Shoulders

[New2Anabolic]

So, shoulders are probably the most amazing muscle to workout!
I love the width they give me.
Tho I am really at a plateau and I also have no gear (in the Gold Coast right now - from Canada), so I am doing my best to keep it natural.

What do you guys find is a solid shoulder workout?

[sully15]

Make sure your doing your shoulders workout at least 48 hours away from your chest workout. I was doing mine with chest or the day after chest for a long time, didn't realize what I was doing. I moved it a few days away and I've seen a huge difference in my shoulders.

[rickrick55]

I lift my shoulders directly after my chest and i have seen huge improvements. what works for one doesnt always work for others.

My Shoulder Workout: (Not including warm up sets)

Seated Dumbell Shoulder Press 3x8
Upright Rows 3x10
Lateral Raises 3x12
Cable Reverse Flyes 3x15

works for me.

[stpete]

Seated DB Press 4x8-10
Superset Standing Lateral and Front Raises w/DB 3x8-10
Bentover DB or Reverse Pec Deck 3x8-10
Throw in some shrugs occasionally.
I mix it up and go higher reps (like 12-15) quite often with the raises and pec deck, but a lot of times go lower reps w/the presses. Also use Hammer Machine to go heavy with no spotter.

[Gaspari1255]

Seated DB Press 4x8-10
Superset Standing Lateral and Front Raises w/DB 3x8-10
Bentover DB or Reverse Pec Deck 3x8-10
Throw in some shrugs occasionally.
I mix it up and go higher reps (like 12-15) quite often with the raises and pec deck, but a lot of times go lower reps w/the presses. Also use Hammer Machine to go heavy with no spotter.

Pretty similar to mine. Only I substitute an upright row for front delt raises most of the time.

[tonyz 716]

Make sure your doing your shoulders workout at least 48 hours away from your chest workout. I was doing mine with chest or the day after chest for a long time, didn't realize what I was doing. I moved it a few days away and I've seen a huge difference in my shoulders.

That is my rule of thumb and I believe everyone should stick to it if they want results. for routines here are my two favorites that have always worked for me:

Barbell Press
Dumbell Press(if you would rather do the hammer strength behind neck that's a good alternative)
Standing Lateral Raise
Incline Rear Lateral Raise(face down on incline bench at failure finish with rear delt rows pulling into hip leading with the arms)

Or
Barbell Press
Standing lateral Raise
One Arm Cable Laterals
Incline Rear Laterals(stick with these for a little bit to start seeing results)

These two routines have been very effective for me over the past couple of years. When I set out to bring up my rear delts I switched to the Incline rear laterals and they gave me the results I was looking for. I think one of the problems a lot of guys face is they go overboard with the muscle confusion principle stick to each routine for at leat 3 weeks to a month before switching it up and moving on. Also if you want to switch and start off with the lateral raise before the barbell press to really tax the side heads that is an option for routine 2. For the 1st routine if you want to move the second press down to the last spot to pre-exhaust all three heads first that is an option I sometimes like to use.

[New2Anabolic]

Barbell Press
Dumbell Press(if you would rather do the hammer strength behind neck that's a good alternative)
Standing Lateral Raise
Incline Rear Lateral Raise(face down on incline bench at failure finish with rear delt rows pulling into hip leading with the arms)

Or
Barbell Press
Standing lateral Raise
One Arm Cable Laterals
Incline Rear Laterals(stick with these for a little bit to start seeing results)

you neglected a bunch of info (if this was from personal experience that is):
Rest times?
Reps?
# of sets?

Thanks for your input tho! Much appreciated!
----

Great ideas & suggestions though eEveryone! Seems like I'm doing what's right! I do switch it up every week as well, in one way or another.

A couple moves I don't incorperate a lot are shoulder press'es.

[BokBok]

Mmmmm Military Presssessss

In my opinion, the single best shoulder exercise.

