delts
Essential Exercises for Building Round,
Defined Shoulders. vol.I
IFBB PRO PETAR KLANCIR
INTRODUCTION
If you want to achieve a 3D delts kind of look, appear bigger and more
muscular than you actually are then this short guide is for you.
In the relentless pursuit of a sculpted and well-defined physique, the
shoulders play a crucial role in creating a visually striking upper body. The
coveted 3D delt look, characterized by well-developed front, side, and rear
heads, has become a hallmark of a dedicated fitness journey.
Shoulders, often referred to as the “caps” of the upper body, hold the power to
transform an ordinary physique into a chiseled work of art. Beyond mere
aesthetics, well-developed deltoids contribute to overall upper body strength,
stability, and functional fitness
● Shoulder anatomy
● The function of the shoulders
● Benefits of shoulder training
● The best shoulder exercises
● Shoulder workout program
ANATOMY OF DELTOID MUSCLE
The deltoids are large triangular-shaped muscles made up of three heads, the
anterior (aka front), middle (aka lateral), and posterior deltoids (aka rear delts).
The delts lie over the shoulder joint, which gives your shoulder muscles that
boulder shoulder look that almost all lifters desire.
. To dive more into the
anatomy check out this cool video
● ▶ Delts Anatomy
● ▶ Traps Anatomy
Click on the hyperlink to find out more
SHOULDER FUNCTIONS & MOVEMENTS
The shoulder is a shallow ball and socket joint that can move in multiple
directions and requires a lot of muscles and mobility to make this all happen.
This is why it’s important to strengthen the deltoids from all angles for better
shoulder stability.
Here are the main movements for the deltoid with the muscles involved:
BENEFITS OF SHOULDER TRAINING
Training your shoulders is crucial for several reasons, encompassing both
aesthetic and functional aspects. Besides the obvious vanity benefits of a
rippling set of 3D shoulders, there are important performance and health
benefits of having strong and muscular shoulders.
The benefits of training your shoulders are:
#1 IMPROVED POSTURE
Strengthening the shoulders helps improve your posture and helps stop the
dreaded ape-like posture that comes from sitting too much and playing with
your phone.
#2 DECREASED RISK OF INJURY AND BETTER
SHOULDER STABILITY
The shoulder joint is a shallow ball and socket joint, which is great for mobility,
but this
comes with a high risk of injury. The shoulders are vulnerable to
strains, impingements, and rotator cuff injuries, especially with repetitive
movements or poor posture.
The stability part of this equation is up to you. Strengthening the muscles
around the shoulder joint will improve shoulder stability and reduce your
injury risk.
#3 IMPROVEMENT IN ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE
The shoulders play a role important in exercises such as vertical and
horizontal presses and rows and chin-ups and pull-ups. In some exercises,
they are the secondary muscles allowing the primary muscles to do their job.
Wouldn't it be a shame if your shoulders gave out before maximizing your
chest and back gains? Improving your shoulder strength will help improve
your performance in sports and life too. After all, you are only as strong as your
weakest link.
#4 IMPROVEMENT IN PERFORMING OTHER
COMPOUND LIFTS
You need a lot of shoulder mobility to perform the squat, deadlift, and bench,
but this needs to match by shoulder stability also. Balanced shoulder training
that focuses on all three deltoids will improve your shoulder stability and
improve your performance with the big 3 too.
HOW TO WARM UP THE SHOULDERS BEFORE
TRAINING
It’s always important to get the blood moving through your shoulder region
to prepare it for training and to prevent injury. Doing so moves the blood from
your abdomen area to your shoulders to lubricate the shoulder joint and to
access your shoulder’s mobility.
Just doing a few shoulder circles is not enough. Better to throw in a few low
intensity shoulder exercises which target the shoulder area to prepare the
shoulder joint for action. Although there are lots of moves, here are several
good ones that get the shoulders ready to roll.
Do about 10-15 reps for each (both sides/directions), for 3 sets.
● Low weight lateral raises
● Arm circles
● Push up
top 3 nextgen SHOULDER EXERCISES
Along with your more traditional biceps exercises like the standing barbell
curl and dumbbell curls, we also wanted to introduce some more unique
bicep curls. You can incorporate these into your bicep workouts.
SEATED DUMBBELL SHOULDER PRESS
The seated dumbbell shoulder press is an essential exercise in any shoulder
workout routine. The dumbbell shoulder press can be performed either
seated or standing but performing them seated isolates the shoulders more,
eliminating any chance of cheating your delts by using your legs for
momentum.
This exercise is varied by changing the angle (wide for more shoulder), narrow
(more anterior deltoid and triceps), grip width, and even rotation. All options
are good, but it depends what other exercises you are doing in your workout.
The beauty of all overhead presses is they train all 3 of the deltoids. Yes, even
the rear because the posterior deltoid stabilizes the weight when you’re
overhead.
How to do seated dumbbell shoulder presses:
● Clean the dumbbellS so they are sitting on your shoulders and sit
upright on an incline bench.
● Puff your chest out, brace your core, and find your preferred pressing
angle.
