THE secret to having a good physique for men is not only having those chests, arms and the iron board stomach region.
You would be surprised how important the shoulders are.
To get that perfect shape and look, the shoulders are very important. Charman’s Chippendales Gym instructor Amena Jeremy said he had seen many people ignoring shoulders.
“Many people perform standard presses such as the dumbbell shoulder press and barbell military press which are extremely important, these exercises mainly target the middle head of the deltoid, and the anterior and posterior delts are left neglected,” he said.
“Developing the anterior and posterior deltoid muscles produce incredible overall aesthetics and an action-figure-like physique.
“The anterior deltoids are the very front head of the shoulder muscle and if developed properly, create a round and impressive looking shape from a front-facing view. Rear (posterior) delts give a thick and powerful appearance from the side and back. Rear deltoids are what really make the shoulders “pop” and give you that 3-D look.”
Take a look at the three major principles to follow in order to get the most out of your shoulder workouts:
Lift heavy and focus on strength gains
Many athletes over-complicate their training. One of, if not the best time-tested and proven strategies is to simply lift heavy on the most important exercises and focus on making small incremental improvements each workout.
This means carefully tracking workouts and focusing on improvement in each and every session. Shoulders are a stubborn muscle group, especially for naturally skinny people, so it’s necessary to emphasise progressive overload principles.
Take for instance the dumbbell shoulder press — one of the best mass building shoulder exercises used by athletes at every level.
If you performed the dumbbell shoulder press with 25kgs for seven reps in your last workout, push yourself to do eight reps with the same weight the following workout, or move up to 27.5kgs and do seven reps again.
This forces the muscles to respond and grow bigger and stronger. This may sound extremely basic, but too many people in the gym don’t follow this simple, effective principle. It’s the little things that make a huge difference.
Train all three heads of the deltoid muscles
As mentioned earlier, deltoids actually have three sections.
Unfortunately, many people fail to realise this, which is why you rarely see a shoulder with the front, middle and rear portion fully developed. Without adequate development in all three sections, it’s nearly impossible to form those powerful looking boulders.
The difference between the average guy who is fairly lean and muscular with some ab definition and the ripped fitness model is all in the V-taper, and for many people, developing the anterior and posterior deltoid muscles is the missing link for achieving that sought-after shape.
The wider and thicker your shoulders are, the better your V-taper ratio will be.
Mix up your exercises, rep ranges and rest times.
As with any muscle group, changing up your workout routine can be a great way to unleash powerful gains.
Vary the exercises used to target each section of the shoulders. Aim to have four to five solid exercises that work the anterior, main, and posterior deltoid, and change these up every so often.
Make sure to vary your repetition ranges. This means performing heavy sets with the maximum amount of overload on your delts some days, and performing high rep sets on other days.
Varying rest time between sets. One of the best ways to stimulate growth is a combination of heavy sets with short rest times.
Here are some shoulder exercises that should get you started:
* Dumbbell shoulder press
* Standing barbell military press
* Dumbbell lateral raises
* Dumbbell arnold press
* Dumbbell shrugs
* Seated dumbbell rear deltoid raise
* We do not recommend that you attempt any of these exercises without suitable experience and supervision. We offer no medical advice. Information on this page should not be taken as medical advice. You should always consult your physician or other healthcare provider before starting an exercise program.
