There are many bodybuilders who have great physiques. They are so huge many people say they don't need to get any bigger.
There are many bodybuilders who have great physiques.
They are so huge many people say, "they don't need to
get any bigger." But the Deltoids are one body part
that EVERYONE will look better with more muscle in
that area. I don't care what anyone says, the first
thing that tells people that "hey I am a bodybuilder"
is the wide shoulder structure. It cannot be ignored.
Having big shoulders makes you wider, makes your waist
look smaller, makes your lats look bigger and makes
your upper body as a whole look better.
Unfortunately, deltoids are a muscle group that can be
quite stubborn. I genetically blessed few have wide
shoulders with naturally round deltoids, but for the
majority of us, we have to bust our asses to get
bigger shoulders. The goal of this article will be to
shed some light on how to properly train the deltoids.
When I first got serious about bodybuilding I already
had a good base. I had a big chest and big arms. But
my body looked much like a ruler. I had no delts,
they did not stand out at all from my arms. I knew
that if I wanted to have any hope of making it in this
sport that I would have to drastically widen my
shoulders. I tried many different routines and half
assed my way around the gym trying to find a routine
that worked, in the end it took me doing quite a bit
of research and experimentation to find a routine that
worked.
Now it's time to get down to the nitty gritty science
behind the shoulders. The deltoid complex is rather
unique, it can move in almost any direction in almost
any plane of movement. This provides many different
exercises that can be used to stimulate the muscle
fiber. The deltoid is composed of three different
heads: the anterior (front) delt, the posterior (rear)
delt, and the medial (middle) delt. So we can then
deduce that to stimulate muscle fiber that we must
provide exercises for each head of the deltoid complex
to maximize muscle growth. I am a firm believer that
each delt head should be isolated with a certain
exercise in order to maximize growth. However, a good
compound movement is also key for building overall
size and strength in the muscle.
Click to Enlarge!
As far as compound shoulder movements go I believe
that dumbbells are far superior to barbells. When you
are using a barbell both your hands are locked into
one position. They cannot be moved one way or
another. Not only does this place more stress on your
joints but in my opinion, takes away muscle fiber
stimulation because your range of motion is hindered.
But don't take my word for it. Try doing a workout
with barbell shoulder presses and a workout with
dumbbell shoulder presses. I guarantee that you will
feel a difference in fiber stimulation. For this
reason, I use predominately dumbbells in my shoulder
workouts. I am a firm believer in full range of
motion and being able to feel the muscle working
during the exercise I'm doing. I will list my two
different shoulder routines and then explain why I
have chosen the exercises I that are listed.
Workout #1
*note- warm-up sets are done for ALL exercises
2 failure sets of seated dumbbell presses (6-12 reps)
2 failure sets of Arnold presses (6-12 reps)
2 failure sets of bent over dumbbell lateral raises
(6-12 reps)
2 failure sets braced side lateral raises (6-12 reps)
Workout #2 (pre-exhaustion)
2 failure sets of cable side lateral raises (6-12
reps)
2 failure sets of seated dumbbell presses (6-12 reps)
2 failure sets of upright rows (6-12 reps)
2 failure sets of bent over cable lateral raises (6-12
reps)
*I alternate these workouts every 4 weeks.
Before I explain these workouts and their exercises I
would first like to say that all exercises should be
done with a FULL RANGE OF MOTION! I believe the
amount of muscle fiber you can stimulate is directly
proportional to how far you can stretch and how well
you can contract a muscle. (Why do you think calves
and forearms are problem body parts for so many
people...because they have limited ranges of motion)
For example, when doing seated dumbbell presses you
SHOULD lower the dumbbells until they touch the top of
your shoulders and then press them overhead until the
dumbbells touch each other. When doing any kind of
lateral raise you should raise the dumbbell to the
height of the top of your head and slowly lower them
to your side.
Repetition Cadence
Now I will discuss another issue of importance...
repetition cadence. Each repetition should be done in
controlled fashion. The most I ever use on lateral
raises is 30-lb dumbbells. But I see people that
weigh 50 pounds less than me using 45-lb dumbbells for
the same exercise. How do they do that? I'll tell
you how... they swing the weight. If I used momentum
and swung the weight I guarantee you that I could do
lateral raises with 55-65 lbs. So why don't I do it?
Well simple, I want to get big and I'm not going to
let my ego get in the way of that. If you are using
momentum and swinging the weight you aren't
stimulating jack. And if you don't stimulate muscle
fiber guess what... you don't grow. When I do lateral
raises I slowly lower the weight (usually I resist as
hard as I can) this usually takes me 6 full seconds to
lower the weight. To raise the weight, I use my
shoulders, not momentum to quickly lift the weight
through the positive part of the rep, but I do this in
a controlled fashion. All exercises should be done
in this slow controlled fashion. I will make a
generalization and say that in most of my exercises
the positive portion of the repetition takes me about
2 seconds whereas the negative portion takes me 6-8
seconds. True, I use less weight than many people in
the gym, but guess what? I'm also bigger than most of
those guys as well. So take heart about using lighter
weights.
It is very easy to cheat when doing shoulders and use
other parts of the body to assist the shoulders in
lifting the weights. This must be avoided if you are
serious about muscle growth. For example, many people
cheat when doing side lateral raises by moving the
entire upper body to move the weight (this is actually
quite comical to watch). This must be avoided. This
is why I do braced side lateral raises. These are
very useful as they virtually eliminate all cheating.
Here is how they are done.
First, grab a bar or a
seat or anything to stabilize yourself with you arm
that you will not be using to lift the weight. Now,
lean away from whatever you are holding onto. Now
simply do a raise with the arm that has the dumbbell
in it. Notice that you will not be able to use the
rest of your body to help you lift the weight.
Notice in workout #2 that cable raises are done
before dumbbell presses. I'm sure some of you are
wondering why in the hell I would put an isolation
exercise before a compound exercise. Well I'll tell
you why...to stimulate muscle fiber better. Have you
ever been doing shoulder presses and felt like you
could do another rep but you failed to get it because
your triceps gave out and you couldn't lock out the
weight? This happens quite frequently and is normal.
The triceps are a smaller and weaker body part than
the shoulders so when doing a press they will
frequently fatigue before the shoulders.
So you are
undoubtedly missing out on some fiber stimulation if
you feel your shoulders can still do more. So how do
we remedy this? We pre-exhaust the shoulders with an
isolation exercise. If a couple of failure sets are
done with an isolation exercise then the shoulders
will already be fatigued and stimulated from the
isolation exercise before the compound movement is
even done. So when shoulder press is done, your
shoulders will fail before your triceps do since you
have already pre-fatigued them with an isolation
exercise. Thus your shoulders have failed, rather
than your triceps, this means you have better
stimulated your shoulder muscle fiber.
So lets review on how to work shoulders...
DO...
Use heavy weights (that can be controlled)
Go through a full range of motion
Use isolation exercises in conjunction with compound
movements
Work at a slow and controlled cadence
DO NOT...
Cheat when lifting the weight
Lift the weight quickly and in an uncontrolled manner
Use more weight than you can do in a controlled manner
Use more weight just to be a show off
Use any other part of your body to lift the weight
Catch my drift?
As always, if you have any questions email me at
biolayne@yahoo.com
Until next time...
biolayne@yahoo.com
 Back To Layne Norton's Main Page
Back To The Articles Main Page.
Related Articles
Shoulder Building 101 - Introduction!
Build Wider Rounder Cannonball Delts With This Workout!
New Year's Resolution: Mass Building - Shoulders (Part One)!
|
Discounts & Deals - Sign Up!
SHARE
(5 characters minimum)