Thread: Delts?

Shoulder press, laterals, front raises, uprights and etc.

Lat raises, upright rows, dumbbell/barbell presses, bent over lat raises

My delts are my weak spot as well.

The 1 best exercise your can do is barbell or dumbbell military press.

Just be careful not to over-train your delts. They are a small muscle group and easily injured so you don't need 10 sets of exercises to be effective.

Just make progress from week-to-week.

Did someone say delts?

Got Built? » The Shoulders of Giants

Originally Posted by Built

Did someone say delts?

Got Built? » The Shoulders of Giants

Don't do it! It's a trap!!!

No but seriously, this is an excellent shoulder program. I saw great improvements when I used it. Top it off, I went with a block training program Built gave me for lower push and upper vertical push (which is basically shoulder-dominant lifts). After those two programs my shoulders went from my greatest weaknesses to a major strong point.

Originally Posted by phineas

don't do it! It's a trap!!!

Tee hee! Glad you liked it, phineas.

the military front presses, bentover side laterals db, standing side db laterals, behind the neck seated presses, also seated military presses front. db arnold presses, u should always include at least 1 power movement for shoulders then do your lateral movements. i would do 4 exercises by 6-8 reps for your power movements, and 8-12 for your lateral movements. upright rows work the traps in my opinion and should be done on back days. shoulder shrugs is another good power movement for traps. i do 5 sets of 5-8 rep with this exercise along with upright rows 3 sets by 8-10 with this movement. try touching your ears with your shrugs and uprights. your anterior delts get alot of work on chest days, so just your power movement on that shoulder day is good for front delts.again using hammer strength equip. has its uses but free weights is the way to go on this movement. my opinion which i think is good for just starting out. tweek it to suit your needs. drop the sets or reps according to how you feel. good luck in everything you go for.

As expected we're seeing a number of overhead pressing and delt isolation movements listed. However, let's not forget about the typically pressing-oriented shoulders' other 1/3 -- the posterior delts.

You don't necessarily need to do bent-over lateral raises (or the many other names I've heard those called) to develop the back of the shoulders. Upper pulling compounds hit these bad boys pretty hard. Rows, pullups, and pulldowns are all excellent for rear shoulder development.

As an added bonus, rows hit the traps hard -- a muscle which, when well-developed -- augments well-built delts (all three of them, just obviously viewed from different angles).

And, as documented in Built's shoulder module, hang cleans -- though often classified as full-body dynamic or at least lower pull -- result in great delt development. And, I'm not just talking the posterior delts getting worked in the second pull of the hang clean; they give full shoulder development. Hang cleans are an anomoly. I'll never understand them in that sense. I just do them, and love them!

FYI -- to anyone who has argued against me for classiying hang cleans as vertical push the reason is simply because in the context of bodybuilding (a) the shoulders are likely where the lifter will experience most hypertrophy and (b) vertical push is, in my opinion, the only expendable plane of motion to substitute for a dynamic effort lift (assuming it's an otherwise strictly strength development program). Meaning, while it may make more sense to classify it as lower pull, I would never remove deadlifts. Whereas, while overhead pressing is very beneficial, something like a shoulder press can be removed, as it works only secondary muscles. Even the more productive military press can be replaced because the core element is sufficiently covered in squats, deads, and hang cleans. This is why I say if hang cleans will remove any of the six planes of motion it should be only vertical push. To me, that's the most logical choice.

I like lower pull and upper vertical push combo.

Nice, thanks for the advice everyone. I would pm folks, but I'm still not at 20 posts yet.

This is one of my weakest areas as well, no matter what I do I can't seem to build my delts like the rest of my body, but I will try some of these suggestions as well this looks like some good stuff. Thanks everyone.

Shoulders/traps are my strongest point, i use 3 compound exercises to achieve size-BB presses,smith machine shrugs and smith machine upright rows, after 6 to 8 weeks i switch to DB presses,DB shrugs and close grip rows,pulling it to my chest,squeezing my traps.throughout these workouts i do a variety of lateral raises(front,side back)with cables,keeping the weight lite.

A note about upright rows, these put your shoulders in a fucked up vulnerable position when the bar is raised to your chin, use a moderate weight, i was out with a fkd up shoulder for 4 weeks from going to heavy with uprights.