The Deltoid Muscles

The Deltoid muscles, otherwise known as the deltoids, make up the muscles of the shoulder. The three deltoid muscles are the lateral (side), posterior (rear) and Anterior (front).

Overall the primary function of the deltoid muscles is to move the arm away from the body, the Anterior deltoid help raise your arm in front of you, the Lateral deltoid moves your arm up from your side and the Posterior deltoid moves the arm backwards towards your back.

When carrying out many different exercises in your workout from chest exercises to back exercises you can be working different deltoid muscles as a secondary muscle due to the movements the deltoid muscles support.


A good shoulder workout is important to not only increase your strength in the shoulders but also support your bench press and back exercises such as the barbell row or seated row.

Even though the deltoid muscles give alot of support to other muscles when carrying out exercises they are not actually a very strong muscle group due to the size of each muscle. When carrying out isolated weight exercises on the deltoids you will find that lower weights with good form is the best way to increase size and strength.