The Only 2 TRX Exercises You Need For Wide Shoulders

With hundreds of TRX exercises out there…

It’s hard to know which ones actually build wider shoulders.

But after cutting through the fluff and focusing on just two exercises…

My shoulders grew bigger and wider than they’ve ever been…

And with the right technique, the same will happen for you.

So in this post, I’m going to show you exactly how to do these 2 TRX moves…

AND how to combine them to maximise your shoulder width.

First, here’s what most people don’t realise about getting wide shoulders…

Don’t have time to read the post in full? Then watch the video below to learn the only 2 TRX exercises you need for wide shoulders:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLYI29sqsXA

What Muscles Create Wide Shoulders?

What actually makes shoulders look wide isn’t every part of the shoulder.

It’s mainly one region: 

Your side delt – the middle shoulder muscle.

But here’s the problem…

Most people’s training completely ignores it.

Think about what you’ve been doing over the years: push-ups, bench press, overhead pressing.

When researchers analyse chest press training volume, they include your front delts too, because of how heavily involved they are.

Now add in shoulder pressing, which targets the front delts even more…

And you’re left with way more training on your front delts than your side delts, whether you plan to or not.

Do this long enough and your shoulders will become overdeveloped in the front,

But lack the width that truly makes them stand out.

Which is exactly what happened to me…

But here’s the good news…

Fixing this is simpler than you think. It just requires a shift in focus…

Stop Doing This Exercise

If wider shoulders are your priority…

I’d even recommend ditching any form of shoulder pressing altogether.

That’s personally what happened when I quit the gym world and went all in on minimalist suspension training.

I couldn’t do shoulder press anymore, so I was forced to shift that time and effort into targeting my side delts directly.

And that’s when I really started seeing my shoulders widen.

So what’s the best exercise to fix that imbalance?

Well, the honest answer is cable or dumbbell lateral raises…

But we’re not here for them. 

We’re here for the best possible answer with a suspension trainer that can mimic those movements…

And those are two specific raises, and together they target shoulder width in a way most people have never tried

Which brings us to TRX shoulder exercise number one:

The Y Raise.

But here’s the thing…

Not all Y raises are created equal….

And the way most people do them is actually pulling tension away from the middle shoulder muscles….

I’ll show you exactly what I mean in a second. First, here’s why the Y raise works…

TRX Shoulder Exercise 1

When your arms rise into that Y position, slightly above shoulder height, angled out in front of you..

The primary muscle being challenged is your side delt.

The muscle most responsible for shoulder width.

The rear delt and upper traps do assist, but the side delt is doing the heavy lifting.

So what’s the mistake that kills all of that?

Well It comes down to one thing:

where your arms travel.

On a suspension trainer, it’s very easy to let your upper back take over.

Pull your arms too far back or too fast and the rhomboids and traps dominate…

Causing the tension to shift away from your shoulders entirely.

Go too far forward and you hang through the joint and lose tension the other way.

Normally, I’m an advocate of using the biggest range of motion possible for exercises,

But in this instance, the sweet spot is keeping your shoulders centred and using a short range of motion.

Otherwise, you’re training your upper back, not your shoulders…

I tell my clients to think like a zombie.

Your hands are just hooks on the straps.

It’s your shoulders driving the movement up and down to keep that burn building in the side delt:

https://youtube.com/shorts/BfksnCHDEKc

Now, while the Y raises target the main part of your side delt.

There’s actually more to building wide shoulders than meets the eye…

And this second exercise is one most people have never even tried…

TRX Shoulder Exercise 2

You see, shoulder width isn’t just about what people see from the front.

It’s also about what they see from the side and behind. 

This brings us to the T Raise.

And here’s what makes it such a smart pairing with the Y raise when performed correctly.

At the start of the movement, as your arms begin to rise and move out to the sides,

You’re still getting middle delt recruitment, which is exactly what we want.

But as your arms move further out to the sides and come in line with your shoulders,

the emphasis shifts and your rear delt becomes the primary muscle being challenged. 

That’s the muscle that builds width from the side and behind.

The part of the shoulders that’s almost always underdeveloped.

And for anyone spending long hours at a desk, it’s one of the most functional muscles you can develop.

Because strong rear delts pull your shoulders back and stabilise the shoulder joint for everyday lifting,

which means better posture and injury prevention. 

But the watchout with this T raise is that it becomes even easier to let the upper back take over if you go too far back,

so keep the same short range of motion.

https://youtube.com/shorts/WH1uvezPGOU

Now I know what you are thinking, “what about face pulls for rear shoudlers?”

And you are right, you could definitely do them too:

https://youtube.com/shorts/fBZACIXTHfs

I prefer the T raises because you’re getting that middle delt recruitment at the start…

And for most beginners, the technique is more intuitive to learn

But before you jump into these two exercises, there are two key principles you need to apply.

TRX Shoulder Training Basics

You see, the tricky thing about these raises is that you’re not working with nearly as much load compared to other exercises.

And on a suspension trainer, progression works differently to weights, you progress by adjusting your body angle.

The more horizontal your body becomes, the greater the demand on the muscle.

And because the delts are such small muscles…

Even a tiny step forward for a harder angle can feel like you’ve added 40lbs.

So start wth a small angle and stick to a rep range of 10 to 15 reps.

Once you can perform at least 15 clean, controlled reps across all your sets,

that’s when you take a small step forward and increase the angle.

Not before.

Because the moment your form breaks down, your upper back starts taking over

And if you really want to hammer your middle delts and push them to grow that width,

Here’s what you can do…

TRX Shoulder Training Advanced

I love doing these two exercises as supersets.

12 reps of Y raises straight into 12 reps of T raises with no rest.

The Y raises pre-exhaust the middle delt and some of the rear…

So when you go straight into the T raises, both are forced to work even harder to compensate.

Causing a greater breakdown of muscle

The burn is intense, and that’s exactly what we want.

But honestly, if you’ve got wide shoulders on a body where everything else is lagging behind, 

You’re still going to look and feel half-built.

To get the best results, you want to combine this shoulder training with full-body muscle building.

So checkout this post next and I’ll show you the eight essential TRX moves everyone needs to master to build full-body muscle, strength, and mobility.

I’ve also put together a free four-week workout plan built around those moves.

It’s sitting inside that post, ready for you to download for free.

Here’s to your Fitness Freedom!

Coach Adam, aka TRX Traveller