What muscle would you choose if it were to have the greatest impact on your physical appearance?
Your back? Your arms? Maybe your quads?
The shoulders would be my first choice. They make your entire body look more attractive when they are well-developed. Your waist appears smaller and your body becomes a V-taper.
These make your frame appear more balanced and your entire appearance more pleasing.
Let’s face it, wide shoulders look great
You can also lift more weight if you have stronger shoulders.
How can you make your shoulders bigger?
First, let’s take a look at anatomy of the shoulder muscles.
You don’t have to worry. It is always helpful to know how a muscle works.
Anatomy of the shoulder
The deltoid is made up of three distinct sets of fibers.
1 The anterior deltoid, front deltoid
The clavicle (collar bone), which is the origin of this insertion, inserts into the humerus in the upper arm.
2) Lateral deltoid (side deltoid)
The humerus is inserted into the humerus from the top of your scapular (the shoulder blade).
3) Posterior deltoid (rear delt
This origins further back than the scapular but still inserts into the humerus.
The shoulder fibers have a variety of functions (primary joint actions).
The anterior delt controls shoulder flexion, which is when your arm raises like a front raise.
The main function of the lateral deltoid is abduction. This involves lifting your arm to one side like in alateral raise.
The rear delt is responsible for horizontal shoulder abduction, which means that your arms are moved horizontally as in a reverse fly.
Now that you have read all that, what does it mean?
It shows that you must consider the three heads of your deltoid – the front, the lateral and the rear – in order to increase your shoulders. You should focus your exercises on the functionality of your shoulders.
Exercises to build bigger shoulders
Once we have a better understanding of the shoulder muscles, we can begin to think about what exercises should be added to our exercise program.
Here are a few exercises to help you target the main functionality and get the best results from your shoulder muscles.
1) Anterior Deltoid
For those who exercise regularly, the front delt is one their most used muscles.
Michael Gundel claims that people who exercise are 5 times more likely to develop their front delts than those who don’t. They also have three times as many side delts, and only 10-15% more rear delts.
This shows that the lateral and rear shoulder muscles have a lot of room for improvement.
This is because pressing movements activate the front delt. Exercises such as the bench press or the incline bench presse exercise the front shoulder enough.
An incline press causes more anterior shoulder activation. The flat bench has some shoulder activation, but less frontally.
This is in line with previous research from Barnet et. al. which showed the same results.
Research has shown that anterior shoulder activation is better when the angle of inclines is between 28 and 90 degrees.
If so many pressing exercises already target the anterior deltoid (), is it worth isolating them all?
It’s up to you.
For example, I don’t do isolation exercises for my anterior delt. Simply because I feel I already target it enough.
I would find it difficult to continue my push days if I added a front shoulder exercise. My performance would be impacted by the fact that my front shoulder would have been exhausted.
But, I believe that training your front delt can help to strengthen your shoulders and improve your pressing.
What is the best exercise to do for the front delt ?…?
Exercise 1: Dumbbell Shoulder Press
This should not be a surprise.
You should know that pressing movements activate the front delt primarily through the anterior shoulder.
Particularly, the dumbbell version of the shoulder press is more effective than barbell shoulder presses.
You can see how the front delt gets trained with just about every other pressing exercise.
How to:
1 Adjust the backrest of an adjustable bench until it is 90deg. Use a military bench instead if one is available. Place a pair dumbbells on your legs and sit on the bench.
2 Lift the dumbbells to shoulder height with your legs. Your palms should be facing forward. Your shoulders should be facing away. Keep your shoulders slightly bent, but not so that they are flaring out. Your elbows should be approximately 90 degrees.
3 Inhale and push dumbbells up until they touch the top. Do not extend your elbows or lock your elbows once you reach the top.
Take a moment to pause at the top.
4) Slowly lower the dumbbells to their starting position.
I’m going to end by mentioning the front raises.
They are not worth the effort. They are a waste of your time and effort.
They don’t activate the front delt muscles as well as the shoulder press, and you can do cheat reps more than pressing.
2) Lateral Deltoid
The side delt activates far less than the front shoulder in pressing movements. This would explain why the side delt is less developed in most people who exercise.
Compared to 70% activation for the front delt , the lateral delt shows only 20% muscle activity when the shoulder press is performed on the Smith machine.
However, research has shown side delt activation can be seen when dumbbells are used. This could be due to stabilizing involvement of the muscles.
However, activation isolating the side delts will result in better muscle activation.
Side delts are the key to a larger shoulder appearance. If you want to have a larger frame, it is important that you focus on the lateral deltoids.
Shoulder abduction exercises, which is the main function of the lateral deltid, are required.
These are the three best exercises to train side delts:
Exercise 1: Dumbbell Neutral Lateral Raises
The lateral raise is a well-known isolating exercise for the medial deltid.
This study also showed that lateral raises, which are done by pointing your pinky finger upwards, can increase lateral shoulder activation. An external lateral raise (where your index finger points upwards) can be beneficial for the reardelt.
Many experts agree that internal lateral raises can increase shoulder impingement, and even cause injury ( study). If you are looking to be safe and have a history with shoulder problems, the slight advantage of the “pinky up” method might not be worth it.
How to:
1Grip dumbbells by placing your index finger against the dumbbell’s head and your pinky near the handle. This will force the side deltoid muscles to work harder and increase the internal rotation moment at top of the movement.
2 Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your knees slightly bent. Pull your lats in and pull your shoulder blades back. Place the dumbbells on your side.
3) Inhale and raise the dumbbells up to shoulder height, leading by your elbows.
