examples of resistance band shoulder workouts with different workout protocols. This should give you an idea of how there are so many options for creatingshoulder workouts using only bands.

Target:Building Muscle, Strength, Burning Fat
Skill Level:All fitness levels can benefit from these workouts
Duration:30-40 minutes (not including warm-up and decompression)
Warm-Up:Before you do any taxing workout, you need to warm up. It will help you to start your workout strong by increasing body temperature and blood flow to your muscles and joints, and it reduces the risk of injury.

Follow thisDynamic Warm Upbefore you start this resistance bandshoulder workout.

1. Resistance Band Shoulder Workout (sets x reps):

Workout Protocol: Traditional/Conventional (sets/reps)

Warm up (5-10 mins): See above dynamic warm up.

Workout (30-35 mins):Rest 30 seconds in-between sets and 30-60 seconds in-between exercises. Complete one exercise for all the recommended sets before moving on to the next.

One Arm Shoulder Press - 3-4 sets x 20 reps (each side)
One Arm Lateral Raise - 3 sets x 20 reps (each side)
Front Raise - 3 sets x 20 reps
Upright row - 3 sets x 20 reps
Reverse Fly - 3 sets x 20 reps
Thrusters - 3 sets x max reps (end of workout burnout)

Decompress/Cool Down (5-10 mins): Focus on stretching and decompressing, with extra emphasis on the shoulder, elbow and wrist joints.

2. Resistance Band Circuit Workout for Shoulders:

Workout Protocol:Circuit

Warm up (5-10 mins): See above dynamic warm up.

4 rounds:

One Arm Shoulder Press x 20 reps (each side)
One Arm Lateral Raise x 20 reps (each side)
Front Raise x 20 reps
Upright row x 20 reps
Rear felt fly x 20 reps
Thrusters x 20 reps

Complete each exercise for 1 set, one after the other until you reach exercise 6, then that’s 1 round. Do this circuit again for 4 rounds total.

Option 1: Rest 20 seconds in-between exercises and 1-2 minute in-between rounds

Option 2: No rest in-between exercises and 2-3 minutes rest between rounds.

Decompress/CoolDown(5-10 mins):Focus on stretching and decompressing, with extra emphasis on the shoulder, elbow and wrist joints.

3. Resistance Band Superset Circuit Workout for Shoulders:

Supersets are fantastic for shoulder hypertrophy! This workout is going to burn!

Workout Protocol:Superset Circuit

Warm up (5-10 mins): See above dynamic warm up.

3 rounds:

One Arm Shoulder Press x 20 reps (each side)
One Arm Lateral Raise x 20 reps (each side)
Front Raise x 20 reps

3 rounds:

Upright row x 20 reps
Rear felt fly x 20 reps
Thrusters x 20 reps

No rest between exercises, complete one exercise after the other until all three are completed. Rest 1 minute, then do another round. Complete three rounds before moving on to the next superset of 3 rounds.

Decompress/CoolDown(5-10 mins):Focus on stretching and decompressing, with extra emphasis on the shoulder, elbow and wrist joints.

4. Resistance Band Ladder Workout for Shoulders:

Workout Protocol:Ladder

Warm up (5-10 mins): See above dynamic warm up.

Complete each exercise below for 10 reps, then go back to exercise 1 and do all the exercises again for 9 reps, continue doing this until youreach/finish 1 rep for each of the exercises. Hence, the name ladder, you work from 10 to 1 reps.

One Arm Shoulder Press
One Arm Lateral Raise
Front Raise
Upright row
Rear felt fly
Thrusters

Rest time: As little as possible. Only rest when you need it. This is a very intense workout protocol if you push yourself.

Decompress/CoolDown(5-10 mins):Focus on stretching and decompressing, with extra emphasis on the shoulder, elbow and wrist joints.

4 REASONS WHY YOU NEED TO DO SHOULDER WORKOUTS WITH RESISTANCE BANDS

1. Strength Curve

Free weights have a strength curve where certain parts of the movement are easier than others. For example, the bottom of a shoulder presswill bea lot harder thanthe top half of the movement, as at about the halfway point, your muscles/joints are in their strongest and most optimal range. This means your muscles are not gettingadequate tension toward the top of the exercise with free weights.

Unlike free weights, resistance bands become even harder at the end range of motion because resistance increases as they stretch. This is ideal, as the shoulders need more resistance towards the top of the movement where they are the strongest.

Further, resistance bands allow for constant tension (time under tension baby!)However, you will need to make sure your resistance bandalready has tension from the starting position for this to be true.

