Shoulders exercises

The deltoid has three heads that do different things. The front head lifts the arm forward and does most of the work in any press. The side head lifts the arm out to the side and is what makes shoulders look wider. The rear head pulls the arm back and is trained by rows and reverse flies. Pressing alone covers the front well, the side partly and the rear barely at all.

Most routines need one press and one or two raises. The press is the overhead press, the dumbbell shoulder press or, for a first routine, the machine shoulder press. For the side head add lateral raises or the cable lateral raise; for the rear, the reverse pec deck or rear delt flies. Front raises are rarely needed if you already press, and the chest exercises train the front head as well.

Raises use light weights, and 2.5 kg more on an 8 kg dumbbell is a big jump. StackUp lets you set the weight step per exercise, so the suggestion matches the dumbbells your gym actually has.