Smart training for awe-inspiring shoulders
A nice set of shoulders is on many trainees' Christmas list - including yours truly. Wide shoulders make a man appear bigger and help bring out the - by many men highly coveted - X-shape. Women usually have no desire to look bigger but instead dream of toned and athletic shoulders - think Madonna or Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2. Simply, trained shoulders make you look more trained. Unfortunately, though, shoulders are often susceptible to injuries - both as a result of our daily activities (or lack of such), and what you do in the gym. (Hint Mr Bench press or Mr 'Lift heavy or go home'). Here's a smart way to train shoulders:
Press heavy but wisely
-Use a slightly narrower grip. This will bring your elbows more forward and less to the side, which makes the exercise easier on the shoulders with less risk of impinging something (the rotatorcuff/biceps tendon, the bursa). Add a shrug on the top of the movement to further increase the subacromial (read: under acromion of the scapulae) space.
-Also, alternate barbell and dumbbell presses to get some variation. When pressing with dumbbells, the total load is usually lighter, and the range of motion less locked making the exercise a bit easier on the shoulders.
-Neutral grip dumbbell press or trap bar press are great alternatives that let you work more in the scapular plane which means less impingement. Adding them in on a regular basis is a good way to keep your shoulders healthy.
-Avoid behind-the-neck press. Not necessarily dangerous but for most people pressing behind the neck imposes an extra strain on the shoulder capsule and the ligament as well as the neck. A strain you might want to avoid.
-One overhead pressing exercise is usually enough. Complement with supplemental work for rear and lateral delts, working in a slightly higher rep range, 10-15 reps. This will ensure the use of proper exercise technique, lessens the risk of injury and those parts of the deltoid muscle usually respond better to medium/high reps anyway. It's a win-win, as we would say in Sweden.
Good choices of exercises are:
Standing barbell military press
Seated dumbbell press (preferably with neutral grip)
Trap bar press
Reverse flyes
Face pulls
Band pull aparts
Incline lateral raises
Lean away lateral raises
Press once a week, train lateral delts twice per week and rear delt 2-3 times to achieve a healthy balance and to maximize the growth potential.
Skip isolation work for the anterior delt completely since it gets hit both directly and indirectly in all presses.
Here's a way to set it allup:
Monday (because Monday is the international chest day) Chest, shoulders, triceps
Incline bench press 4x6-8
Dips 3x8-10
Overhead dumbbell press 4x6-8
Triceps extensions 3x8
Incline lateral raises 3x10-12
Band pull aparts 3x12-15
TRX fall-outs, 3x10-12
Wednesday: Back, biceps, rear/lateral delt
Pull-ups 4x6-8
Seated row 4x8
Incline curls 3x8
Face pulls 3x10-12
Cable curls 2x10
Lean away lateral raises 3x15
Thursday: legs and abs
Squats 3x6-8
Split squats 3x8
Leg extension 2x12
Calf raises 3x8-12
Abs wheel roll-outs 3x8-10
Hanging leg raise 3x8-10
Saturday: back, hamstrings and rear delt
Chins 3x8
Bench dumbbell row 3x12
Romanian deadlift 3x8
Walking lunges 3x8-10
Leg curl 3x8
Seated calf raise 3x12-15
Reverse flyes 3x10-12
So, press smart, make sure to work your lateral delts, and your rear delts even more - and you're on your way to a great set of strong, healthy and nice looking shoulders.
Erik Lavesson follows the above guidelines meticulously. Especially the Monday benching part.