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Best of Shoulders

by the editors

"The male physique is often judged according to width," says bodybuilding coach Christian Thibaudeau. "Wide

shoulders and bowling ball deltoids spell athleticism, strength, and confidence."

Of course, not everyone agrees with Thibaudeau. We call these people "pencilneck dweebs" and have a

penchant for giving them wedgies and sometimes even swirlies.

No, no, we're kidding. The real disagreement arises when we discuss how to train the musculature of the

shoulders. There are two sides here:

Side #1: Because the delts play a role in just about every compound exercise, you don't really need to train them

directly, or at least not much. They're already doing plenty of work; more will just lead to injury and overtraining.

Side #2: The delts must be trained directly — hard and frequently — especially for the bodybuilder and

cosmetic lifter. To leave them out would create an incomplete, imbalanced physique. And if you train them

correctly, they can be big and injury-free.

We get the point that Side #1 is making, but most of the experts in that camp come from the field of athletic

training. That's cool, but we're not training for sports, not primarily at least. Nope, we're training to build slabs of

muscle, scare children, and attract womenfolk. And that means direct delt training.

Here are a few of the best exercises and techniques we've found over the years to deck your delts.

#1: The Extended Dumbbell Push-Press

"I believe that the push press is the best delts exercise, bar none," says Coach Thibaudeau.

Eric Cressey adds, "I'm a big fan of push presses. Some help from the legs on the concentric portion of the

movement allows you to overload the eccentric portion by lowering under control with just the upper body."

In this version, you take advantage of stronger body positions and carefully controlled momentum to take this

classic exercise to a whole new level. Here's how to do it:

1. Perform a set of seated shoulder presses with dumbbells. About 1 rep before failure...

2. ...stand up, then knock out a few more strict reps in this stronger body position. Then...

3. ...without resting and while using the same weight, perform dumbbell push presses until failure.

Remember, a push press is basically a standing overhead shoulder press using a small dip of the legs and

momentum to "kick" the weight up and straighten the arms.

Repeat once or twice more if you're feeling froggy.




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#2: The Perfect Lateral Raise, Plus Variations

Even the most ardent no-direct-delt-work strength and conditioning coaches think that the lateral raise is a good

exercise to include in your training. The medial (side) deltoids are often "missed" in other compound exercises

that stimulate the anterior (front) and posterior (rear) delt. And that's not good if you want to get that wide

shoulder / narrow waist look.

Problem is, most people don't perform the lateral raise optimally. Here's a few tips to get the most out of this

exercises:

1. Keep the arm straight. "If you lift straight sideways, the lateral/medial portion does more work," notes

Thibaudeau.

Yes, you'll have to use less weight at first. Get over it! It's body-building, not ego building.

2. Lean forward slightly to better target the medial delt. Note: This is a very small forward lean. Bend over too

far and you bring in the posterior delts. Not our goal here.

3. Perform the lateral raise unilaterally (one side at a time) with a sideways lean. Grab onto a power rack or

other heavy object, lean your body to the side (see pic) and lift with one arm. This really targets the medial delts

by placing a greater overload at the top of the movement.

Here's a couple of our favorite, field-tested routines using lateral raises:

Extended-Set Lateral Raises

If you choose to do standard bilateral lateral raises, try this killer routine from trainer John Paul Catanzaro. JPexplains:

"Lateral raises for your delts can be performed standing or seated. Sitting will help you avoid cheating as it'll take

the legs out of the movement. However, you may wish to extend a set and the subsequent time under tension

(TUT) by first sitting to isolate the delts and then, when you're completely fatigued and can't complete an

additional concentric rep, standing to get help from your lower body to squeeze out another rep or two."

In other words, while seated perform a set of lateral raises. Then, when you fatigue, stand up and crank out a

few more reps. Simple, but effective!

Poliquin's "Quick Fix" Tri-Set Lateral Raises

"What I find works best for shoulder hypertrophy is tri-sets," says Poliquin. "The shoulders have intermediate-

type fibers. They respond best to multiple exercises with short rest intervals, eight to ten reps, varying the motor

resistance."

With that in mind, here's Coach Poliquin's favorite quick fix for lagging shoulders:

A1) Seated Lateral Raise, 6 to 8 reps





10 seconds rest

A2) Machine Lateral Raise, 10 to 12 reps

10 seconds rest

A3) Double Cable Lateral Raise, 15 to 20 reps

120 seconds rest, then start cycle over with A1

Thumbs-Up Lateral Raise

Need one more variation? Try thumbs-up lateral raises rather than the traditional palms-down version. This is a

good one for those who feel pain or discomfort with regular lateral raises.

#3: The 3-2-1 Shoulders Workout

Michael Gundill notes, "Bodybuilders have front delts that are on average five times bigger than sedentary

people. Their medial delts are three times bigger, and their rear delts are only 10 to 15 percent bigger. Thatimbalance translates into supraspinatus tendon abnormalities and is a source of shoulder pain."

In other words, this is the old "mirror muscles" problem. Too many bodybuilders focus on the front of their body

(chest, biceps, quads) and forget the back (back, triceps, posterior chain).

Sometimes even experienced lifters have this problem because of their overemphasis on chest training earlier in

their lifting careers, leading to overdeveloped front delts and underdeveloped rear delts. The 3-2-1 routine will

fix that quickly and bring balance to your shoulder development.

A1) Rear Delt RaisesSets: 3

Reps: 8-10

Bend forward at the waist and bend the knees. Leading with the elbows, raise the dumbbells without using any

body sway or momentum and pause for one second at the top of the movement. You can place your forehead

on an incline bench or similar to avoid lower back stress and reinforce good form.

A2) Lean Away Lateral Raises

Sets: 2 each side

Reps: 8-10

Grab on to a fat personal trainer (or anything that's heavy and doesn't move much, like a squat rack) and lean

away in the position shown in the photo. Pause at the top of the movement and lower the weight under control.

A3) Front Plate Raises

Sets: 1

Reps: 8-10

We picked this one up from the Westside crew. Grab a weight plate at the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock position.



Extended Push Press

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Poliquins Quick Fix





Thumbs Up Lateral Raise

Rear Delt Raises





Lean Aways Lateral Raises

Front Plate Raises





Javelin Press

Delt Triad

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