When it comes to building pleasing physique worthy of superhero qualities nothing is more important than big, broad shoulders.
A well-shaped pair of shoulders is the beginning of the V-taper that makes for the physique everyone is searching for. The V-taper is achieved with round shoulders, a developed lat structure and a small waist.
I see man training shoulder and they are lacking the variety needed to hit all 3 heads of the muscle. If you want boulder shoulders, you need to focus on each section of the deltoid. Lateral, posterior, and anterior.
THE BEST SHOULDER EXERCISES
While many stick with the standard press with dumbbells or barbell military press (which are extremely important), these mainly focusn on the middle head of the delt, and the anterior and posterior delts are left neglected.
Getting the back and front of your shoulders developed produces incredible overall shape and that action-figure-like physique.
ANTERIOR DELTS
The anterior deltoids are the very front head of the shoulder muscle and when properly formed can create a round-looking shape from the front.
POSTERIOR DELTS
Rear or posterior delts give a powerful appearance from the side and back. Your read shoulders are what really make the shoulders “pop” and can give you that 3D look. Take a look at the three principles to follow in order to get the most out of your shoulder workouts.
THE BASICS OF A SOLID SHOULDER WORKOUT
- LIFT HEAVY AND FOCUS ON GAINING STRENGTH
Don’t complicate a workout. Focus on lifting heavy on the most important exercises and try to improve strength and form every week.
Track Your Workouts
Write things down. Shoulders can be hard to grow. Form is the first and foremost thing to pay attention to. Lower the weight and get those small muscles to work. Then once form and that mind-muscle connection has been made focus on progressive overload. Never sacrifice form unless it’s a final set. This helps to keep all of the other muscles out of the picture while you’re training the delts.
Dumbbell Shoulder Press
For instance, the dumbbell shoulder press, one of the best mass building shoulder exercises used by lifters. If you do the dumbbell shoulder press with 55 lbs for 7 reps in your last workout, push yourself to do 8 reps with the same weight the next workout, or move up to 60 lbs and do 7 reps again.
This is the basis to help muscles grow and for you to get stronger. Sounds basic but many don’t follow this. It’s the little things that make a huge difference.
- TRAIN ALL THREE HEADS OF THE SHOULDERS EVERY WORKOUT
As I said before the shoulders are three sections. Unfortunately, many people fail to realize this, which is why you rarely see a shoulder with the front, middle, and rear portion fully developed. When you don’t develop all three sections, it’s nearly impossible to form those powerful, full, round shoulders.
The difference between the average lifter who is lean and muscular with abs and the ripped fitness model is all in that V-taper, and for many people, the missing links are the front and rear shoulder development.
The wider and rounder your shoulders are, the better your V-taper appears.
- CHANGE UP EXERCISES, TIMING, REP RANGES, ETC.
The same goes for all muscle group, changing your workout routine up is the way to amazing gains.
Try to follow these three principles when planning your workout:
- Change the exercises used to target each section of the shoulders. The goal is 3-4 solid exercises that work each head of the delts and change these up every few weeks.
- Change rep ranges. This means doing heavy sets with the maximum overload on your shoulders and then some days perform high rep sets on other days.
- Change your rest time between sets. A great way to stimulate growth is a combo of heavy sets with short rest times. Every set will get harder and harder
Here is a sample routine to follow to ensure you’re hitting the anterior, lateral and posterior muscles of your shoulders. This routine will develop all three delt sections and get you some great gains.
SAMPLE WORKOUT: THE BEST SHOULDER WORKOUT FOR SIZE AND SHAPE
- DUMBBELL SHOULDER PRESS
- Sets:4
- Reps:5-10
- Rest Time:60-90 seconds
- :2 seconds down
- STANDING BARBELL MILITARY PRESS
- Sets:4
- Reps:5
- Rest Time:2 minutes
- :2 seconds down
- DUMBBELL LATERAL RAISES
- Sets:4
- Reps:6-10
- Rest Time:1 minute
- :2:1 (two seconds down, one second up, feel that muscle working)
- DUMBBELL ARNOLD PRESS
- Sets:3
- Reps:8-12
- Rest Time:1 minute
- :2:2
- DUMBBELL SHRUGS (I DON’T RECOMMEND FOR MOST WOMEN)
- Sets:4
- Reps:8-12
- Rest Time:1 minute
- :2:1
- SEATED DUMBBELL REAR DELT RAISE
- Sets:4
- Reps:10-15
- Rest Time:1 minute
- :2:1
Try it out and work on transforming those shoulders into boulders. Remember form is critical when doing heavy shoulder presses, it’s easy to get out of line and end up with an injury. Once you get a shoulder injury you have to nurse it for weeks and possibly months back to health.
