I bet you’ve tried too. You’ve poured who knows many hours of time and gallons of sweat into your delts only to be disappointed. I know how that goes.
The reality is anyone that says building impressive shoulders is easy is lying. I takes a lot of work–the right work–and patience. It can be done though. And this article is going to show you how.
Shoulders are often under-trained when it comes to training the upper body. However, bringing out the striations and the shape of the shoulder muscles is a big part of the upper body training. Nevertheless, you first need to ensure that you have sufficient muscle mass. Most men spend most of their time in the gym training their shoulders, but they do not see any progress. Therefore, this article will exclusively explain and demonstrate what are the five best shoulder workouts for mass that men can use to bring out the shape and striations of their shoulder muscles. Note that many other exercises exist although this selection seems to be a good one for the whole shoulder muscles.
Notably, having strong shoulders will help you to improve the form of other exercises such as deadlifts and bench presses that involve the arms. To get the shoulders strong enough to support efficiently other exercises it is recommended to follow the following workouts.
Top Shoulder Exercise #1 – Hang Clean and Press
Possibly the best shoulder exercise ever invented. The hang clean is often compared to the high pull, or upright row, and if you can flow through with the momentum, you can press much more weight than you can from a dead stop. To set up, stand with your feet just outside of shoulder width apart and put both hands on your bar at just about the same place as your feet are on the ground. While holding your back flat and your chin up, deadlift the weight into the standing position with the weight against your thighs for the starting position.
From the starting position, you should lower the weight down to just above your knees, bending at both the knees and the waist. To perform the hang clean, you must extend your ankles, flex your knees and traps, and perform a ¾ upright row to bring the bar up in a straight line in front of your body until it reaches your shoulders. From here, rotate your elbows and arms under the weight, catching it in front of your shoulders with upward facing palms. Bending slightly at the knees can assist with the catch. Then lower the bar back down to your shoulders and then down the thighs to complete the rep.
Top Shoulder Exercise #2 – Military Press
This training exercise is one of the best in adding great size and definition of the shoulders. In this workout, you are required to start with the weight resting on the upper chest, and then pressing the bar directly upwards in front of the face to the point just before the elbows lock. The weight should be brought back down to the chest while control is maintained.
Top Shoulder Exercise #3 – Dumbbell Shoulder Press
This exercise can make your shoulder muscles practically explode under the skin, and should be a part of any serious lifter’s regimen. There are many variations on the principle movement, standing or seated, for instance, but the main focus of the workout is the same, more strength and bigger shoulder muscles. It is very important to remember not to over exert yourself or try to lift more than you can safely.
A typical dumbbell shoulder press begins with a dumbbell in each hand, cleaned to rest on the shoulder. Starting with the left side first, lift the dumbbell to full extension and return the weight back down under control, as the left weight is coming down, the right weight should be going up in an alternating motion.
Top Shoulder Exercise #4 – Upright barbell rows
The upright barbell row has a good impact on the medial head of the deltoid, and you should grip the bar roughly an inch inside the shoulder width. You want your hands to be six to eight inch from each other. Stand up straight, shoulders down and chest out. Your feet should be the shoulder's width or a little bit wider.You need to keep your elbows up the bar as you pull up right below your chin. Then pull down to its original position to finish the repetition.
Top Shoulder Exercise #5 – Overhead Squat
This exercise can be awkward at first, but with some practice it can become second nature. Despite the name, this squat does very little for the legs. The weight used is often far less than what would be chosen for standard squat exercises. The main goal is to increase stability in the shoulder muscles and the surrounding tissues, creating better control and definition.
To accomplish this, begin by snatching your barbell into an overhead position. How you get it there is a matter of personal preference, but once there it is important to maintain the snatch position with your shoulder blades pinching together and the weight directly above your head and ankles. While holding the bar steady, do a squat. The bar may end up behind your head as you reach the bottom of the squat, but as long as you hold position utilizing outward force of the hands against the bar, you should be in good shape to stand back up and finish the rep.
What you have to watch out for when specifically targeting the shoulders, is that the area isn’t receiving too much attention. It is all too easy to overdevelop the front deltoid in the shoulder, which can create posture problems. A good guideline is to hit your back muscles as hard as you hit the arms and chest combined; this method can help prevent disproportionate muscle growth, while also working to minimize the chance of injury.
Top Shoulder Exercise #6 – Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press
How do you do it?Sit on a chair at home or an upright bench at the gym. Lift 2 dumbbells and pull them to your shoulders. Keep your feet shoulder width apart. With your elbows directly beneath the dumbbells, raise them upwards until straight above your head, then lower the dumbbells to the starting position.