How to pump up the back muscles of the shoulders. How to make your shoulders wider! Skeletal expansion. Organization of workouts to build shoulders

How to properly and quickly make the shoulders voluminous and embossed. The training technique will help to achieve a good result both at home and in the gym.

The deltoid muscle, which must be trained to obtain a round shape of the shoulders, consists of three bundles: anterior, middle, posterior. Each exercise should include all bundles in the work, only the comprehensive development of the muscle will make the shape of the shoulder correct. It is important not only the correct preparation of the program, but also the technique and degree of load.

Preparing for classes

Despite the preparation of the athlete and the weight of the equipment, it is necessary to start training with a warm-up. Even when training without equipment, there is a risk of injury in the form of muscle or ligament sprains. It is also important to warm up all the joints, so start your workout by jogging for 7-10 minutes, or by warming up the joints in place.

Be sure to perform circular rotations with your arms and stretching the deltoid and other muscles of the shoulder - biceps and triceps, as they also take on part of the load. Stretching is also recommended at the end of the session, this will help the recovery and growth of new muscle fibers.

Basic requirements for training

The main condition for muscle growth is the correct load and mode of work, in this case for mass growth, as well as nutrition before and after training - obtaining the necessary nutrients. As for the load, to increase the volume of muscles, it is necessary to perform an approach of 8-12 repetitions. This means that the load should be maximum, and the ability to perform an exercise with such a weight does not exceed 12 times. Only in this case, the muscles begin to grow. Over 15 repetitions, volumes, on the contrary, will begin to go away.

Rocking shoulders at home

Knowing the main requirements for muscle growth, the conclusion follows that without weight, muscles cannot be pumped up, and if they tell you this, know that this is a myth. You must ensure that the weight is just enough to perform the specified number of times, no more. Working with a small or own weight will only tone the muscles, but will not increase their volume. You can use improvised means instead of dumbbells - six liter bottles, chairs, whatever, as long as this weight is tangible for you. These workouts are suitable for beginners.

Push-ups upside down

It is better to perform this exercise only for trained people. Without physical training, it will not be possible to technically hold the body, there is a risk of injury. Therefore, be careful.

  1. To simplify the technique, we put our feet on a hill, for example, a sofa. Hands are aligned on one line with the body.
  2. We put our hands wider than the shoulders, the torso forms a right angle.
  3. Inhale: bending your arms, lower the body, elbows go to the sides, forming a right angle. The head tends, but does not touch the floor.
  4. Exhale: we push out with our hands due to the strength of the shoulders and triceps. We return to the original.

Perform 12 push-ups for 4 sets.

Pushups

In this option, only the rear bundles of deltas are involved, so push-ups alone are not enough for the muscle. But in home workouts for the rear delta, as one of the options, the exercise is acceptable.

Technique:

  1. Take an emphasis lying down, put your palms under your shoulders, holding your lower back without bending.
  2. Inhale: lower the chest lower to the floor, bending the arms, elbows pressed to the body.
  3. Exhale: push up, straightening your elbows.

We perform 12 repetitions of 4 sets.

A set of exercises with a barbell at home

Pull to the chin

Exercise develops the anterior and middle deltoid bundles. The weight of the rod is adjusted using small pancakes, gaining the required load. The exercise is performed while standing.

  1. We place the palms on the bar with a narrow grip, connecting the thumbs in the center - this will be the grip gauge.
  2. Exhale: pull the bar along the body, draw the elbows through the sides. Bringing the neck to the chin, the elbows rise slightly above the shoulder joints.
  3. Inhale: without a jerk, smoothly lower the bar, straightening your elbows.

Perform 4 sets of 8-12 reps.

Press in front of you

It is performed sitting or standing, the main thing is that the lower back does not bend, and the body does not sway. This exercise trains the front and middle deltas.

Technique:

  1. Grab the barbell with a wide grip, bending your elbows, and place the bar near your collarbones.
  2. Elbows look down, chin slightly raised.
  3. Exhale: press the bar in front of you, fully straightening your elbows above your head.
  4. Inhale: slowly lower the bar to the collarbones.

Perform without jerking 8-12 times, depending on the weight of the bar. Only 4 approaches.

Press from behind the head

In this variant, the middle and posterior bundles of the deltoid muscle work. Also performed sitting or standing.

  1. We place the neck on the upper part of the trapezius muscle, hold the barbell with a wide grip. When lifting, the elbows should pass through a right angle.
  2. Exhale: squeeze the bar up, elbows look to the sides. At the top, the bar is above the head, not moving forward or backward.
  3. Inhale: slowly lower the bar without touching the cervical vertebrae.

Perform also up to 12 times, only 4 sets.

Complex with dumbbells for wide shoulders

Dumbbell press

One of the most effective exercises for deltas. Can be performed while standing, to ease the load on the back - sitting.

  1. We take dumbbells, place them over the shoulder joints, but without touching. Elbows are bent, look down, not touching the body.
  2. Exhale: squeeze the dumbbells over your head, straightening your elbows.
  3. Inhale: slowly lower to the starting position without touching the shoulders.

As usual, perform 4 × 8-12 repetitions.

Mahi in front of you

Mahi are performed either with two hands at the same time, or alternately, to simplify the complexity. In the exercise, the front delta works in isolation.
/>Technique:

  1. We place the palms with dumbbells on the front of the thighs, the elbows are slightly bent.
  2. Exhale: at the same time we perform swings with dumbbells in front of us, lifting slightly above the shoulders. The body does not wobble.
  3. Inhale: slowly lower the dumbbells to the hips.

