Exercise Scientist: This Is the Most Effective Shoulder Move for Huge Delts
Building big shoulders is the secret to looking jacked in a shirt—and even better without one. But to achieve that wide, powerful look, you've got to put in the work on your delts. In a recent YouTube video, Mike Israetel shared five delt-building exercises that'll help you get there.
Israetel is an exercise scientist and co-founder of Renaissance Periodization, known for his expertise in muscle growth. He's coached athletes at all levels and regularly shares training advice, including detailed breakdowns of the S-tier exercises for different muscle groups.
Spoiler alert: The video is dominated by lateral raise variations, including incline laterals, machine laterals, crossbody laterals, and freemotion laterals. Israetel also suggests front raises as solid delt builders.
A 2020 study confirmed that lateral raises are top-tier for building bigger shoulders. Among 13 resistance-trained men, researchers found that lateral raises activated the medial delts more than any other exercise, outperforming the shoulder press and leaving the bench press and dumbbell fly far behind.
You can't go wrong with any lateral raise variation, but Israetel makes a strong case for seated incline laterals. By going seated, you reduce systemic fatigue and minimize the need for stabilization, making the movement more focused and efficient than a standing variation.
The angle of your incline plays a key role in targeting different parts of the delts. A higher incline emphasizes the side delts, while a lower incline shifts more focus to the front delts—though it still activates the side delts
Keeping the incline anywhere between 45 to 90 degrees is fine—what matters most is that you're feeling the tension in your side delts.
Israetel has a few cues to help. Think about lifting your pinkies up higher and pointing your thumbs down to angle more into your side delts. Keep the control all the way up and down, coming slightly above parallel and pausing briefly at the top.
If you're adding incline laterals to your next shoulder day, Israetel recommends using Myorep sets or incorporating partials as you near failure to milk a little more effort out of your muscles.
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