The deltoid muscle: where and what is it

You have probably heard about the importance of the deltoid muscle and you may be wondering ‘where is the deltoid muscle’ and ‘what does the deltoid muscle do?’ It is a critical muscle found on the upper body that is a prime mover of the arm.

What and where is the deltoid muscle?

The deltoid muscle is a rounded triangular muscle that is located at the top of the shoulder and upper arm. It has three sets of fibers, including: anterior, middle and posterior.

What does the deltoid muscle do?

The deltoid muscle is an antagonist muscle of the pectoralis major crucial for arm rotation. It also stops dislocation to the humerus.

To strengthen your deltoid muscle, you can do a number of exercises.

Read also: What is the psoas muscle

Deltoid Exercises

Wall presses

How to:

1. Begin by standing up straight next to a wall.
2. Gently push your arm against the wall as hard as you can.
3. Hold and switch sides.

Plank Walkups

How To:

1. 1. Begin by lying flat on the floor, stomach down, with your knees fully extended.
   2. Bend your arms and position your elbows directly beneath your shoulders, supporting yourself with your forearms.
   3. Clench your fists and raise yourself up until your only points of contact with the ground are your toes, elbows, forearms, and fists.
   4. Maintaining a flat back, squeeze your abs and glutes.
   5. While continuing to squeeze, bring one hand back to just below the position of your shoulder, and begin to push yourself upwards with the palm of that hand.
   6. While pushing upwards, bring your other hand back to below the position of your shoulder and continue pushing until your arms are locked out and fully extended.
   7. Bring your body down to the position where your elbows supported you, starting with the arm used in step 6.
   8. Complete subsequent reps starting from step 5, alternating hands used.

Burpees

How To:

1. First, position your feet shoulder width apart, with arms extended by your sides while standing upright.
2. Squat as low as you comfortably can by bending your knees to lower your torso.
3. Lower your body to assume a push-up position by placing your hands on the ground in front of you, and then extending your legs behind you.
4. Squeezing the abs and glutes while maintaining a flat back, bend your arms, lowering your body until your chest is about 1 inch from the ground.
5. Push through the palms of your hands.
6. Once your arms are fully extended, keep your palms on the ground while jumping forward and bending your legs into a squatting position.
7. Remove your palms from the ground, explode up into a jump, and land on feet as softly as possible.
8. Complete subsequent reps starting from step 2.