Rest between sets 1-2 minutes, and so 4 sets of 12 swings for each hand.

Mahi in tilt

This exercise only targets the rear delt. Take small dumbbells, as the exercise is quite difficult, first try to work out the technique.

  1. From a standing position, we tilt the straight body forward, keeping the back straight, arms hanging freely, knees slightly bent.
  2. Exhale: perform swings through the sides, slightly bending your elbows. We raise the dumbbells to the level of the shoulder joints.
  3. Inhale: slowly lower the dumbbells to the starting point.

Perform 12 times, feeling the work of the back bundles of the shoulder. Also 4 sets.

Your attention exercises with dumbbells on the shoulders:

Nutrition for strength training

Another important condition for muscle growth is timely and balanced nutrition. With a lack of nutrients, muscle growth becomes impossible.

Principles of nutrition for weight gain:

  • the diet should contain a sufficient amount of complex carbohydrates (cereals, grains);
  • mandatory consumption of building material for muscles - protein (eggs, lean meat, seafood and dairy products);
  • six meals a day;
  • eating within 40 minutes after training, thus closing the protein-carbohydrate window necessary for building new fibers.

Video lesson from the champion of the category Mens physicist - "How to quickly pump up wide shoulders":

Do not train for more than an hour, so as not to lose muscle mass. It is enough to train deltas 2 times a week, these muscles need 2-3 days to recover, so you should not load every day. Rest 2 minutes between sets. The main thing is to eat right and exercise regularly.


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Summer is just around the corner, which means it's time to think about your figure! And this applies not only to girls, but also to men. Is there at least one man who would not like to impress beautiful representatives of the opposite sex or, say, with broad shoulders? Most likely there are none. Moreover, it is the broad shoulders that make the figure of a man proportional and courageous. But what if by nature you are not even big-boned at all? Forget about tight T-shirts and beaches? In no case! We will tell you in detail how to expand shoulders at home. Trust me, it's not that hard to do.

Of course, exactly what results you will achieve and how long it will take depends on the characteristics of your body, but everyone can expand and increase their shoulders! To do this, you only need a horizontal bar, light dumbbells and the desire to become stronger and more beautiful. In general, go ahead, read how to expand narrow shoulders and act without delay. Summer is coming soon!

First, a little theory (just a little bit). Visually increase shoulders can be done in two ways:
1. By expanding the chest and bones of the shoulder girdle.
2. Having pumped up the muscles of the shoulders(deltoids).

The first method is suitable only for those who are not yet 18-20 years old. We will not dwell on it in detail, since this is a topic for a separate detailed article (how to expand the shoulders of a teenager). We only note that the simplest and most effective are: pull-ups on the horizontal bar with a wide grip (hands wider than shoulders) and pullovers with a dumbbell.

If you are already over 20, then it is too late to expand the bones of the skeleton. But this is not a problem, because we have in stock the second way - to pump up deltoid muscles! These muscles anatomically consist of 3 bundles: anterior, middle and posterior. The middle bunch of deltas plays the main role in answering the question of how to expand the shoulders, but the other two are also important for the formation of beautiful shoulder muscles.

So, here are some simple exercises that will help you expand your shoulders:

1. Pull-ups on the horizontal bar. Well stimulates the growth of the muscles of the shoulder girdle pulling up with a medium and wide grip to the chest. You should perform 4-5 pull-ups in 3 sets. Between each group of pull-ups - a break of half a minute.

Train 3 times in Week. If you do less, it won't make much sense. But you should not train more often: the muscles simply do not have time to recover and grow.

Stand straight, feet shoulder width apart. Take dumbbells in your hands (but not very heavy, remember that shoulder joints are easy to injure!), palms look inward. Slowly and carefully, slightly bending your elbows, raise the dumbbells to shoulder level. Let them back in slowly. Perform the exercise several times, you can in several approaches.

How can this exercise help broaden your shoulders? Due to the "pumping" of the middle bundle of the deltoid muscles. But do not forget about the other two groups of deltoid muscles. The middle deltas cannot be fully pumped up without working out the front and rear.

Stand straight, arms with dumbbells hanging quietly along the body. Gently raise one arm from the dumbbells in a wide arc slightly above your head. Hold this position for a moment, then slowly lower your hand with the dumbbell. At the same time, raise the other hand with the dumbbell up. Continue to perform the exercise: the arms move in front of the face in opposite directions. The exercise works on the front deltas.

This is for the rear deltas. Lean forward at a right angle. Hands with dumbbells hang down freely. Without straightening, spread your arms with dumbbells to the sides. In this case, the thumb is lower than the little finger, the brushes are turned down. Lower your arms slowly and smoothly, returning to the starting position.

Also, if possible, swim in the pool or work out on a rowing machine. These are very good exercises for increasing the muscles of the shoulders.

Start each workout with a warm-up and warm up the muscles. This will save you from muscle and joint injuries.

At a minimum, make a couple of dozen circular movements with your hands back and forth, push up several times from the floor with a wide grip.

Finally useful how to widen your shoulders video:

Greetings, friends! For a long time we did not understand the training programs. Today I decided to consider everything related to the question: “How to pump up the deltas?”, As well as many other related issues. In short, if you are interested in how to make your shoulders (deltas) stronger and more voluminous, then this article is for you.

We talked about the anatomy of the deltoid muscles (shoulders) in a small article. Therefore, I will not consider it here. If interested, read. That article will not take you more than 2 minutes.

