Exercises for wider shoulders

[Envirolover]

My shoulders have been lagging quite a bit. I was wondering if I am missing any exercises which could help. Currently I rotate..

Upright Rows

Military Presses

DB shoulder presses

Laterel raises

Shrugs

Anything I should add?

[AVBG]

rear delts.. having good rear delt development will improve posture and will add to the illusion.

[Frosty]

My shoulders have been lagging quite a bit. I was wondering if I am missing any exercises which could help. Currently I rotate..

Upright Rows

Military Presses

DB shoulder presses

Laterel raises

Shrugs

Anything I should add?

Can you answer a simple question? For each of those lifts, can you explain what muscles and what portions are worked the most based on your experience?

[crashcrew56]

give us an example routine with sets and reps

[Womanthrower]

Exercise wise if you've only ever done lateral raises with dumbbells, using cables or a machine can make a big difference.

[The Big Sexy]

I'd say you'd have to have some heavier sets in there for the pressing motions. Making your shoulders bigger is a great way to make them "wider"

[freakin huge]

i like front raises. i didn't see those listed. i do them with dumb bells as heavy as i can for 8 reps. works the traps nicely too.

[Envirolover]

Can you answer a simple question? For each of those lifts, can you explain what muscles and what portions are worked the most based on your experience?

Please excuse my lack of technichal knowledge when it comes to muscle groups. I am trying to work the span of my shoulders and side delts. I hit my rear delts on back days and they are coming in nice.

I feel all those exercises are targeting the area I need to grow but not much luck yet. I wanted to see if I was missing an important delt exercise.

[Envirolover]

give us an example routine with sets and reps


Standing military presses. 3 sets of 6-8 reps

DB press (palms facing each other) 3 sets 8-10

BB upright rows 3 sets of 10-12 reps.

DB lateral raises 3 sets of 12-15

[Frosty]

I feel all those exercises are targeting the area I need to grow but not much luck yet. I wanted to see if I was missing an important delt exercise.

Do the exercises listed will trash your lateral delts? Meaning if you did 20 sets of it today heavy and hard, in 2 days your lateral delts are very painful?

[REDBULL250]

Sometimes taking a break from heavy pressing movements will help and focusing more on raises of all angles, cable movements and maybe one moderate pressing movement for the entire workout. Your shoulders get a lot more work than you think from other exercises, you can easily overwork them and they will stop growing.

[RDFinders]

when i did my last show, i was told by the judges to bring my shoulders up a bit. i always felt they were lagging behind my quads - X factor is what i am going for with my physique.

i started training shoulders at the beginning the week, when i would be at my strongest. i alternated militaries, DB presses and cleans. so for a cycle i would do one of those movements. i cycle uprights in as well. when prep comes i add those back in and i will alternate between lower reps (12) and having a high day (50/40/30 reps). i also cycle with my side laterals - heavy/low reps, heavy/moderate reps and moderate weight/high reps. also my posing hindered how my shoulders came out or didn't. the focus with my shoulders has been keep them confused and push more blood into them for growth. just my 2 cents.

[BigJD69]

Arnold presses!!!!

[Frosty]

I think we're missing a fundamental thing here. If you can't do the lift and tell where it works, then how do you know if you're hitting your lateral delt well? You have to know this, otherwise you're guessing. Once you know, THEN you can play with different sets, reps, supersets, exercise orders, etc.

[BrotherIron]

Clean & Press and Push Press. These two will add serious thickness and overall mass to your shoulder and upper back.

[Ryan Bracewell]

Push Presses with heavy weight
Side Raises
Rear Raises
DONE

[Sandpig]

Wide grip uprights work for me.

[Frosty]

Wide grip uprights work for me.

And this same lift hits my forearms and traps, which was kinda my point I was trying to make.

[Envirolover]

Thanks for all the great tips guys! I know what your saying Frosty and it seems my traps take the most abuse during my shoulder workout based on the soreness I have the next day.

[the_gift]

lots of side lateralls, cables, heavy weights and lots of light weights/high reps..

[Frosty]

Thanks for all the great tips guys! I know what your saying Frosty and it seems my traps take the most abuse during my shoulder workout based on the soreness I have the next day.

That's a good indicator that you're not really targeting and hitting your lateral delts hard.

There are some different ways to try to get around that issue. Pre-fatiguing the lateral delts before pressing motions will make them work harder during pressing. For example you could try a lateral delt isolation machine, then immediately hit up your OH press or upright row, then rest a little. Repeat this 10 or more times. See if that makes a difference in how sore your lateral delts are two days later. Go heavy, hard, and lots of sets so there's no question on what is sore :)

[MichaelWayne]

Agree with Frosty, I like to take the ALR approach. Fatigue with a lighter weight for a good exhaust/pump, then pile it on (good form!) with pressing.

