Shoulders

Read these articles, to learn how to build and develop your shoulders.

Shoulders and Traps
by Sean Quade

The shoulders and traps are the only muscles in my opinion that can't be developed enough. The wider and rounder your delts and traps are, the more your upper body appears much bigger than it actually is, and the smaller your waist looks, giving your body a "V" taper. Read this article and start blasting those delts and traps into boulders of muscle!

Anatomy of the Shoulders:

The shoulders are made up of 3 different heads called deltoids, each with its own specific function. The anterior (front) deltoid lifts the arm to the front, the medial (side or middle) deltoid lifts the arm to the side, and the posterior (rear) deltoid lifts the arm to the rear. All 3 of the deltoids also work together in order to press weight over the head.

Training the Shoulders:

There are two basic types of shoulder exercises:

Straight arm raises: In which the fully extended arm is lifted in an outward arc from the body.

Presses: in which the arms are extended in a pressing motion over the head.

All presses stress particularly the front and side deltoids. Straight-arm raises almost completely isolate a single deltoid. As you have probably figured out, front raises stress the anterior deltoid, side raises stress the medial deltoid, and raises performed in a bent forward position stress the rear deltoid. The deltoids all work together in order to rotate the arm 360 degrees, thus there are many angles from which the shoulders can be worked at.

Quantity and Quality of Training:

The shoulders can handle unbelievable amounts of weight, and also assist you in many upper body exercises such as bench presses and bent over rows. Therefore, it is very important to train the shoulders intensely with maximum concentration because so many compound movements rely on shoulder strength. Like all muscles, try to get your mind inside it and truly feel it working.

Here are some tips to make the best of your training:

• When performing straight-arm raises, keep your pinky finger slightly higher than your thumb. This contracts the deltoids better and provides better stimulation.
  
• When performing presses, make sure your forearms are at a 90-degree angle to the bar. This form works the shoulders the best and puts the stress off your triceps.
  
• To be super strict, don't perform any raises over head level, this will create a stricter movement and stress the deltoids better.
  
• When doing raises, make sure you start the rep from a dead stop. This makes the movement stricter.
  
• Do seated raises to make an even stricter movement.
  
• Behind the neck shoulder presses puts you at risk for a rotator cuff injury, however, I find that presses in front of the head put too much stress on the anterior deltoid, so to reduce your chance of injury, when performing behind the neck presses, make sure you keep good form, press in a straight line and don't let the bar go further down than your upper neck.

Some methods to pump up the intensity are:

• Supersetting presses with raises.
• Supersetting presses or raises with shrugs.
• Applying any of the Weider intensity principles to your training regularly.

I recommend doing at least one pressing exercise along with an isolation exercise for all 3 deltoids.

My current shoulder routine looks like this:

• Seated dumbbell presses
• Seated behind neck presses
• Standing lateral raises
• Bent over laterals
• Front Raises

For me, that is 20 sets for the shoulders alone. This routine is designed to get complete shoulder development as well as build up shoulder strength with compound movements. The shoulders are my personal favorite muscle group, and in my opinion should either be given their own workout day or trained with the traps only.

Avoiding Injury:

It is very important to avoid injury to the shoulders at all costs. The shoulders, like I mentioned before, assist you with many important compound movements, including all types of rows and presses. Make sure you have a proper 5-10 minute warm up and also stretch and flex the deltoids in between your sets. Let your ego go, use a weight that you can handle. Don't just go pick up a 30 lb dumbbell and try to do straight arm raises. This will definitely result in injury, a major setback that can kill your bodybuilding progress in an instant. You are in the gym to stimulate your muscles, not to be a tough guy. Make sure you find a weight that works for you and get the proper form down before progressing to heavier weight.

Anatomy of the Traps:

The traps, or trapezius is a large triangular shaped muscle that originates above your shoulders around your neck, and inserts all the way down to the middle of the back. The main functions of the traps are to raise and retract the shoulder girdle and assist in turning the head.

Training the Traps:

Trap exercises are limited to two types of exercises:

Shrugs - In which the shoulder girdle is raises towards your ears.

Upright Rows - In which your arms, extended and hanging at your hips are raised straight up in front of your face. (Upright rows don't recruit as much fiber as shrugs, but are very useful for creating separation between your chest and anterior deltoid. Also, your traps will receive some indirect stimulation from exercises such as dumbbell laterals if the arms are raised above the head.)

Quantity and Quality of Training:

Since the exercises for the traps are limited, and not to mention that I want a big neck, I make sure to hit the traps with maximum intensity. The traps can also handle unbelievable amounts of weight, and are a piece of cake to train.

Here are some tips to make the best of your training:

• Perform extra sets for the traps to make up for the limited amount of exercises.

• Make sure to use proper form and fully contract and extend your shoulder girdle to work them through a full range of motion.

• Minimize the use of barbells. They allow you to handle more weight, but have a very restricted range of motion that simply doesn't stimulate the traps as well as dumbbells do.

• You may find that using straps will help you perform a few more reps.

Here are some tips to up the intensity:

• Superset trap and shoulder exercises.
• Superset shrugs with upright rows.
• Apply any of the Weider intensity principles.

My current trapezius routine looks like this:

• 5 sets Dumbbell Shrugs
• 5 sets Upright Rows

(I normally perform only 4 sets per exercise)

Avoiding Injury:

Like all body parts, you do not want to injure the traps. This could effect many exercises and halt your gains instantly. As I mentioned before, make sure you warm up sufficiently and use a weight that works well, not one that makes you look tough.

Boulder Shoulders
by Jon Huston

Have you ever heard the expression "softballs for shoulders"? If you haven't, you probably need to work those deltoids. Your shoulders add an important dimension to your physique; width. In this article I will go through shoulder anatomy, function, exercises, and programs to help get those "softballs for shoulders".