Pumped up shoulders are very beautiful, but not many people understand why. The fact is that the wider and larger your shoulders, the more impressive your silhouette looks. Ideally, you should have a very narrow waist and very broad shoulders. This is what EVERY bodybuilder strives for.

So, let's not talk too much. It's time to specifically consider how to pump up the deltas.

How to train?

There is a constant debate about what is more effective in growing deltas: swings or bench presses. I must say right away that I am a supporter of the mandatory performance of traction and bench presses for the growth of your shoulders and, in my opinion, this is more than logical. Now I will explain why.

Presses and deadlifts are basic exercises that involve several joints and muscle groups, so we can work with much heavier weights than dumbbell swings, which means we will follow the main rule for muscle growth - load progression!

Dumbbell swings are isolation exercises that “bomb” your deltas more precisely, but, despite this, they have a number of disadvantages. Ready? Let's go.

First, because swings are isolating exercises, then, by and large, only deltas work without the inclusion of other muscle groups in the work, which means that we will not be able to regularly increase the working weight and violate the rule of load progression.

Secondly, deltas are very delicate muscles, because. can perform both pulling and pressing movements. And the more complex the device, the easier it breaks.

The shoulders have incredible mobility due to their articulated design. By the way, the shoulder is the MOST MOBILE JOINT in our body, so it is injured much more often than all the others.

The same is true with the shoulder muscles - deltas. You can hear about a delta injury much more often than, for example, an injury to the quadriceps femoris muscle (quadriceps).

Therefore, it will be much more logical to do various presses and thrusts, which are less traumatic on the one hand, and will load your deltas well before the isolating load - swings.

In short, first heavy presses and pulls, and then “finishing” the already tired deltas with various swings.

How to pump up deltas. Best Exercises

So. Now I will list the best, in my opinion, exercises for the growth of your deltas, which have proven their effectiveness more than once.

Bench press standing / sitting (military bench press)

A great basic exercise that grows the shoulder girdle awesome, but there are a few caveats.

The bench press while standing or sitting should be performed in front of you (from the chest), and not from behind the head. I begin to understand what the herd instinct is when I see how people in the gym, one after another, begin to perform this exercise, winding the bar of the bar, simply copying each other by the head. They also often perform a similar exercise in the Smith machine.

With such a position of the shoulders (when the neck starts behind the head), the shoulders take an extremely uncomfortable position and the risk of injury greatly increases. Especially when people lower the bar too low, and even perform the exercise in full amplitude. Up, down, up, down... Fuck! Injury!

It is better to perform this exercise by lowering the barbell in front of you. It is more physiological and safer.

Another problem is that such an exercise can cause unpleasant sensations in the lower back, especially for beginners, whose muscles in the lower back region are very weak.

An alternative to the bench press while standing may be the following exercise.

Seated Dumbbell Press

This is a great alternative to the previous exercise for several reasons.

  1. First, when you press with a barbell, your hands have nowhere to go, and they can be in a very uncomfortable position for them. When you press with dumbbells, your hands will turn on their own into a more comfortable position for them, which will reduce the risk of injury.
  2. Secondly, during dumbbell presses, many stabilizer muscles are included in the work, which fix the dumbbells in the hands relative to each other.
  3. Thirdly, due to the lack of a neck, the middle (hybrid) bundles of the deltoid muscles are worked out much more strongly.
  4. Fourth, because you are sitting, there is practically no axial load on the spine, so this exercise is suitable even for those who experience problems with the lower back.

Barbell pull to chin

Great basic exercise! The trouble is that very rarely such an exercise is performed correctly. Yes, what to say. Almost never!

What is the problem? It's just that traditionally the upward movement, when we pull the barbell to the chin, begins for most with lifting the shoulders. This is extremely unphysiological! Thus, the entire load falls on the shoulder joint.

It is GOOD when only the deltas contract during this exercise, but BAD when the entire load falls on the shoulder joint, as when lifting the shoulders up.

What to do? You will have to strongly, almost completely change the technique of this exercise, that in fact it will no longer be a barbell pull to the chin.

You need to pull TO THE CHEST, first. And do not raise your shoulders, secondly. You need to force yourself to keep your shoulders in place, but at the same time pull the barbell up, and not to the chin, but to the chest. To the chest, because this way your elbows will be lower than your shoulders. This is one of the basic rules.

Remember, in the thrust of the bar to the chin: ELBOWS ALWAYS ARE BELOW THE SHOULDERS.

Pulling is done like this: take the barbell with a grip slightly wider than shoulders, lean forward a little and, WITHOUT LIFTING YOUR SHOULDERS, raise the barbell to chest level (until the elbows are parallel to the shoulder joints). The narrower your grip, the more the trapezoid and the greater the range of motion are included in the work. And vice versa. Wider grip - more deltas work and a smaller amplitude.

The pull of the bar to the chin mainly engages the middle beam of our deltas, which most of all visually makes the torso wider, therefore it is most noticeable for the jocks.

In general, the front bundle of deltas works with all types of bench presses, so for most they are highly hypertrophied, and the middle and rear deltoids are underdeveloped. Therefore, many pitching seem stooped.

Solution: be sure to do traction for the development of the middle and rear bundle of our shoulders, because this is their main function.

Mahi to the sides with dumbbells

Side swings with dumbbells are isolation exercises, i.e. exercises that involve only one joint (in this case, the shoulder). I must say that in the first year of training for a beginner, there is no point in doing swings at all, because. the muscles will have enough load from the presses and pulls.

