TeenBodybuilding.com - Alton Hare - Smart Shoulder Training!

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Did you know?
The anterior deltoid is one of the easiest muscles to over train since it's used in bench press, dips and other upperbody pressing movements.

By request, I have endeavored to write a complete and concise article on training shoulders.

By: Alton Hare

By request, I have endeavored to write a complete and concise article on training shoulders. While you do not see a lot of shoulder training in my current BC articles, that's because as I noted in them we train shoulders a lot in weightlifting class, along with biceps, so I don't need to. However, before then I did train shoulders quite a bit, and I can tell you that the time I saw my shoulders swell THE most was during weightlifting class while I was in wrestling and even more afterwards when I didn't have to worry about weight and diet. In weightlifting class we only did one exercise that made my shoulders sore, then hang clean and the power clean and jerk. These are not only great for the shoulders, they are taxing on the whole body, much like squats, and can give a great workout in just 3 sets of 8-12 reps. But, though I had great success with them, I knew skinny guys who's shoulders didn't get much bigger, though they worked hard on cleans and jerks. I realized that was because I could naturally handle a lot more weight on the movement and put more stress on my shoulders. This is also a reason I bench so much, strong shoulders. So, I have pulled together my own knowledge and the feedback of the rest of you shoulder handicapped people, along with books and articles, to try to help everyone with their shoulder development.

First off, what do you train shoulders with? If their a weakness, they should be given as much individual attention as possible, but they shouldn't be first in the week because you need them for everything else. Could you split the shoulders up? Quite possibly. You might train side and rear delts after back, since they are already warm and pumped from rowing movements, and train front delts after chest. This would allow you to concentrate on that one area, without neglecting other body parts. If you trained the entire shoulder in one day, after chest or back, the last part of the shoulder might be neglected because, well, it's last and you never have the focus or drive on the last exercises(s). When I am out of school weightlifting, that's what I'm going to try. Still further, you could do as I used to and relegate shoulders to Friday, after everything else, and do a total shoulder routine. If you still have the motivation by Friday to train a lagging body part harder than your other body parts, you can go for it. Otherwise I recommend splitting it up. As bodybuilders, I realize it is hard to incorporate the clean and jerk, so I'm not going to write on it, it's mainly for powerlifters/olympic lifters anyway.

Ok, for a total shoulder workout, and if your front delts don't get very sore or fatigued from doing chest, and if you can't seem to get a lot of intensity going on your shoulders because you can't use much weight (which is the description most of you gave me who needed advice) then I recommend supersets of the deltoid heads to accumulate lots of blood and lactic acid into the area. I also recommend staying in the 8-12 rep range, for the same reason. Here's what a good routine looks like:

Dumbbell Front Press for 3 sets of 8-12 supersetted with Bent lateral raises for 3 sets of 8-12. Don't take more than a minute of rest between superset or you defeat the purpose. And only take a minute if you really need it. After this you have your choice between dumbbell shrugs (I have heard are the best trap exercise there is, but I don't have personal experience), upright rows (work traps along with the rest of the shoulder) or barbell shrugs. One of the supersetted with lateral raises for 3 sets of 8-12, failure on each set, should have your shoulders hurtin'. Finally, finish 'em off with Arnold Presses for 3 sets of 8-12. This is a lot of volume, and is pretty intense, so if your gonna do it all at once in one workout be sure it's on a day when you'll feel like it. I prefer dumbbell presses though I experimented with barbell press some and liked it. Dumbbell press gives you more range of motion and brings in more stabilizers, while also being easier on my back.

Now, if you wanna split the shoulders up, it's a lot easier to work part of the shoulder intensely in two sessions than the entire shoulder. I recommend, on back day, either before or after back you do this:

Bent lateral raises: Run the rack from the heaviest you can do for six down 4 times. So if you start at 20s you'd do something like

20sx6 drop to 15sx7 drop to 10sx10 drop to 5sx12

That's just an example. Your weights and reps may be higher or lower. After you do these you can move on to regular lateral raises, in the same manner, but after you run the rack wait 3 minutes and do a finishing set at the middle weight you did when you ran the rack. So, I start out at 30s, and go down to 15s, I do the 25s when I feel strong or 20s otherwise or when I just wanna do high reps and really hurt. After this I don't recommend trying upright rows for the traps because your shoulders will be too fatigued and will likely give out before your traps do. Dumbbell or barbell shrugs to finish for 3 sets of 8 to 12 is good. Then, on chest day, front dumbbell presses for 3 sets and Arnold Presses for three sets is all you need. The front delts shouldn't be stressed as much since their stronger on most people, and get worked more. Also, the side and rear delts are harder to target and bring into proportion, so you need more intensity-increasing techniques.

The proper execution of a dumbbell press: hold a dumbbell to either side, palms facing forward, the dumbbells just touching your front delt. Press them straight over your head not from the elbow but from the shoulder, minimize triceps involvement. At the top pause but do not lock out, simply pause a moment and bring them back down under control, touch your front delts, and back up again.

The proper execution of an Arnold Press: hold a dumbbell to either side with your palms facing you, in a smooth motion press the weights overhead while rotating your wrists so your palms are faced outward. Similar to dumbbell press but activates the shoulder in a different way, incorporating the side delts more than the regular db press.

The proper execution of a lateral raise: take a dumbbell in each hand, probably around half your dumbbell press weight, and let them touch together in front of you. Lift the weights to either side and turn your wrists "as if pouring water out of a pitcher" in Arnold's words so that the back of the dumbbell is higher than the front. Stop at a point slightly higher than your shoulders. Do not rock and do not swing, keep the weight always under control.

The proper execution of a bent lateral raise: stand with a dumbbell in each hand and bend forward about 45 degrees, or a little more, the further you bend over the more rear delt involvement. Let the dumbbells hang in front of you, palms facing each other. Lift the weights to either side, turning your wrists as in a lateral raise so that your thumb is a little lower than your index finger.

The proper execution of a barbell shrug: pretty self explanatory, grasp the barbell and, without jerking, bring your traps into your ears, hold and squeeze, and control it down. The dumbbell shrug is similar but with dumbbells.

The proper execution of an upright row: grasp the bar in a medium narrow grip, which is a little closer in than where your hands naturally fall, let it hang in front of you and pull it to the underside of your chin, and controlling it down again.

In all exercises there is a measure of cheating. If there was absolutely no cheating, you wouldn't be pushing yourself quite to your max. A little movement of the body is quite an allowable and usually beneficial thing at the end of a set when your trying to totally fry the muscle. So stay perfect as long as possible, but when your pushing yourself sometimes you have to cheat a little to add that extra stress.

That's shoulder training, and when I get outta weightlifting I'll be doing something similar to this. I'm happy to report my arms have grown almost an inch since I started my BC journal, my chest an inch, my legs 2 inches, my bench 15 lbs., and my squat about 45 lbs. I have also gained about 15 lbs. of bodyweight, which is a little more than I planned on gaining. I am going to start altering my diet a little, not quite so much junk food. Anyway, hope you guys got a lot outta this article! E mail with questions, later.

- Alton

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