4) Do not lift your elbow straight up from the side. Instead, lift dumbbells at a 30-degree angle when looking up from the top. (Imagine that you have a wider grip to do a bench press).
5) Flex your lateral delts while you lift the weight. As an anchor, the rest of your arm should be pictured as a part of your arm. Imagine that you are lifting the weight in an arc, rather than lifting it. This will allow you to target your lateral delts more.
6) Take a deep inhale and lower the dumbbells to your starting position.
Exercise 2: Lean Away Cable Lateral Raise
Cables have a major advantage over dumbbells in that they offer a more consistent resistance.
The dumbbells reach their peak torque at the top and the delt at bottom (starting point) are barely tension ed.
Cables reduce this problem by providing resistance across the entire range of motion.
Some research also shows that leaning away causes more tension to the side delt.
How to:
1 Stand in front of a cable pulley machine equipped with a handle attachment. Ensure that the pulley is at the lowest setting, just below your feet.
2 Hold the handle in your hand with your working arm. The cable can be positioned between your legs or in front of you. Keep your feet in front of the pulley machine.
3) Use your other hand to support the machine.
4) Move away from the machine.
5) Keep your elbow bent and raise your arm up to your shoulder. To lift the weight, you should focus on your shoulder.
6) Slowly bring back the weight.
7) Repeat for both sides.
Exercise 3: Cable Rope Upright Rows
The upright row is another effective exercise that can help you have wider shoulders. Demonstrates that the grip width plays a role in lateral shoulder activation in an upright row. A wider grip leads to more side delt activation than a narrower grip.
Incorrect technique can result in shoulder impingement.
To minimize injury risk, the authors recommend that the shoulder be kept slightly lower than the rest of the body.
Cable ropes allow for constant tension during the exercise. Additionally, pulling the role apart while you row activates your lateral head more.
How to:
1 Place your hand next to a cable pulling machine that has a rope attachment. Make sure that the pulley is at the lowest setting, just below your feet.
2 Take a stable, staggered stance and bend your knees slightly.
3) Reposition your head slightly.
4) Inhale and pull the rope towards your chin. Lift the weight by moving your shoulder with your elbows.
5) Row the weight and focus on the cue to pull it apart. This will activate the side delta more.
6) Slowly return to your original position once your elbows reach shoulder height.
3) Posterior Deltoid
Rear delts, which are often overlooked, are important not only for balance but also for shoulder and postural health.
You can’t neglect your rear delts if you want bigger shoulders!
In most pressing movements, such as shoulder presses and bench presses, the posterior shoulder is almost silent.
Rear delt exercises include seated rows, wide grip rows, and incline lat pulldown. These exercises can be used to strengthen the rear shoulder and allow for bigger muscles to take over.
Exercise 1: Reverse Peck Deck
Three studies show that the reverse peer deck elicits 90% rear shoulder activation. Comparable to the seated row at approximately 54%.
If there is one exercise that can help you target your rear delt better, it would be the reverse peck deck.
How to:
1 Place your stomach against the peck deck machine. You can adjust the seat so that your elbows reach the shoulders when you grasp the handles (where your palms face down).
Remember that your goal is to move your arms horizontally and your arms apart.
2 Place your feet slightly wider than shoulder width so that they are in a neutral position. Maintain a straight back and a slight arch at your lower back. Your shoulder blades should be moved backwards and down.
3) Bring your handles together and concentrate on contracting your shoulders in order to complete the movement. Your traps and back can easily take control of the movement.
4) Slowly get back to your original position.
Optimize your shoulder exercise
Research shows that the Deltona has a 50/50 split between Type 1 and Type 2. This means that a mix of high and low reps is best to maximize muscle growth. Low reps are between 6-9 repetitions and high reps should be about 10-15.
This means that progressive overload sets, where you start with a lighter set and increase in weight over time, are ideal for shoulder development.
The number of sets you can do with proper form is more important than a number.
Here’s a sample:
Your first set should consist of 12-15 repetitions, with lateral raises. You should not aim for a weight that can do 20-25 repetitions without good form. Instead, try to limit your reps to 15-16.
You don’t have to do 12-15 reps because it’s required. Instead, you do those many because you know how much you can do for the weight you’ve chosen.
Do not try to fail completely, but instead aim for 80% failure.
That makes sense, I hope.
Same applies to your low repetition (6-9) sets.
Start by choosing one or more exercises that target all the shoulders, depending on your goal.
For approximately 4-5 weeks, you can continue with the same exercises and then change it up. Target the same head with different exercises.
Before you introduce new exercises to your routine, master one exercise. This will ensure muscle growth.
During your exercise, pay attention to your shoulders!
Do not expect to gain wider shoulders if you do only 3 sets of lateral raises.
To facilitate muscle growth, weekly volume is just as important as intensity.
To achieve minimum progress you should aim for 8 weekly sets per head 16-22 weekly sets are optimal for maximum progress.
There are exercises that target multiple heads at once. These exercises should be considered when you are creating your shoulder-building workout program.
How often should your shoulders be exercised?
Protein synthesis is the main driver of muscle growth . We know that it lasts 24 to 48 hours after a hard workout .
You are missing out on significant muscle growth if you only train your shoulders once a week.
As a general rule, exercising your delts at least twice per week should be your goal.
Push/pull/legs is a good split for a workout. This 6-week workout program uses this split.
If you don’t have the budget to work out five to six times per week, you can opt for an upperbody/lowerbody workout.
Conclusion
To build wider shoulders and bigger shoulders, you need to know how the shoulder muscles work. How do you target them?
You’ll see bigger shoulders if you do all the right workout modifications to ensure that protein synthesis is optimal and proper workout volume.