Mahi are needed, as a rule, in two cases:

  • if you want to “finish off” your deltas with an aimed load, after the main workout;
  • if you want to pre-warm up and pump blood into the deltas before the main workout;

There are different types of swings, but all of them can be divided into three main groups:

  • front;
  • medium (to the sides);
  • rear (tilted);

If you lift the dumbbells in front of you, then this will load your front deltas. As a rule, there is no need for this, because. the front bundles of deltas are heavily loaded in various other presses (bench press, etc.). If you still think that you need to do "front swings", use a large number of repetitions with light dumbbells, or take one heavy dumbbell and raise it in front of you.

To properly load the middle bundles of the deltoid muscles, you need to use dumbbell swings to the sides (through the sides).

You need to perform them like this: lean forward slightly, lower your shoulders down to turn off the trapezoid from work, try to raise the dumbbells so that your elbows are slightly higher than your wrists.

There is one feature. To understand how to swing through the sides, you need to imagine that you are holding a cup in your hands and pouring water out of them. Then your wrists will turn out correctly (little finger up and thumb down). This will work great for the middle bundles of your deltas.

The back beams, as a rule, are the most stubborn, but this is most likely due to the fact that the exercise technique is lame. In fact, there is nothing complicated. Just lean forward a little more (almost to a horizontal position). The technique for performing like two drops of water is similar to the technique for medium beams.

The posterior bundles are traction muscles. Therefore, they grow well when performing barbell rows to the chin with a much stronger forward tilt of the body (almost 90 degrees). In the same position, swings are performed.

Another alternative is Lee Haney's back row. It was invented, as you understand, by the cool bodybuilder Lee Haney, who won Olympia 8 times, but that's not the point.

Usually, it is performed either with a barbell behind the back or in Smith, but there is a problem here. Ass bothers! Not very comfortable.

Pulling Lee Haney behind his back is similar to shrugs (shrugs), but only here the elbow joint is bent at the top point. Alternatively, you can do dumbbell rows instead of barbells. Raise them alternately to stabilize the body and concentrate on the back beam of our deltas.

If I were specifically asked: “How to build deltas?”, Then I would describe a POWERFUL training program for the shoulders in this way:

  1. Seated Dumbbell Press: 2 sizes + 3-4 x 6-12.
  2. Barbell pull to the chin: 1 size + 3-4 x 6-12.

If you have been training for a long time, then you can add dumbbell swings at the end to “finish off” your deltas:

  1. Mahi dumbbells: 1 size + 3-4 x 8-12.

If you, like most people, are lagging behind the back bundle of your deltas, then make the forward lean a little stronger, replacing the usual swings with dumbbell swings in the slope:

  1. Mahi dumbbells in an incline: 1 size + 3-4 x 8-12.

conclusions

  1. Deltas perform two types of movements: presses and deadlifts.
  2. Deltas are very “tender” muscles due to the incredible mobility of the shoulder joint, so it is easy to injure.
  3. Various bench presses and barbell rows to the chin are best for growing deltas.
  4. Mahi can only be used to warm up the deltas (with small weights) or for “finishing off” at the end of a workout. Mahi - play a secondary role.
  5. Presses develop mainly the front bundle of deltas, traction - the back.

This is the end of this post, my friends. I hope that you have learned something new for yourself on how to pump up deltas. All the best.

P.S. Subscribe to blog updates. It will only get worse from there.

With respect and best wishes, !

P.P.S. If you are just starting out in bodybuilding, then it is too early for you to purposefully train your shoulders. You need . It will give you a POWERFUL start.

In this article, we will talk about how to build shoulders(delta) and how to do it at home. Also, we will look at the most effective exercises that will make your upper body massive.

For most women, male shoulders are associated with courage and strength. There are even a few expressions that vividly make it clear that strong male shoulders will serve as a consolation for any woman. In our time, gender equality is already commonplace, but once, in ancient times, a woman could not do without a man. To be honest, nothing has changed. Let whatever woman is - independent, strong, even courageous (in our time, when guys follow fashion more than girls), she will always need a strong male shoulder so that they do not talk about gender equality.

In general, broad and massive shoulders are not only a standard of courage, but also an indicator of a harmoniously developed and aesthetic physique that cannot be hidden under any clothes, whatever one may say. In addition, if you develop the shoulder girdle well, many prerogatives will open up in other exercises. Strong and well-developed delts will help increase strength in the bench press and other equally important exercises that are necessary for physical progress.

For bodybuilders, the shoulders play a huge role in many of the poses that are featured in BB competitions. The deltas and trapezius muscle groups should be developed evenly to give the overall physical shape of the upper body a complete and harmoniously developed appearance.

Unfortunately, the shoulder girdle, especially the deltas, is not so easy to develop as it might seem at first glance. Now we will discuss how to build shoulders, namely deltas. In the next article I will tell you about . I would not want to upset people, but it will not work to pump up your shoulders quickly, like any other muscles. Also, it is quite dangerous, since the shoulder joint is the most mobile part of our body, not counting the knee and elbow joints, so the risk of injury increases significantly. Therefore, the training should be carefully worked out and the technique of performing each exercise should be strictly observed in order to prevent any damage.

Many say and complain that they simply cannot swing their shoulders to large volumes. It's not about weights, it's not about the number of sets and reps, it's about the training itself. To pump up big shoulders, you need to approach this issue with an integrated approach and set aside a separate day of the week for training the shoulder girdle, that is, make the training on the shoulders more voluminous.