● Then press both dumbbells overhead until your elbows lock out.
● Slowly lower the dumbbells back down to your shoulders and reset and
repeat.
DUMBBELL LATERAL RAISES
The dumbbell lateral raise with a lean gives you increased stability and range
of motion as the distance your arm has to travel to perform the lateral raise is
further.
This greater range of motion with a strong contraction of the lateral deltoid
leads to more tension and more gains than the standing or sitting variation.
Performinglateral raises unilaterally helps decrease strength imbalances
between sides too.
How to do sumbbelllateral raises:
● Stand or sit with a dumbbell in each hand at your sides.
● Keep your back straight, brace your core.
● Slowly lift the weights out to the sides until your arms are parallel with
the floor.
● Lower the dumbbells slowly and keep them under control.
● Focus on working on form and technique rather than increasing load.
● Aim for a two-second lowering phase initially and increase it over time.
● Make a strategic stop just before the top of the move for muscle
enhancement.
REAR DELT CABLE FLYES
Performing rear delt cable flyes offers several advantages, particularly in
targeting the rear deltoid muscles and improving shoulder stability. Rear delt
cable flys isolate and target the rear deltoids effectively, helping to develop
and strengthen these muscles, which are often neglected in traditional
shoulder workouts.
Using cables provides constant tension throughout the range of motion,
which can lead to greater muscle activation and growth compared to other
forms of resistance. Cable machines also offer a versatile way to train the rear
deltoids, allowing for different grip variations and angles to target the
muscles from various perspectives.
How to do rear delt cable flys:
● Set the pulleys on a cable machine to forehead or slightly higher
position. Attach single grip handles to each pulley.
● Choose a weight that allows you to maintain proper form and control
throughout the
movement. You can adjust the weight as needed.
● Stand in the middle of the cable cross machine. Grasp the handles with
an overhand grip, palms facing inward, and take a step backwards to
create tension in the cables.
● Keep your feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, and core
engaged for stability.
● With a slight bend in your elbows, exhale as you squeeze your shoulder
blades together and pull the handles outward and backward in a wide
arc motion.
Focus on
contracting your rear deltoids throughout the movement.
Inhale as you slowly return the handles to the starting position, allowing
your shoulder blades to protract (move apart). Avoid using momentum
to swing the weight.
nextgen BICEPS WORKOUT PROGRAM
So here is the best biceps workout to grow some massive arms. Keep in mind
that this is not biceps ONLY but biceps-centric. Again, the missing factor to
most “biceps workouts” is altering big pulling exercises to produce more
biceps activation.
WORKOUT #1:
● Dumbbell shoulder press 3 sets, Rep range 6-8, Tempo 2-0-2-1
● Dumbbell lateral raises 3 sets, Rep range 12-15, Tempo 2-0-2-1
● Peck deck rear delt fly, 3 sets, Rep range 12-15, Tempo 2-0-2-1
● Rope front raise, 2 sets, Rep range 10-12, Tempo 2-1-2-1
● Machine lateral raises, 2 sets, Rep range 10-12, Tempo 2-0-1-1
● Dumbbell shrugs, 2 sets, Rep range 10-12, Tempo 2-0-1-1
WORKOUT #2:
● Shoulder machine press 3 sets, Rep range 6-8, Tempo 5-0-2-1
● Cable cross lateral raises 3 sets, Rep range 12-15, Tempo 2-0-2-1
● Rear delt cable fly, 3 sets, Rep range 12-15, Tempo 2-0-2-1
● One arm cable lateral raises, 2 sets, Rep range 10-12, Tempo 2-1-2-1
● T-bar row wide grip row, 2 sets, Rep range 10-12, Tempo 2-0-1-1
● Dumbbell shrugs three variations, 2 sets, Rep range 10-12, Tempo 2-0-1-1
Click on the exercise to access instruction video
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR SHOULDERS
Although it depends on your specific training split and structure, here is how
you can focus on shoulders more in your training regime.
#1 TRAIN SHOULDERS SEPARATELY FROM OTHER MUSCLE GROUPS
This training split will allow maximum strength gains and size because you
will be able to do heavy compound moves with lots of isolation variations to
promote muscle growth, focusing on them exclusively.
#2 COMBINE SPECIFIC SHOULDER PARTS WITH OTHER MUSCLE
GROUPS
This allows the best utilization of your time if you are limited with amount of
workouts
per week. Combining front shoulder exercises with chest
exercises, side shoulder exercises with arm exercises, rear delt with back etc.
The downside may be that your shoulders could be fatigued from training
other muscle groups, so it would be best to start with shoulders, especially if
they are your weak link and want to focus on them.
#3 TRAIN THEM ONCE SEPARATELY AND MUSCLE-PAIR THEM WITH
OTHER
This training split will be most beneficial for advanced lifters who want to
improve their shoulders. Focus on heavy compound exercises to promote
strength and size gains on separate shoulder day, and spread/pair the
isolation movements through the week with other muscle groups, focusing
on higher volume sets and reps.
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petar@nextgencoaching.co