looking for big cannonball delts

[martymcfly85]

I would love to get my delts big and fat like a cannonball. Ive been doing dumbell shoulder presses, upright rows, barbell shoulder shrugs, lateral dumbll raises mainly. Any suggestions on movements i could be doing instead or adding in my workout? What do you big boys do for those huge delts?

[OnTheSauce]

lots of juice.

[nkyle90]

lots of juice.

I like pomegranate mixed with a little bit of orange juice with lots of pulp.
What juice do you like

[martymcfly85]

mmmmmm, orange and a lil cranberry

[johnnylucifer]

Try more cable work. You get a more complex range of motion with cables that really nails multiple parts of the delts.

[OnTheSauce]

pineapple orange here.

[baseline_9]

Focuse on hitting each head individually and never give priority to any of them (unless you have an imbalance)

You need to work the rear delts especially.... I would start by working from back to front...

Rear delt movement
Side delt movement
Front delt movement

As above, using cables is great for laterall movements of any kind...

I actually like to go a little higher reps on delts (10-12)

[wheelkicktotheface]

What always worked best for me was seated db press to add overall mass to them. increasing weight with each set. i liked the mix of reps and weight. make sure you hit em all the way around though like mentioned above. check into your diet and protein/calorie intake as well. If youve got the right suplementation/diet try rotating weeks where you piggy back chest/shoulder/tri workouts together. helps really hit a full range in the shoulders make sure you supplement! really blow it up though nothing easy. i would only do it once a week. more is not always better. then the following week seperate it. . for gods sake please be careful and dont injure your shoulders. no one likes or wants injuries. i never wish them on anyone. Ive seen to many people injure shoulders. good luck sir.

[Tx89]

Heavy military presses blew my shoulders up like nothing before!! Low reps, Cluster style
I like to do rear delts first before that, cuz they r still lagging a bit. Obviously lighter weight, but perfect(!) Form here. Finish up with lateral raises, one heavy cluster, then burn them up with lighter weights and perfect form, cables indeed are great for this

[Squats33]

How heavy?

[Tx89]

Heavy is relative.
Chose a weight that allows for no more than 4-5 reps at a time. My Cluster looks something like this 5/3/3/2/1/1

[martymcfly85]

Thanks alot fellas for my the good info. Ive started doing more cable workouts and isolating my delts. It seems to be working great. Thanks again fellas.

[mootyroonks]

warm em up good so you dont pull anything. I have personally noticed best growth by sstarting with 4 set of reasonably low weight like 40-45 lb dumbbells, Arnold presses. then overhead militsry press on the smith machine. gradual increases in weight to max thendrop set to failure. after that ill do mimilitary press on a machine. i believe iit's called seated overhead press. 4 sets gradual Increase in weight until max is reached. then 1 exextra drop set to faIlure. after that cable lateral raises super set with front raises. 10 reps each.plus a seto failure. then set up an incline bench and grab a couple 15 lb dumbbells sit reverse and do rear delt flies. feel dirty.

[digsy1983]

If you've got a training partner forced reps and slow negatives. These really get my delts feeling like they're gona burst.

Also, don't forget to work your rotator cuff muscle if you're hammering your delts. Preventions better than cure!

[ma_fighter]

Also, don't forget to work your rotator cuff muscle if you're hammering your delts. Preventions better than cure!

This!
Dont go too heavy on rotators though, or you'll end up hurting yourself.

[M302_Imola]

Focuse on hitting each head individually and never give priority to any of them (unless you have an imbalance)

You need to work the rear delts especially.... I would start by working from back to front...

Rear delt movement
Side delt movement
Front delt movement

As above, using cables is great for laterall movements of any kind...

I actually like to go a little higher reps on delts (10-12)

This is great advice! I would hammer shoulder presses (military, seated, or arnolds) before preforming more of your isolation delt exercises.

[likelifting]

If you've got a training partner forced reps and slow negatives. These really get my delts feeling like they're gona burst.

Also, don't forget to work your rotator cuff muscle if you're hammering your delts. Preventions better than cure!

What do you do?

Thx

[ma_fighter]

Depends a bit on what equipment is available to you.
I do 'em with DB's, but its easier with cables.

If you keep your arms hanging at your sides, then bend your elbow 90 degrees, only have the hand pointing a bit more out to the side then straight ahead, that's more or less your starting position for the inner rotator. Adjust the cable so it is at the same height as your hand when elbow is bent.
Now you want to bring your hand over across your tummy without moving your elbow.

Outer rotator works the same way, just pulling in the opposite direction, you start with your arm across your tummy, and rotate it outwards.

Here's some awesome Paint illustrations how its done!

Starting position for inner:



Ending position for inner:


You'll find lots of info if you just google rotator cuff exercises tho

[likelifting]

Your 'awesome illustrations' worked for me. Thanks for that. I'm going to start doing that cuz of my raquetball shoulder is bad. I did just google it and I guess I didn't even know it was muscles and tendons.

[ma_fighter]

Yeah, they're tiny and weak, and tend to get overlooked allot... till something breaks that is, then it's rehab, rehab, rehab, rehab.. (been there, still doing that) :P

Use light weights, I mean properly light, to avoid injury, and to avoid shifting tension to other muscles, which is what you'll do if you go too heavy.

/Maf

[likelifting]

Good point on the weight. It is amazing how form goes to crap when going to heavy. I know what you are talking about on bringing in other muscles if too heavy. Thanks. I did shoulders today, but will start these monday before chest. Thanks again. Back is tomorrow. I should probably do them for back.

[Far from massive]

Yes on working the supraspinatus and other interior muscles at least weekly. In addition thoroughly warm the shoulders prior to any shoulder workouts. As far as the actual shoulder routines go I have found slow controlled negatives work very well for shoulders, just be careful.

[likelifting]

Thanks. I was thinking that I should at least do a little bit of rotator cuff warm up even for back day. I feel my right shoulder on chest, back and shoulder day. So I'm goint to start warming it up 3 days a week.

edit...I do dips and sit ups almost daily. Dips are hard on my shoulders so I'm going to start on this rotator cuff thing tomorrow.

[ma_fighter]

One other thing that is really important, no matter what exercise you're doing, is to keep your shoulder in a position where it is as strong as possible, and where the supraspinatus and infraspinatus have the most room to move.
It's very easy to "pinch" these muscles which, if unlucky, will result in months or years of rehab, or cortisone injections.

They only have a limited space inside the shoulder, and if you roll your shoulders forward, or pull them up towards your ears this space becomes smaller, the muscle will rub against things, become irritated and swollen and thus rub more against things and get more irritated and swollen up to a point where it's constantly inflamed.

So, the thing to do is:
ALWAYS keep your shoulders down and back, imagine trying to pinch a tennisball between your shoulderblades.

I imagine this is why dips are hard on your shoulders, you probably do what almost everyone else does and let your shoulders slip upwards towards your ears, esp when getting tired.

Sorry for hijacking your thread OP btw :P

/Maf

[likelifting]

Will do. Thanks Also sorry for the hijack.

[boxingfan30]

my delts have always been a weak area. A lot of it is simply genetics. Hard work will get you close and will certainly help obviously... I just think genetics is the bigger factor.