Injuries of the shoulder girdle or WHY SHOULDERS SHOULDER

In addition to muscular symmetry, also a very important point to focus on is the susceptibility of the shoulder joint to injury (as mentioned above). Many people neglect their safety in pursuit of big weights. This is especially acute for the previously mentioned basic exercise, aimed at developing the pectoral muscles. This obsession with the goal of “shaking a hundred” and showing off to the boys makes many athletes forget about the importance of working out and developing other muscle groups that are no less important. Due to such situations, the increase in working weights and the lagging of the “helper” muscles, people often injure their shoulders, which leads to extremely deplorable consequences in the form of joint pain, torn ligaments, dislocations, etc. To avoid such problems, if you want to protect your shoulders, they must be properly developed so that when lifting heavy weights, the load is evenly distributed to the muscles and joints. In addition, I recommend reading this article - “?”. It details the topic of what needs to be done to avoid damage to the joints and protect them as much as possible.

Before going into the details of how to build shoulders and consider the types of exercises that exist for their training, we will talk and analyze the anatomy of the shoulder girdle. Our deltoid muscles are made up of three bundles of muscles that have three completely different functions. Let's look at each bundle and its function separately.

  • The front part, that is anterior deltoid muscle raises arms forward and allows movement across the body. This part of the deltas works when performing any pushing actions such as a barbell or dumbbell bench press from the chest, and so on.
  • medial part, located in the middle of the deltoid muscles, takes the hand to the side. The middle part of the deltas works in all exercises where you need to move your arms to the sides, swing to the sides, and so on. They are also used in some "push" exercises, which are aimed at pumping the anterior bundle of the deltoid muscles. The main task of the medial part is abduction or raising the arms perpendicular to the body.
  • Back of deltas allows the arms to pull the weight towards them and move the arm back. It works with traction movements, you can observe a vivid example of the work of the rear deltas when performing the isolating exercise “Bringing the arms back in the peck-deck simulator”.

The deltoid muscles work in conjunction with a group of rotating muscles, the so-called rotators., which include four small, deeply located muscles that hold the shoulders in one place, thereby preventing them from moving out of their axis. This muscle group allows the shoulders to perform rotational movements. If the lifter is using the wrong form of the exercise, taking too much weight, thereby overloading the shoulders or leading them to injury, the rotators are usually the first to “feel” such a load. Rotators and deltas always work, with any movement that is performed by the shoulder girdle.

Features of shoulder training

As I said earlier, shoulder training should be approached comprehensively and set aside a separate day for their training. Why should training be voluminous? When we want to pump our chests, we do incline bench presses, in a horizontal position, and some more experienced athletes do incline presses. This method allows you to evenly develop all parts of the pectoral muscles. The same situation is with shoulder training. As we already know, our deltas consist of three beams, so in order for our shoulders to be voluminous and massive, each beam must be developed evenly. We also know that in order to develop a particular muscle group, you need to use at least 2-3 exercises per week. Since each part of the deltas is fully loaded individually, performing a certain exercise on each beam, it follows that in order to completely pump the deltas well, we need to use at least 5-6 exercises, two for each head. So it turns out that in order to work out the shoulders you need at least 40-50 minutes, taking into account the breaks between sets and the exercises themselves, and this is already one full-fledged workout.

One exercise can be assigned to the medial part, since, unlike the frontal head, the middle part of the deltas is also involved in the training of the anterior bundle, not to the full extent, but still.

In training on the shoulders, you need to use both basic exercises and isolating ones. - These are heavy exercises that involve a large number of muscle groups, and more than one joint is involved in the work. in turn, they are aimed at working out a separate muscle, they isolate the load as much as possible, directing it to the target muscle group.

Advice: If you don't have time to set aside one more day for delt training, I can advise you to break each beam workout into three days, slightly extending each of your workouts. For example, on the day of the chest and triceps, you train the front surface of the deltas, on the day of the back - the middle beam, on the day of the legs the back beam of the deltas. It's also a good way out when you want pump up your shoulders but no time.

Best Shoulder Exercises

Many beginners, sometimes even experienced athletes, are faced with such a problem as not knowing the basic and very common exercises that are aimed at working out the shoulders. This is strange, because there are about 50 exercises that are aimed at working out the shoulder girdle, if not more. All of them are very similar to each other, but at the same time, they differ in the way they are performed and in the inventory that is used as a weighting agent. To avoid such problems, let's look at the best and most popular exercises for pumping your deltas. By the way, so that there are no stops during training, carefully consider your time spent in the gym. You can also use a training diary. This helps to concentrate on the implementation of the plan and not to wander around the room, sticking to the mobile phone.

Exercises for the anterior bundle of deltoid muscles

Exercise number 1. The first exercise that we will consider for training the front beam is basic, and is called. It can be performed both sitting and standing, both options will be correct. But as I have said in many articles, safety comes first. If you have the opportunity to perform the exercise while sitting, use it.

Some believe that it is harmful for the spine when the exercise is performed while sitting, especially with heavy weights, since it creates a bilateral load. On the one hand, the bar presses you, on the other, the bench, so the vertebrae are compressed and a negative load is created, but I am convinced that, nevertheless, the exercises should be performed while sitting, since the load on the back is reduced, and less muscles are involved, which helps work out the target muscle group more concentratedly. Although, if you are confident in your strength and back muscles, you can use both options, distributing them over the weeks. If the muscle groups of the spinal region are not so developed, I advise you to read this article - “?”.