Pairing resistance bands with free weights can give you the best of both worlds. It eliminates the strength curve while also increasing the difficulty of the exercise. There will be constant tension on the way up and on the way down. Can you say, “shoulders hammered”?

2. Elastic Resistance, not Gravity.

With resistance bands, you are not fighting gravity like you are with free weights. The more you stretch the band, the more tension there will be.

What this means is, you can create tension from any direction, thus, you can hit your shoulder muscles from all angles - Vertical, horizontal, and diagonal planes are all fair game. You can really shock your muscles through variety like this.

What's more,you can easilyperform unilateral exercisesto hone in on smaller stabilizer muscles to strengthen them. Having strong shoulder stability is crucial.

3. Easy on the joints & Less chance of injury

With resistance bands, you can perform challenging exercises without all the pressure on your joints that comes with free weights, especially the spine.

If you’ve been in the iron game for years, your shoulders might be beat to crap, and we can almost guarantee they’ve at least been injured once or twice.

So, for those with joint issues, you don’t have to give up training, you can simply switch to bands for a while, or forever.

If injuries aren't an issue, it is still ideal to mix it up and do bands and free weights. This will give your joints time to recover while your muscles are still being worked. Nobody wants atrophy and nobody wants joint pain.

If you are looking at risk to reward, yes, free weights have more reward, but the risk is much higher than bands too. Bands are not as good as free weights for building muscle and strength, but the risk is much lower. Therefore, the risk to reward ratio is much better for bands.

Not to mention, when talking about shoulder exercises specifically, heavier weights are not even necessary. Typically, shoulders respond best to lighter weights with higher reps, in terms of building muscle.

Note: some people claim bands are better than dumbbells as you can't use momentum, which not only means more tension on your muscles, but it also won’t place wear and tear on your joints.

All in all, resistance bands are an effective way to build muscle without putting unwarranted pressure on your joints. You will be much less likely to get injured training with bands than with free weights, and if you are doing rehab, bands will bring your shoulders up to speed in a safe manner.

4. Portable, Durable, Lightweight, and Versatile

We won’t go into this one too much, but it’s amazing that you can have a portable, durable, lightweight, versatile training tool that’s effective for building muscle, strength and endurance.

This means you can train anywhere and anytime. And you can do just about anything with them - warm up, workout, stretching, and recovery.

They are an essential when it comes to traveling because of this. We never let being on the road deter us from training.

Overall, bands are great for people of all training/fitness levels. Even the biggest, strongest guys can get an effective shoulder workout in with resistance bands. Our resistance bands come in a variety of resistance levels, up to 170lbs, so for the shoulders, that is more than enough resistance, even for insane elite weightlifters (think one-handedpresses with a 170lbs, yikes).

How to addresistance band shoulder exercises to your current training program

Remember all of the exercises in this workout can be added to your current program to further target the muscles you are trying to work. You don’t have to do a purely resistance band shoulder workout.

i.e. add a couple of these moves to your regular routine to further target the muscles you're trying to work. These are great exercises for supersets with weights!

By adding resistance bands to your current training plan, you can keep your shoulders guessing, which is great for building muscle.

As your body adapts to a training stimulus, it gets to a point of decreasing returns. When this happens, and it happens surprisingly quickly, the same effort no longer generates the same results. Essentially, you're spinning your wheels...you will plateau.

This typically happens after 6-8 weeks of the same routine, even when progressively increasing resistance. This is why most workout plans are only 6-8 weeks.

Ideally, you should cycle your shoulder training from light to moderate to heavy every few weeks or even every other week. Changing up your rep scheme accordingly.

Moreover,performing different shoulder exercisesis important. It will allow you to hit the muscle from slightly different angles, which in turn leads to greater long term growth.

Want Exclusive Resistance Band Training?

For anyone who trains with bands, our SFS Band Workouts and Resistance Band Training e-Guide are must haves...

SFS FIVE Resistance Band Workout Package

Ourresistance band training e-guide. It has over 250 exercisescategorized bybuilding muscle & strength, mobility, flexibility, rehab, and more:

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We have 5 different sizesso you can use the bands for all of their various applications.

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Links to other articles on resistance bands

Best Resistance Band Exercises For Each Muscle Group
Resistance Band Chest Exercises
Resistance Band Back Exercises
Resistance Band Leg Workout
Resistance Band Tricep Exercises
Resistance Band Bicep Exercises
Resistance Band Core Exercises
Resistance Band Mobility Exercises
Resistance Band Explosive Exercises
21 Minute Resistance Band and Bodyweight Workout