Introduction

Shoulders can make a physique look powerful and clothes tend to fit nicely around big defined shoulders. So let’s discuss how to build bigger shoulders.

Luckily, there is a way. Firstly we must understand that there are three heads to the shoulder Muscle, so you must develop all three angles for maximum size. 

Anatomy

The front head is called the anterior deltoid. 

The middle head is called the medial deltoid and 

The rear head is called the posterior deltoid. 

Training

Most people will emphasise training the front head more than the others, as it is easily seen in a mirror and heavily involved in pressing exercises. The problem is that the front delt actually gives less of an illusion of size compared to the medial and rear delt.

So if we want shoulders that look bigger than the average gym goer, we need to emphasise training the medial and rear deltoids.

Exercises

Let’s look at a few exercises that target all three heads first. 

Front Deltoid

Front raises –

(Dumbbell example)

• Hold a pair of dumbbells by your side
• Raise one arm up keeping a slight bend in your elbow
• Stop once you get to shoulder level
• Pause for a second before lowering the dumbbell back to your side
• Repeat for the other side

This movement is the bread and butter of front delt development, you can raise one arm at a time or both arms at the same time to rack up the reps. It is commonly done with dumbbells, barbells, cables or weight plates. Keep the stress off your elbows by leaving them slightly bent. Doing front raises seated produces more muscle activation than standing, when the body moves it builds momentum assisting in the movement, taking resistance off the muscle

Shoulder press – 

(Dumbbell example)

• Lift a dumbbell in each hand up to ear level, so you have a 90 degree bend in your elbow
• Push the dumbbell upwards until your arms are nearly straight
• Lower the dumbbell back to ear height, then repeat

The shoulder press is a great mass builder for the front delt, you will see this done frequently in most gyms. Dumbbells or machines are usually the best equipment for this exercise. The reason for this is that your arms should travel as vertically as possible and doing this with a bar can be difficult, as your head can get in the way.

Military press – 

(Barbell example)

• Stand with a barbell up by the top of your chest, with your palms facing outwards
• Press upwards whilst keeping your elbows in front of you
• Stop just before lockout
• Return back to your upper chest before repeating

The military press is a movement that requires more core stability and front delt effort than most exercises. The stretch at the bottom of the movement is quite pronounced, knowing this the weights or resistance should be kept slightly lower than a shoulder press where you aren’t stretching so hard.

Medial deltoid

Seated lateral raise –

(Dumbbell example)

• Whilst seated hold a dumbbell in each arm by your sides
• Bend your elbows slightly
• Raise the dumbbells up until your arms are out by your side, nearly level with your shoulders
• Lower the dumbbells back by your side whilst keeping some tension against the dumbbell (don’t let the dumbbell just hang)

The lateral raise is where we can make the biggest difference to the size of our shoulders. If you can really feel and connect with the muscle during this exercise, then you will start seeing visible changes very quickly. Doing lateral raises whilst seated increases muscle activation allowing the muscle to be hit harder.

Wide grip upright rows –

(Barbell example)

• Hold a barbell with your hand grip slightly wider than shoulder width
• Keep your shoulder blades back
• Pull the bar up keeping it close to your body
• Try and get your elbow to 90 degrees if possible, otherwise just stop before you start shrugging the weight
• Lower the bar back down without completely straightening your arms, repeat the movement

Upright rows are an exercise that hits both the medial and rear delts. It is not really known as a mass builder but more a finishing movement. For this reason the reps are kept in a higher range, with a goal to feel the burn.

Rear deltoid

Bent over reverse fly – 

(Dumbbell example)

• Hold a dumbbell in each hand
• Bend over at the hip by 45 degrees
• Let the dumbbells dangle in front of you towards the floor
• Create a slight bend in your elbows 
• Push the dumbbells out away from each other driving with your elbows
• Once your upper arm is parallel with the floor pause for a moment then return back to the beginning 
• Don’t allow the dumbbells to touch each other at the bottom 
• Repeat the repetition

Bent over reverse flys are a mass builder for your rear delts. You can go fairly heavy with this movement as long as you execute perfect form and don’t experience any joint pain. Make this a foundation of your rear delt workout and you won’t regret it.