The technique for performing the exercise is quite simple:

  1. Place a bench near a barbell rack
  2. Sit on a bench, lean back tightly against the back
  3. Straighten your chest forward and grab the bar using a closed grip (hands apart shoulder-width apart to create a 90° angle at the elbows)
  4. Smoothly, without jerking, lower the bar to the level of the collarbones
  5. Then, also smoothly return to the starting position by squeezing the bar up

Adviсe:

  1. Perform the movement to the bottom point on the inhale, and return to the starting position on the exhale.
  2. Since the exercise puts stress on the spine, it is important to keep air inside the chest to create pressure, helping the spinal column and avoiding injury (if the weight is heavy enough).
  3. It is not recommended to lift too large weights.
  4. You can use the help of an outside person to help you remove the barbell from the rack. Feel free to ask other people for help.

Exercise #2 . This basic exercise is famous for its name -. It involves the anterior and medial bundle of the deltoid muscles. In addition, shoulder rotators are actively involved in the work. In principle, as I said earlier, they are involved in any movement of the shoulders, so this is obvious.

  1. If you are doing the Arnie Press while seated, place a bench in front of a mirror. If not, stand in front of a mirror. This is necessary in order to follow the technique, and not admire yourself, as many people think.
  2. Take dumbbells, press your back firmly against the back. Using a closed grip, position the dumbbells so that your palms are facing back and the back of your hand is facing a mirror.
  3. Gently begin to squeeze the dumbbells up while turning your arms. When the elbows reach shoulder level, the palms should face forward and the back of the hand back.
  4. Upon reaching the peak point, do not fully straighten your arms.
  5. Return to starting position.

Exercise #3 . Most people are sure that this exercise is aimed at working out the medial bundles, but this is not so. Try to imagine what you are doing. Turn your arms around like you're holding a barbell behind your head and look at your delts. While raising the arms to this position, the middle bundles of the deltas go down, and the front ones turn a little, ending up approximately where the middle bundles used to be.

Proper technique and tips:

  1. The technique is exactly the same as in the very first exercise, except that now we will squeeze the barbell from behind the head.
  2. The exercise is not safe enough, since the shoulder joint and its movements in this exercise are not natural. Many trainers do not recommend doing it. In any case, use light weights (about 8-12 reps).

Exercise #4 . The next exercise is called -. This is an isolation exercise that will help you target your front delts.

Exercise technique:

  1. Grab the dumbbells and stand up straight with your chest straightened out.
  2. Raise your right arm slightly above shoulder level, holding at the peak point for 1-2 seconds.
  3. At the peak, try to feel the target muscles.
  4. Return your right hand to its original position without completely relaxing it and leaving muscle tension.
  5. Raise your left hand and repeat the movement with a delay at the peak.

Exercise #5 . Speaking of isolation, one cannot fail to recall a wonderful exercise that imitates barbell presses from the chest. This exercise is called vertical bench press in the simulator". I advise you not to forget about it in order to diversify your workout.

When performing this exercise, the main part of the load lies on the anterior and medial bundles of the deltoid muscles. Of course, by and large, the load goes precisely to the front bundles.

Technique for correct bench press:

  1. Sit in the simulator and press your back tightly against the back.
  2. Grasp the handles, the back is straight, the chest is straightened forward.
  3. Begin to gently squeeze the weights on the exhale. At the peak point, the arms remain slightly bent at the elbows.
  4. On an inhale, we return to the starting position. At the same time, the hands are not completely relaxed until the end of the exercise. Returning to the bottom point, bring your elbows to about shoulder level, maybe a little lower (to stretch the muscles).

Exercises for the medial beam of the shoulders

Exercise #1 . There is one targeted exercise for the middle bundle of deltas, which is called "". This is a fairly easy exercise that has several variations and is aimed specifically at the medial head. The rest of the exercises that involve the middle beam mainly focus the load on the front beam, and the middle one does not receive the proper load.

This exercise is quite simple to perform, just spread your arms to the sides. The body remains motionless, only the shoulders work, the elbow joint is in a fixed position, slightly bent.

The correct technique for lifting dumbbells through the sides:

  1. Take dumbbells and stand up straight. Legs shoulder width apart. When lifting the dumbbell, bend your elbows slightly.
  2. Inhale deeply, then as you exhale, raise the dumbbells to shoulder level or slightly higher.
  3. Return to starting position. At the bottom point, do not relax the muscles of the hands. Keep them tense until the end of the set.

Exercise #2 . The second exercise will be pulling. - This is a basic exercise, because it involves a large number of muscles and several joints, namely: the shoulder and elbow. If you want to pump exactly the middle and back bunch of deltas, and not the trapezoid, I advise you to pay attention to the width of the grip, it should be slightly wider than the shoulders.

Correct technique:

  1. Take the bar in your hands with a closed grip and straighten your spine. Bend at the waist. Tilt your torso slightly forward so that our body does not interfere while lifting the barbell to the chin. Regarding the width of the grip, the hands should be shoulder-width or wider.
  2. Take a deep breath and as you exhale begin to pull the bar to your chin. No need to do any jerks. Traction performs smoothly.
  3. When you reach the peak point, slowly return to the starting position.

Exercise #3 . The third exercise is an alternative to the barbell chin row, the difference is that instead of a barbell we will use dumbbells. It may seem to many that due to the absence of obstacles in the form of a neck, it will be possible to increase the amplitude, thereby increasing contractions in deltas, and so on. But, unfortunately, this is not a false theory. To use the shoulders to the maximum, all we need is to work them out in isolation. In order for the load to go exactly on the shoulders, it is impossible to lift the weight above shoulder level, otherwise the trapezius muscles will be included in the work, which is highly undesirable. Try to stick to a short amplitude, and “mentally” focus on the middle and rear bundle of the deltoid muscles. can also be done with one hand.