I've noticed a good difference in training. Shoulders don't play by the same rules the other muscles do, you have to sneak up on them....then stab em.

[RDFinders]

Agree with Frosty, I like to take the ALR approach. Fatigue with a lighter weight for a good exhaust/pump, then pile it on (good form!) with pressing.

I've noticed a good difference in training. Shoulders don't play by the same rules the other muscles do, you have to sneak up on them....then stab em.

that is very interesting what you said, "shoulders don't play by the same rules the other muscles do" i have felt that way for years about mine. but i have put a lot of focus on my legs and now am starting to put more emphasis on my upper body - arms, specifically.

[Envirolover]

That's a good indicator that you're not really targeting and hitting your lateral delts hard.

There are some different ways to try to get around that issue. Pre-fatiguing the lateral delts before pressing motions will make them work harder during pressing. For example you could try a lateral delt isolation machine, then immediately hit up your OH press or upright row, then rest a little. Repeat this 10 or more times. See if that makes a difference in how sore your lateral delts are two days later. Go heavy, hard, and lots of sets so there's no question on what is sore :)


Awesome dude, thanks! I will give that a try tonight as I am doing my shoulders.

[Trixter]

Just tossin' in my two cents that I've had good luck with side lying lateral raises before smith shoulder presses with a slightly wider grip. Had the same problem for a long time with traps feeling more worked than the delts. That and finishing them off with some constant tension sets to finish burning them out.

[Envirolover]

Just tossin' in my two cents that I've had good luck with side lying lateral raises before smith shoulder presses with a slightly wider grip. Had the same problem for a long time with traps feeling more worked than the delts. That and finishing them off with some constant tension sets to finish burning them out.


Ah cool, I forgot about those! I will try them next week. I really burned my shoulders bad tonight so I will see how I feel tomorrow. Thanks dude!

[Frosty]

Ah cool, I forgot about those! I will try them next week. I really burned my shoulders bad tonight so I will see how I feel tomorrow. Thanks dude!


It can be VERY effective to trash your shoulders, see what exactly is sore in 2 days, and then take at least a week off from touching the shoulders and try it again with something different so you get really sore again. Once you find a great way to hit the lateral delt hard, then we can work on different rep ranges and shit with those lifts to really hit the lateral delts :)

[Wheels]

I recently saw a variation of the side lateral, MMI I think, in which you grab onto something in the gym and lean to the left or right. You then perform a side lateral like you always have. It REALLY isolates the lateral head, even more so than lying laterals for me. My lateral heads are so sore just the most basic of tasks illicit pain (in a good way ofc :)).

[Frosty]

I recently saw a variation of the side lateral, MMI I think, in which you grab onto something in the gym and lean to the left or right. You then perform a side lateral like you always have. It REALLY isolates the lateral head, even more so than lying laterals for me. My lateral heads are so sore just the most basic of tasks illicit pain (in a good way ofc :)).

Those can be good, where you lean towards the thing you're leaning on, and do a side lateral raise either behind the back or in front, and lifting the arm up to parallel to the ground. This uses the traps less and can target the delts in a different way and more in the bottom and semi-stretched position. With cables or DBs.

[Formula94]

You may also want to try pre-fatiguing your traps before starting shoulder work.

[Envirolover]

My shoulders wre nice and sore yesterday. I pre-fatigued them with real high rep lateral raises. After that I went heavy on the military presses. My delts are sore as well as my traps (shrugs). Feels awesome :-)

[buster12]

I'd say you'd have to have some heavier sets in there for the pressing motions. Making your shoulders bigger is a great way to make them "wider"
agreed...:D

["Rodz"]

That's a good indicator that you're not really targeting and hitting your lateral delts hard.

There are some different ways to try to get around that issue. Pre-fatiguing the lateral delts before pressing motions will make them work harder during pressing. For example you could try a lateral delt isolation machine, then immediately hit up your OH press or upright row, then rest a little. Repeat this 10 or more times. See if that makes a difference in how sore your lateral delts are two days later. Go heavy, hard, and lots of sets so there's no question on what is sore :)

This has helped me a great deal, my rotator cuff is screwed from baseball, so my shoulder day looks like this

-Side Laterals

-Hammer Strength Shoulder press (using DB's causes my shoulder to "click")

-Front DB raises

-Rear Flyes ( on pec deck machine)

I'm happy to say i stay pain free and I just had to buy a new suit, I'm wearing a size 50 now