The Anatomy and Function of The Shoulder
It is important to build strength in the shoulders to avoid injury. The shoulder joint is relatively shallow and the surrounding muscle tissue can become weak from lack of activity and poor posture.
The shoulder joint allows the arms to move and be strong. The shoulder girdle, made up of the clavicle and scapula, forms a base for the arm to insert into at the upper end of the humerus. The shallowness of the shoulder joint is supported by several ligaments, tendons and muscles.
The reason the shoulder is able to move through such a range of motion is because it is a ball and socket joint. There are many muscles that attach to the clavicle, scapula, and humerus, which allows the arm to move in many different ways, such as shoulder flexion, extension, adduction, abduction, internal and external rotation.
The primary muscle of the shoulder is the deltoid, which is a rounded, triangular muscle that sits on top of the shoulder girdle. The muscle originates from three points: the scapula, the acromion (tip of the scapula), and the clavicle. All of these insert onto the humerus (upper arm).
The Anterior, Lateral and Posterior delts are located at the front, top and rear of the shoulder respectively.
This understanding of shoulder anatomy and function means that we should focus most of our efforts on building the delts when we want to increase the size of our shoulders.
Muscular Hypertrophy Considerations
There are two main factors that affect muscle growth when it comes to nutrition: a calorie surplus and daily protein intake.
A calorie surplus occurs when you eat more calories than you burn. This extra energy will help your muscles recover after a workout and make it easier to build muscle. Without a surplus, it's hard to gain muscle mass.
Priority number two for building muscle mass is consuming enough protein every day. This is because protein's main job in the body is fixing and growing things. So, by eating a lot of protein each day, we can help our bodies recover from workouts more effectively.
These findings suggest that, in order to see greater results in muscle growth, it is better to train each muscle group multiple times per week rather than just once.
The idea that you should hit each muscle group multiple times a week may come as a surprise to many people who have been following the “5-day split” for years. However, this new way of thinking could lead to optimal growth.
The Exercise Selection Process
Secondly, the exercise selection must place a relatively high demand on the deltoids in comparison to other muscles in the shoulder girdle. In order for an exercise to build shoulders, it must activate the deltoids to a large degree and demand a relatively high amount from the deltoids compared to other muscles in the shoulder girdle.
The best way to effectively stress the deltoids is by using heavy loads. Therefore, it would make sense to prioritize “big” exercises which allow the use of heavier weights, over smaller, lighter exercises.
Move through a full range
You will engage more muscle fibers by moving your muscles through their full range of motion than you will by doing partial reps or cheat reps, where momentum moves the weight. The more fibers you fatigue, the faster your muscles will grow.
Stick to a strict tempo
The tempo of a weightlifting move is indicated by a four-digit code. The first number is the time in seconds it takes to lower the weight; the second number is the pause at the bottom; the third number is the time it takes to lift the weight; and the fourth number is the pause at the top.
Keep your rest periods brief
After each set of three moves, you should rest for 10 seconds after the first and second moves, and 90 seconds after the third move. This will help to subject your muscles to accumulated fatigue, which will damage more tissue and lead to more growth.
Working out can increase the risk of injuries in every part of the body, but the shoulder joint is one area you need to be especially careful with. That means you need to prepare for a shoulder workout meticulously to reduce your risk of picking up an injury that could keep you out of the gym for weeks or months.
Before you start your workout, spend five to ten minutes gradually moving your shoulder joints to activate the rotator cuff muscles. This will allow you to increase your range of motion during the workout.
Getting your shoulder warmed up before your workout is important, but there's more to it than just this one exercise. Do some high-rep sets of the exercise you're about to do using very light weights, or even no weights at all. This will help your shoulder get used to the movements it's about to do with weights, so you're not starting your first set cold.
When working out your shoulders, it is important not to push too hard. If you start having trouble with a weight, end your set or reduce the amount of weight you are lifting. You might be used to pushing yourself to the limit to get through the final few reps of a set, but when training your shoulders it is not worth it. The benefits of forcing out those final reps are outweighed by the risk of injury.
Shoulder dislocates
If you're looking to give your shoulders a workout, Olympic weightlifter Lu Xiaojun's favorite warm-up drill is a great place to start. Using a resistance band, broom handle, or similar object, adopt a wide grip above your head and lower it behind your body, keeping your palms facing outwards, until your hands are in line with your hips. This puts your shoulders in external rotation, which can be extremely useful if you work at a desk or frequently perform pressing exercises.
Cable rotator cuff extensions
Attach a cable to a pulley at chest height. Standing sideways, use your outer arm to pull the cable out, keeping your elbow close to your body. This will help warm up the rotator cuff muscles, which can be damaged by too much pressing.