ANATOMY

The shoulder region consists of the anterior, medial, and posterior deltoid muscles. But if you include the entire shoulder girdle, you have to consider the upper trapezius and rotator cuff muscles.

The anterior deltoid muscles are those which are visible just to the outside of your chest (pectoral) muscles. The medial deltoids are located on the outside part of your shoulder. The posterior deltoids are located further back on your shoulder just below the bottom/outer portion of you upper trapezius muscle. The upper trapezius muscles run down the back of your neck and extend out just to your medial deltoid and down to insert with the middle trapezius. The rotator cuff muscles are deep muscles and connect from various parts of your thoracic region to either the front, side, or back side of your humerus.

FUNCTION

Each of the shoulder girdle muscles have individual functions that have the overall function of lifting your arm.

The anterior deltoid brings your arm forward, in, and rotates in. The medial deltoid brings your arm out to the side. The posterior deltoid brings your arm back and helps to rotate it out. The upper trapezius raises your shoulder blade (scapula) up towards your ears. And, finally, the rotator cuff muscles help to stabilize your arm during movements and serve to rotate the arm in or out.

The reason I have included function in this article is due to the fact if you know what a muscle does you can figure out a way to make it bigger through resistive exercise.

EXERCISES

A) Anterior Deltoid:

Dumbbell front Raises: Use a grip where your thumb is facing the ceiling. This will put your arm in a better position to isolate the muscle.

Bench Press: Yes, the good 'ol bench press not only works your chest muscles but also the anterior deltoid.

Military Press: Use a slightly narrower grip than normal to increase the amount of force placed on these muscles. If you have a Cybex Military Press Machine use the inside grip with your palms facing each other.

B) Medial Deltoid:

Barbell Upright Rows: Using a grip just inside shoulder width, grip the bar, palms down and pull up just under your chin.

Dumbbell Lateral Raises: Grip a Dumbbell in each hand and bring out to the side of your body. Keep a slight bend in your elbows no greater than 15 degrees. Bring the dumbbells to about 90 from your body. I prefer a seated position to keep from swinging and cheating.

Partial Lateral Raises: In a standing position, grip two dumbbells and hold down to your side. With arms completely straightened bring the dumbbells to approximately 45 degrees from your body. You will use a much greater weight with this exercise because you are using a smaller range of motion.

C) Posterior Deltoid

Reverse Pec Deck: Sit backwards on the pec deck machine. You can either grip the handles with your hands parallel to the floor or like you were going to do flyes. Keeping your elbows up, bring the handles back even with your shoulders.

Incline Bench Reverse Flyes: Put the incline bench up to about a 75 degree angle. Sit backwards on the bench (with your face to the pad). Hold a Dumbbell in each hand and let them hang straight down to the ground. Pull your elbows up like you are trying to pinch your shoulder blades together. Notice: Pull with your elbows, not your hands.

D) Upper Trapezius

Shoulder Shrugs: Using a shoulder width grip, grab a bar with palms facing towards your body. Keep your elbows straight. Try to bring your shoulder blades up towards your ears. Try not to come up on your toes or bench your elbows.

Behind the Back Shoulder Shrugs: Stand with the bar behind you and grip it with palms facing behind you. Try to bring the bar just above your glutes. You will tend to flex your elbows a little on this exercise but it helps to hit the muscle at a little different angle.

Dumbbell Shrugs: Grip a Dumbbell in each hand with your palms facing in towards your legs. Bring your shoulders up towards your ears. This exercise also helps to work your traps a little differently than regular shrugs. These tend to help separate your trapezius from your medial deltoid.

E) Rotator Cuff

These muscles are very important to strengthen but are not usually done in the gym atmosphere. If your gym happens to have TheraBand you can work these muscles using the TheraBand

Internal Rotation: Work one arm at a time. Keep your elbow in touching your side and flexed to 90 degrees. Stretch the band by stepping away from where it is attached. You will want the attachment place to be on the same side as the shoulder you are working (e.g. for right arm have the attachment on the outside of your right shoulder). With your palm facing towards your body, bring your hand in towards your stomach.

External Rotation: Same as Internal Rotation but you will want the attachment of the TheraBand on the opposite side of your body (e.g. for right arm have the attachment on the outside of your left shoulder). Using the same grip, start with your palm to your stomach and rotate your shoulder out away from your body.

PROGRAMS

I always have at least two programs for each body part I am working. Please note that I do not include posterior deltoid exercises in my shoulder programs. These are worked with the back programs. Also, notice that with decreasing number of repetitions you are increasing the amount of weight.

Program 1

• Smith Machine Military Press: x15, 12, 10, 8
• Dumbbell Lateral Raises: x 15, 12, 10, 8
• Partial Lateral Raises: x12, 10, 8
• Bar Upright Rows: x12, 10, 8
• Dumbbell Front Raises: x12, 10, 8
• Shoulder Shrugs: x15, 12, 10, 8, 6
• Behind the Back Shoulder Shrugs: x12, 10, 8

As a modification of the Dumbbell lateral raises you can do 3 sets of triple drop sets. For example (weight x reps): 40x7, 30x7, 20x7. Rest. 45x7, 35x7, 25x7. Rest. 50x7, 40x7, 30x7. There is no period of rest between consecutive sets.

Program 2

• Dumbbell Shoulder Press: x15, 12, 10, 8
• Single Cable Lateral Raises: x15, 12, 10, 8
• Partial Lateral Raises: x12, 10, 8
• Dumbbell Upright Rows: x12, 10, 8
• Single Cable Front Raises: x12, 10, 8
• Shoulder Shrugs: x15, 12, 10, 8, 6
• Dumbbell Shrugs: x12, 10, 8

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