Having fully developed shoulders will give you an outstanding and polished physique. With all the training misinformation available, I want to share with you how you can get those developed shoulders to create the perfect package.
An Ultimate Physique is the Result of Well-Developed Shoulders
The shoulders can be a hard muscle group to build. Having nicely developed shoulders can enhance the rest of your physique by adding shape and making your waist appear smaller.
However, far too many people go about shoulder training ALL Wrong, training them too much or not enough, doing the wrong exercises in the wrong order, or not using enough weight to even stimulate the thought of growing. To get your shoulders to respond you have to train heavy and use proper form.
The shoulder muscle is made up of three heads; the back (posterior), the front (anterior) and the sides (lateral). Each head needs to be targeted using a specific method for overall development.
Overall Shoulder Development
To create well-developed shoulders you can target all your shoulder muscles at once by doing the shoulder press. This ONE shoulder exercise can boost your overall shoulder strength and size. This is the daddy of shoulder exercises. Therefore, it would be ideal to do shoulder press first in your shoulder workout. Machines are fine to learn balance and control, but be sure to graduate to the barbells and dumbbells.
It’s recommenced that you press from the front rater than the back. Behind-the-neck pressing is an unnatural movement and if the poundage is excessive, it can cause injury. Lift heavy weight in your body’s natural alignment to reduce risk of injury.
Front Shoulders
The front raises add size to the front portion of your shoulders. To do this exercise stand up straight and use a shoulder-width grip on a barbell. Using your front shoulders, pull the barbell straight out and upward in front of you until your arms are parallel to the floor. Release and repeat.
Rear Delts
Developed shoulders also include strong rear delts. Bent-over lateral raises add size to the back of your shoulders. To execute this exercise, simply bend over at the hips; grasp a light to moderate dumbbell in each hand. With your upper body parallel to the floor, bring each dumbbell up to your sides in a controlled manner. Do not elevate the dumbbells beyond the parallel point. Squeeze and contract your shoulder blades together. This keeps continual tension on them throughout the exercise.
These can also be performed on a machine (reverse fly/reverse pec deck), which I like much better because it allows you to really isolate the rear deltoids.
Side of Shoulders
In addition to building overall shoulder development you need to hit your lateral delts as well. Upright rows are great for improving your shoulder width. Hold a dumbbell in each hand or grab a barbell in the center and pull it up to your collarbone. Lower back to the starting position and repeat. By using a bit of a wider-grip, you can remove the front delt action some and really target the lateral delts. Eric Broser at www.ironmanmagazine.com explains, “If you widen your grip to a little beyond your shoulders and bring the bar no higher than your upper chest, you strongly target the lateral-delt heads.” For best results, don’t go heavy on this exercise. Keep the weight light to moderate.
What Does All This Mean?
For overall shoulder development it is crucial that you being your delt training with a power movement to target all the heads simultaneously. From there, work down the line, hitting the front, back, and side delts to bring out your unique shoulder development. The trick is to train hard and heavy with good form. If you stay dedicated to serious shoulder training, the results WILL follow. Be consistent and patient.