Technique for performing dumbbell rows to the chin:

  1. Take dumbbells in your hands and stand straight. Also, as in the barbell version, bend at the waist and tilt the body slightly forward.
  2. Inhale and as you exhale, begin to raise your elbows to shoulder level.
  3. Taking a smooth breath, return to the starting position, leaving the muscles of the hands in tension.

Adviсe:

  1. Try to concentrate on lifting not dumbbells, but elbows.
  2. Do not raise your shoulders, they must be in a stationary state so that the trapezoid is not included in the work.
  3. Also, in order not to use the trapezoid, you can not get your elbows over shoulder level.

Exercises for the frontal or posterior bundle of deltoid muscles

How to pump up the rear deltas? Rear delt training consists mainly of pulls and a few exercises that use swings or arm raises. Actually, let's take a look at them.

Exercise #1 . To work out the rear deltas in isolation, the exercise "" will come to our aid. Why is this exercise very good for our rear delts? Because it is performed in the simulator, the body is in a fixed position, and we can concentrate the load on the rear bundles of the deltoid muscles as much as possible.

Technique for abducting hands back:

  1. Sit in the simulator and press your chest tightly into the back. Bring your shoulders slightly forward so that the trapezius muscle is stretched along the back and not included in the work.
  2. As you exhale, take your hands back, concentrating on the back bunches of deltas.
  3. On an inhale, return to the starting position.

Exercise #2 . The second exercise also creates an insulating load on the back of the deltas. It's called " ". This is a great exercise that has a lot of options for doing it, so I advise you to pay attention to it.

Exercise technique:

  1. First of all, you need to prepare the workplace. Take a free bench, put it in front of you (with its back to you, as shown in the picture). Take the dumbbells in your hands and bend forward, resting your forehead on the back.
  2. Bend your elbows slightly and as you exhale, begin to take your hands behind your back (to shoulder level).
  3. Then, slowly return to the starting position.

How to build shoulders at home?

Without inventory, pumping up your shoulders at home will not work. Of course, you can do push-ups, do pull-ups on the horizontal bars, but this will not give you the desired effect from training. To swing your shoulders at home, you will need sports equipment in the form of two collapsible dumbbells from 5 to 20 kg and preferably a barbell with pancakes. If you have such equipment, you can perform all of the above exercises. Instead of a special bench, you can use a chair. If there is nothing at all from the inventory, and the nearest hall is 100 km from the house, then you can use bottles filled with water or sand. Also, you can use buckets with the same content. As the saying goes: “If there is a desire, there will always be an opportunity!”.

Be extremely careful when exercising at home. For example, if they can insure you in the gym, then at home I don’t think there is such an opportunity, so do the presses while standing so that you can drop the barbell to the floor at any time.

Shoulder muscle training program

1.The first shoulder training program is displayed on a separate day. The fact is that the shoulder joint is the most common area that gets injured, this is primarily due to heavy weights or neglect of the warm-up before training. To make your shoulder joint less prone to injury, I advise you to warm up well, then start the first exercise with “pump” approaches in order to warm up and pump up our shoulder girdle with blood as best as possible.

Not only professional athletes need to work on the shoulders, but also girls: thanks to trained shoulders, you can visually reduce the difference between the volumes of the upper and lower parts of the body, and emphasize the relief of the arms. An equally good reason to do exercises to increase the width of the shoulders and strengthen them is the fragility of the shoulder joint and its high mobility. Weak shoulder muscles and frequent injuries in this area can be a serious barrier to good athletic performance. Let's figure out how to make the shoulders wider and stronger if nature has awarded an ectomorphic body type, how to measure the width of the shoulders and monitor progress, which gives additional motivation.

Around the shoulder joint are located, which consist of three bundles:

  • front head- located on the front of the shoulder (trains by lifting weights in front of you);
  • middle (central) head- located on the side of the shoulder (increased by abducting the arms back and to the sides);
  • rear head- is located behind the shoulder and, if not developed, then greatly spoils the male figure (it is used when moving the arms back in a tilt and other exercises in which the humerus is behind the body).

Beautiful wide shoulders form medium bundles of deltas, so you can pump them up and save the results obtained only by regularly performing strength exercises in this area.

What determines the width of the shoulders and how to increase it?

Initially, shoulder width is determined genetically. Testosterone has a huge impact on their development, since deltas have the highest concentration of androgen receptors in human muscles. The deltoid muscles become wider during puberty, and if the hormone is not produced enough during adolescence, then the shoulders will be narrow.

But even this shortcoming can be hidden, because not all bodybuilders are lucky with genetics: professional athletes are well aware of how to expand narrow shoulders and back and make the figure more masculine. In order not to complain about the figure “inherited from nature” at the age of 30, one must not miss an important point - from an early age, begin to perform exercises for the development of the body. Nutrition experts recommend that during puberty, carefully monitor the diet and eat more foods that naturally increase testosterone production:

  • barley and buckwheat porridge;
  • shrimp and tuna;
  • bananas and red grapes;
  • eggs;
  • nuts;
  • broccoli;
  • garlic;
  • fresh greens;
  • foods with low cholesterol.

It is possible to expand the skeleton of the upper shoulder girdle up to 20 years by doing just two exercises twice a week: push-ups on the uneven bars with a slight forward inclination and pullover, lying with a dumbbell or barbell. Such a small load will just improve your posture and help increase the width of your shoulders. A guy can change the width of his shoulders after 20 years only by pumping up the middle deltoid muscles.