Cable rope face pulls –

(Cable pulley example)

• Attach a rope onto the top fixing point on a cable pulley stack
• Adjust to eye level if possible
• Grab each end of the rope with both hands, overhand grip
• Pull the rope towards your face flaring your elbows out as you pull closer to your face
• Once your elbows line up with the outside of your shoulders hold for a second before returning back to the start position
• Without relieving tension pull back towards your face repeating until your set is done
• If you feel any pain at any point, stop and do not repeat, as straining  shoulders can cause impingement of nerves.

Cable rope face pulls could be a good first exercise in your shoulder workout. The reason for this is, the cable provides smooth resistance to protect the joints, whilst allowing you to warm up and build a pump in your shoulder muscles. Building this pump protects the muscle by warming them                              up and increasing their elasticity, you might even start connecting more mentally with your shoulders during this starter exercise.

Role reversal

It is common to see most workout routines follow the order front delts first, then medial, then rear at the end of the workout. We are going to reverse this routine so start with rear delts. This gives you the most energy to train the muscles that are normally neglected and underdeveloped.

So a sample workout routine with this logic would be.

4 sets, 15 reps reverse dumbbell flies 

4 sets, 12 reps upright barbell row 

3 sets, 15 reps, dumbbell lateral raise 

3 sets, 10 reps shoulder press 

This would be a great workout to start rounding off your shoulders and building some size.

Advanced mass

Let’s get a bit more advanced and look into how we can pack on some more mass. The shoulder muscles are relatively small compared to leg muscles or back muscles. As a result we should train them with a different frequency and volume to the bigger muscles. 

Bad example

A bad example of this is training biceps only once a week with a very heavy weight, this will not normally yield a lot of growth. 

How much to train them?

They need to be trained with a higher frequency up to a maximum of 3 times a week to remain stimulated and growing. The same goes for other smaller muscles, such as calves, triceps and forearms.

The best frequency for shoulders would be 2 times a week. These do not have to be completely separate sessions. For example, you could train them on a chest day or back day and then have one day on their own. Remember to keep the rep range above 10 reps, as these muscles seem to respond to higher reps, whilst the lower reps will aggravate the joint and nerves in the shoulder. 

Example weekly split

A sample weekly routine would look like this.

Monday – chest, shoulders 

Tuesday – legs, arms

Wednesday – back, abs 

Thursday – arms 

Friday – shoulders 

Saturday and Sunday – rest 

Injury prevention

The rotator cuff muscles surround your shoulder joint, your shoulder joint is called the glenohumeral joint. This joint can very easily become worn or damaged through incorrect lifting. The best way to keep the surrounding tissue strong and flexible is to do rotator cuff strengthening exercises. Here are a few exercises that can help keep your shoulder strong and mobile;

Lying down external rotation 

• Lie down on your side on a firm surface

• Hold a light weight in the hand of the arm that’s furthest from the floor 

• Keep your upper arm against your side

• Now bend your elbow 90 degrees and let the weight take your hand towards your body

• Rotate your upper arm whilst keeping it against your body, bringing the weight up towards the ceiling 

• Lower the weight back to your body and repeat the last step

• Your upper arm shout be parallel with the floor, if it isn’t, place something soft under your armpit to get the correct angle and to support your arm.

Crossover arm stretch

• Raise one arm up in front of you as if you were pointing at something 

• Use the forearm of the opposite arm to pull the raised arm towards your chest

• You should feel a slight stretch in your shoulder or upper back

• Hold this for 5-10 seconds before slowly releasing 

• Repeat this for the other side 

Doorway stretch

• Stand in a doorway

• Hold the doorframe just below shoulder width with both arms out

• Gently lean through the door until you feel a stretch in your shoulders

• You can move further forward for more of a stretch, going too far can cause overstretching so try not to over do it

• Hold the stretch for a couple of seconds before releasing

Conclusion

Using the tips and examples in this article can give you the upper edge when developing your shoulder muscles. Remember reverse engineer the common trend by training rear delts first, then medial delts and finish with the front delts. 

Most peoples rear and medial delts are under developed, this leaves a lot of real estate to be built on around the shoulders. Longevity of the shoulder joint is crucial, the longer you can train shoulders in your life the bigger they can get, long into your more mature years. 

Remember bodybuilders are bigger and older than ever in this day and age, the long game is where it’s at, happy growing.

The post How to build bigger shoulders appeared first on Bodybuilding Resource.