One of the most masculine features a man can possess on his physique, are capped shoulders to help in giving that 3d look. The truth is some men are pre-dispositioned with narrower shoulders and smaller muscle structure, and some men naturally have larger shoulders, with noting this, all men can build better shoulders.
The muscle bellies that comprise the deltoid group are split into three major areas:
1) The anterior (front) deltoid
2) The medial (side) deltoid
3) The posterior (rear) deltoid.
A balance across the 3 deltoids will help to increase strength, proportions and help to really emphasises your V-taper by broadening your upper body.
READ ALSO: The V-TAPER WORKOUT!
The most common problems many people have is they neglect the training of the front and the rear, thinking that they will get enough of a workout on chest and back day, which isn’t the best approach to complete shoulders.
The three biggest mistakes I see most guys make when building training shoulders are:
1) Not using enough variation
I see people come to the gym and do the same workout week in week out. Apart from being very boring, the human body is very adaptive and will become accustomed to a training method very quickly. This is why even in powerlifting there are phased approaches. The body needs to be shocked into growth and variation in movement which is a great way to do just that.
2) Neglecting rear deltoids
By focusing on so much press they are either too tired at the end of the session to do rear Delt work or put in a half arsed effort. This can lead to an over development of your chest and front deltoids and an underdeveloped back and rear deltoids which will pull your shoulders forward.
3) Lifting for the sake of lifting
This is by far the most common mistake, each press, raise or basically any movement needs to have a thought behind it.
4 Tips For Broad, Muscular, Powerful and Athletic shoulders:
1) Fluctuate your repetitions.
I mean really fluctuate your reps when training shoulders. Neil Hills Y3T training is perfect for this ensuring a split between tempo, rep range and set size. There is no one set of rules that says you have to do 3 sets of 10 Reps, that’s bull shit. Sticking to the same reps and sets is a sure way to halt your training progression, mix it up but keep the intensity high.
2) Build a thicker chest and back
Having broad shoulders often depends on the development of our chest and our lats development. Our back muscles help to pull our shoulders back. Strong back = better posture, which will assist to lift your chest to make it look fuller and broader also.
MUST READ: Old School Chest and Back Workout
Our shoulders also ‘sit’ on your lats, and partially on our chest as well. By building thick lats and back muscles, but also a thick and broad chest you’re actually building wider, more confident-looking shoulders.
3) Build thicker, fuller traps.
Thicker traps = wider looking shoulders. Your TRAPS are the muscles that connect the neck with the top of the shoulders. It’s important to have a good balance between rounded deltoids and thick traps.
READ HERE Arnold Schwarzenneger’s TRAPS TIPS
4) Getting extra sessions
Focusing on one area more than the others can be a great way to see results faster. If you’re doing a body-part split, add in some rear delts sets on your chest day into your routine. This will go along way to bring up your rear delts if they are lagging.
THERE YOU GO! Make sure that you implemented these tips into your current training routine and you will see your delts growing. You need to hit your shoulders from every possible angle!