Deltas are trained both with special isolated exercises and regular push-ups, various presses, etc. But most of the “indirect” exercises develop the front head and, if you don’t specifically pay attention to the rest of the beams, then muscle imbalance cannot be avoided.

Unaesthetic appearance is only part of the problem. When the imbalance accumulates, the risk of injury increases, pain and burning appear in the shoulder area, and the range of motion decreases. In order to comprehensively develop deltas, you need to make a workout in accordance with your preparation and body type.

How to tailor your shoulder workout to your body type?

Skinny ectomorphs with fast metabolisms need to focus more on core exercises. One workout should last no more than 45 minutes, and for each muscle group it is better to do many approaches with a small number of repetitions. It is advisable to take up additional swimming.

Most fortunate are mesomorphs with well-developed muscles, a wide chest and shoulders. They can safely perform isolation exercises and train on a three-day split program. Their strength indicators increase faster than those of other athletes, and high-quality dry muscle mass builds up without chemistry.

Endomorphs easily gain weight, so they should pay more attention to their diet. You can train according to the three-day split program for a little over an hour. Shoulder training should be based on heavy basic exercises. Rest between sets should be kept to a minimum.

Should girls shake their shoulders?

By increasing the size of the shoulders, it is possible to make an “X” figure from an “A” type figure: the waist will seem narrower, and the hips will not be so wide. This is how many stars who show off their body in the photo have achieved ideal proportions. For ladies with an “H” figure, wide shoulders make it possible to make a V-shaped back and visually narrow the waist. It is undesirable to get involved in shoulder training only for girls with a T-shaped figure. They are more suitable for exercises to maintain good posture.

It is especially necessary to strengthen the back of the shoulder and stretch the front delta for hairdressers, dentists and representatives of other professions who have to keep their hands in front of them in weight. This will save you from injury and relieve stress. It is also worth noting that if a girl diligently shakes her lower body and arms, but ignores training for the muscles of the shoulder girdle, then in her silhouette the biceps of the arms become the widest part, which looks ugly.

It will not be possible to strongly pump deltas, because the hormone testosterone contributes to their growth. In women, it is produced approximately 20-30 times less (depending on age) than in men. In addition, when training shoulders, you need to monitor changes in the figure, and not blindly follow the training schemes from the Internet that the pros use in preparation for bodybuilding championships. Having noticed an undesirable increase in volumes, it is necessary to adjust the training or temporarily abandon this type of load. If this is done in time, then the extra centimeters will quickly “merge”.

How can a man build broad shoulders?

There is no one exercise that will allow you to pump all the beams at the same time. In one workout, you need to work out each head, so professionals combine basic (multi-joint) exercises with isolating (single-joint) exercises. The result is highly dependent on:

  • the number of repetitions;
  • the number of workouts per week on the shoulders;
  • working weight;
  • rest period.

Effective selection can only be done empirically. To do this, you need to periodically change the training plan, measure the width of the shoulders (measured horizontally at the extreme most protruding points on the shoulders), record the results and find the connection between individual workouts and maximum progress.

You need to start training with a warm-up and do not try to surprise anyone with a lot of weight. If there was a big break in the classes, then at first it is necessary to do basic exercises for the whole body, cardio, circuit training. For beginners, two basic exercises on the shoulders are enough, and athletes with experience need to add 1-3 more isolating exercises to them. Do not be afraid of muscle addiction to the same exercises, because this will not happen if you use different weights.

Basic or insulating?

Effective for shaping shoulders, which can be performed standing and sitting, with dumbbells and a barbell, at home and in the gym:

  1. Vertical bench press from the chest overhead (military bench press).
  2. Bench press from behind the head.
  3. Shoulder dumbbell press.
  4. Barbell pull to the chin with a direct grip.
  5. Press Arnold.

These exercises perfectly train the anterior and middle beams, strengthen the ligaments and develop strength. As a rule, they start training with a "base" and then do "isolation", but professionals can afford to do everything exactly the opposite.

Isolation exercises for the middle delt to increase the width of the shoulders:

  1. Breeding dumbbells to the sides while standing (from the hips).
  2. Raising with one hand to the side on the lower block.

If the rear delta is lagging behind in development, which is quite common, perform the following isolated exercises:

  1. Breeding dumbbells to the sides in an inclination.
  2. Dumbbell row lying on the stomach on an incline bench.
  3. Leading the arms back in the “pek-deck” simulator (reverse “butterfly” - modification of swings in the slope).

For the front delta, which rarely needs isolation exercises, you can do:

  1. Lifting dumbbells in front of you.
  2. Pulling the lower block forward.

To increase the width of the shoulders, a simple superset is suitable (2 exercises in 4 circles with a break after each circle for 30 seconds):

  • 15-20 barbell pull-ups with a curved neck to the chin with the widest possible grip.
  • 15-20 dumbbell reps to the sides while standing.

There are many other shoulder exercises (for example, on block devices), but they are considered less effective or duplicative. The basic exercises also include pull-ups on the horizontal bar, but the load on the shoulders during their implementation is “smeared” and it is not enough for good hypertrophy (growth) of the deltas.

The easiest way to solve the problem of narrow shoulders is to perform exercises with free weights (dumbbells, barbells). They can be done at the gym and at home. The main thing is not to break the technique and breathing. If there is no personal instructor, videos of experienced trainers will help you master the correct technique.

Usually the number of repetitions varies from medium to maximum. At the same time, they do 3-5 sets and rest between them for one minute. The shoulder muscles recover in four days, so it is advisable to train them no more than twice a week. It is desirable to eat 6-8 times a day in small portions, which will improve recovery.

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