[ranging1]

3 sets of any shoulder press movement, (change it often, every 3-4 weeks, its either barbell behind neck shoulder press, dumbell shoulder press, barbell shoulder press to front etc)
3-4 sets for middle deltoid (change it 3-4 weeks, standing lateral raises, machine lateral raises, upright rows either wide or narrow grip)
rear deltoid and traps are trained on back day
2 sets of lateral rows
3 sets barbell shrugs
seen amazing progress, have always gotten through a platue just by switching exercises

[tonyz 716]

you neglected a bunch of info (if this was from personal experience that is):
Rest times?
Reps?
# of sets?

Thanks for your input tho! Much appreciated!
----

Great ideas & suggestions though eEveryone! Seems like I'm doing what's right! I do switch it up every week as well, in one way or another.

A couple moves I don't incorperate a lot are shoulder press'es.

I don't focus too much on rest times I just listen to my body not long enough for my pump to go away but long enough to recover my strength usually 1-3 min depending on how I feel and which exercise I'm doing. Reps vary for Barbell presses I'll go as low as 5 or even 3 for my top set but for my second press(I personally prefer hammer strength because as you start getting up there in weight it becomes a lot harder to kick them up to get the set started but i recommend db presses) I go a little higher with the reps usually 8-12, , laterals however are 8-15 any lower than 8 and your form begins to break down same goes for rear laterals. I don't believe in high volume I follow more of the Dorian Yates adaptation of heavy duty in which I perform 2 heavy sets preceded by a moderate set to get accustomed to the movement(except presses I do a light warmup 1st).

Definitely try doing 2 different presses for a while that could be the difference you need.

[AdamGH]

whatever you do, include upright rows. they have changed the way i looked for the better. almost more than any exercise besides squats. i believe they gave me the nice v in my neck to my rounded delts.

[Gaspari1255]

whatever you do, include upright rows. they have changed the way i looked for the better. almost more than any exercise besides squats. i believe they gave me the nice v in my neck to my rounded delts.

Much agreed...two years ago I would half ass them and struggle with 85lbs....I started hitting them hard, getting them up to 150lbs and my delts freakin exploded. they're juist as critical as miltary presses, imo.

[thai-lan]

Seated Dumbell Shoulder Press 3x8
Upright Rows 3x10
Lateral Raises 3x12
Cable Reverse Flyes 3x15

where does it hit??

[Gaspari1255]

where does it hit??

Front delt.

[AdamGH]

Front delt.

imo, front and side delts, then once above shoulder line, the traps.

[quarry206]

i'd say

Dumbbell shoulder press
up-right rows
side lateral raises
bent over flys

also making sure your training the connecting muscles to the delt also is a big help on strength size and separation.. so make sure that you are training your traps and triceps properly also.

[stevey_6t9]

up right rows are good. vary grips too. charless glass reccomends a wider grip. less wrist, and rotator cuff problems and less use of traps for iso

[New2Anabolic]

Alright! I missed shoulders that week (coincidentally) but this week...
- Shoulder Presses will be an emphasis to start my shoulder day(s)
- Upright Rows will be an every week staple as well, more so than a 'change-em-up' toss in.

- Anyone ever tried using: the lat pull down bar but rather than sitting below it -standing in front of it?
I feel it in my rear delts, when I stand infront of the cable-bar. I ask because I'm wondering if it IS a workout, what the name is, and if it IS targeting a portion(s) of my delt.!?
(Sorry if that doesn't make sense)

[tonyz 716]

When you do the cable pulls standing in front of the lat pulldown it's more for traps but if it does work the rear delts to an extent if you get results from it stick with it

[New2Anabolic]

Sweet, thanks Ton.
Todays sesh was:
-- 4x12 Shoulder Press
-- 4x12(10,8,6) Upright Row
-- 5x10 Shrugs
-- 3x12 Front Raise

My shoulders were on fire, with my limited rest-time.