The Top 10
The following are the top 10 shoulder exercises for those looking to build mass.
1) Barbell Push Press
The push press requires power from the hips and knees to push the bar in a vertical path. The deltoids must engage to lock-out the elbows and complete the lift.
Place your feet slightly wider than your hips, and keep the bar touching your upper chest so your elbows are directly below it. Focus on quickly dipping, then explosively driving through your hips, and pushing the bar straight up overhead. The more explosive your movement, the faster the bar will move vertically, allowing you to press heavier loads.
2) Barbell Overhead Press
The push press and overhead press both involve moving the weight overhead, but the push press uses momentum from the legs to help get the weight up. This means that you'll be able to press more weight overhead with a push press than you would with an overhead press alone. However, the overhead press is still a great exercise for targeting the delts specifically.
To perform the barbell overhead press, stand with your feet wider than your hips, your core engaged, and the bar at your upper chest. Before driving the bar up, focus on squeezing your glutes together. This will help protect your lower back by maintaining a neutral spine alignment and preventing your hips from drifting forward. When pushing the bar overhead, aim to keep it close to your face. This will help create a more efficient bar path and lead to a better lift overall.
Dumbbell overhead presses may have more of an impact on delt activation, but barbell overhead presses allow for heavier lifting due to greater stability.
3) Dumbbell Incline Row
While the row is commonly used to develop the back muscles – specifically the lats, rhomboids and traps – it is also an excellent exercises for the posterior delts. This was shown in a recent study which looked at the EMG activity of each head of the deltoid muscle during several shoulder exercises. The results indicated that the rear and lateral deltoid heads were activated to a greater degree during the row than during other shoulder exercises.
To set up for this exercise, place a bench on an incline. Lie on the bench with your trunk in contact with it, and grab two dumbbells. Start with your arms extended, and focus on keeping your shoulders down. Pull your elbows in towards your ribcage, making sure to squeeze between your shoulder blades at the top of the movement.
4) Seated Barbell Overhead Press
It is possible to increase the difficulty of the overhead press by sitting instead of standing. When you are seated, it is more difficult to use momentum to push the bar upward from your chest. Additionally, being seated provides a more stable base to push from, which may place a greater demand on your deltoid muscles.
The barbell typically allows you to lift a greater weight than the dumbbell because it provides enhanced stability. Research also indicates that the barbell may provide greater anterior delt activation than dumbbells.
5) Seated Dumbbell Overhead Press
Dumbbells are better than barbells because they force each side of your body to work independently. This makes the overall exercise harder, and thus builds more muscle. Additionally, dumbbells allow for a greater range of motion, meaning that you can target your delts more effectively.
The seated position during the dumbbell overhead press reduces the use of momentum, making the exercise more difficult. The weight is aligned with the middle of the shoulder, which engages the lateral Delt to a greater degree, rather than the anterior Delt.
6) Upright Row
The upright row is a lateral shoulder exercise that can be done with various kinds of equipment like barbells, dumbbells, cables, and even the smith machine. You start in a narrow grip and then bring the weight up to your upper chest by driving your elbows high–above the height of your shoulders. A close grip has been found to enhance the rows range of motion, but a wider grip is associated with more delt engagement.
7) Arnold Press
To perform the arnold press, start by sitting with a weight in each hand at shoulder level, palms facing your body. As you press the weights overhead, rotate your wrists so your palms face forward at the top of the movement. Lower the weights back to shoulder level, then reverse the rotation of your wrists as you return to the starting position.
8) Machine Rear Delt Fly
The final three exercises are ones that focus on a single joint, rather than multiple joints. These exercises can help correct any weaknesses or imbalances. The rar Delt fly is a particularly important exercise for developing the shoulders, as many people focus too much on the anterior and lateral heads and neglect the rear Delt.
The main focus of this exercise is to keep your arms straight and to drive them back as far as possible. A neutral grip is recommended as a pronated grip (palms down) won't activate the muscle as much.
9) Dumbbell Lateral Raise
To focus on the lateral delts, do the lateral raise exercise. Hold two dumbbells by the hips and raise straight arms out to the side until they are in line with the shoulders. Avoid bringing the dumbbells back down to the side of the hips and stop at approximately 30° from the hips to maintain tension in the delts.
10) Dumbbell Front Raise
The dumbbell front raise movement is the same as the lateral raise; the only difference is the direction your arms move. Start with the dumbbells in front of your thighs and raise your arms straight up until they are level with your shoulders. As the name suggests, this exercise targets the front of your shoulder the most.
Final Word
These are the top 10 exercises, but you don't have to do all of them. Pick the ones that fit your training goals, preferences, and experience.
