Seriously lacking in Medial Delts.

Okay you all....I need some help. I have really strong front delts and rear delts, but my medial delts suck...and I mean bad. I have NO cap on my shoulder at all. I don't get it. I do side laterals...and I have great form. Am I just concentrating on the wrong muscle or something? I even do standing side cables...that wears them out...but I tend to feel it more in the front delts than anything.

I think this is a really serious problem..I don't know what to do. I don't know if I am not going heavy enough on the side lats or what. I generally do 4 sets of 12 with 15 lbs. Do I need to just cut it down and do 12, 10, 8, and 6 with some weight??? I really need some help because I want to compete in the future and I would look like ass if I got up on stage with no shoulder cap.

Please help!!!

mmmmmm, as much as I would agree that behind the neck presses are good, I don't think this situation would call for it. Without knowing proper form Night Fly will be at greater risk of injuring herself then helping. I would use a dumbell shoulder press or maybe barbell presses to the front. All are great mass builders. Use your laterals as a finishing move as john suggested.

What is your total shoulder workout?? May help i agree that behind the neck press isnt really going to help enhance your side lats at all they would only really be hit as a secondary muscle rather than isolating them to get more mass! Unfortunatly some people find it harder to build in this area where as other just blow up much like most muscle groups really!

Need to know your full shoulder workout before i can help Cables are good but it sounds like you need to isolate this area even more! You may realise when you do side lats even with perfect form sometimes your other muscle groups let you down before the side lats so you may go really heavy and then find your rists have fatigued first so going really heavy isnt always necesarry what you really want to do is create the burn so even if you had a spot to help you throw in some negative etc to really tire that particular area!

Always make sure you train this area first before its fatigued by other parts of the shoulder!

i hate behind the neck presses. i will never advise anyone to do them. IMO nightfly, you should try arnold presses. in case you're not familar with those, here goes. hold the dumbells in shoulder press postition EXCEPT with your palms facing in. press up with you're palms facing your face and at the top turn the dumbells out so that your palms are facing away.

Behind the neck presses kill my rotator cuffs. Try this NF, stand next to a pole (could be the squat cage or the support for cable crossovers) with you feet together and about 15-20" from the base of the pole. Have a dumbell in the hand opposite the pole. Grab the pole with one hand and lean out (your body will now be on an angle). Slowly perform one arm dumbell laterals...I find this really isolates the medial head. I hope the description wasn't too confusing :)

Okay....I appreciate all the replies!

First of all...my shoulder workout consists of this:

4 X 12 behind the neck presses (I like these, and have great form, but sometimes they put too much stress on my shoulders).

4 X 12 front DB raises.

4 X 12 rear DB raises.

4 X 12 side lat raises.

OKay...Dane, I do know what Arnold presse are and you are the second person that has suggested that I do those for my middle delt. I just may have to try those out. I enjoy them and they are very hard...I just never knew that they worked your medial delt so much.

Pete, I understand your description and it sounds like those would be great isolator exercises. I will add those in too.

I really do appreciate everyone for their help. All I need now is a routine to put each exercise in, and I think I wil be good to go! :)

I am glad to hear I am not the Only guy doing these PETE ....

Great excercise ...... also if I may ... when doing side laterals many peolpe bend over slightly to allow the dumbells to touch ... I fell this is not proper for Med... delt ..try and stand up straight drop weight if nec ... and lift slowly all the way up ...nice and strict ... allow down slowly .... Although the cage one arm method may be easier for you to start with ....

just 2 more .. the upright row ( form is everything on this and for the most part I see it done wrong by all beginners .. so watch some trainers with that if you need ..)

and front dumbell laterals ... I am sure you know all these well ...tweak you workout a bit a see what happens ....

good luck

Okay maybe people will disagree with me here but this is what works for me. I tend to sacrifice form somewhat (on the side laterals only) and go heavy as possible. I notice a HUGE visible difference when I do this for a few weeks. I am also experimenting with negatives which are REALLY hard for me on side lats. For example I can to 50's for 10 on the positives but on the negatives I am lucky to get 10 with 30's or 35's. Cables seem to work pretty good for me to but IMO for the sides there is nothing better than heavy dumbells.

I don't agree with Heavy behind the neck presses, as it's an unnatural movement and may damage the rotator cuff, to the front is safer. Shoulder presses is the overall mass builder, hitting the entire shoulder, use them first. Following presses incorporate lateral raises. The dumbells should be at the side, not the front, and raise in a controlled manner, pausing at the top. A slight, natural, bend should be present in the elbow. Using burns, pyramids, static........will help shock the muscle into growth. Toss in some upright row too for a finisher.
MsFit

You might want to try super setting db half side laterals with db side laterals. to do this take a weight thatis clsoe to double what you can do regular side laterals with and lift them up as high as u can(usually about half way) once u fail pick up a set of lighter db's and preform regular db side laterals. This combination helpd me out but I still would say my medial delts are good.

hope this helps

smallguy

I find working weak area 1st is best, so do your laterials 1st, mix them up, seated one time, standing the next, one arm next time, you get idea, then something like Arnold presses, then work front and rear delts. Also medium grip upright rows hit side delts pretty good

have you tried doing the cable raises with your hand gripping the cable from from behind your back? just raise your arm as far as you can to the side and let your arm return behind your back. this is a killer way to kick things up. i do them first then hit the hammer-strength seated shoulder press, then finish of with rear flys on the peck deck machine. delts recup faster than bigger body parts, so you can hammer them in the 8-10 rep range with moderate weight.

steel

May I suggest that you use overhead dumbbell press, keeping the db in the bodies centerline, then do side laterals, rep range around 8, then go on to your other lateral movements.
h

Everyone responds different to delt training. But if you've been doing the same exercises the same way then you'll keep getting the same response. Try increasing the intensity by pre-exhausting your medial delts.

Perform lateral raises followed by arnold presses or straight dumbell presses. Use a weight on your laterals that enables you to use perfect form and keep the dumbells parallel with the floor (if you can even slightly point the front down, but only if comfortable).

If that does not do it then perhaps increasing the volume isolation work will.

Standing barbell presses, you don't see anyone doing much of those nowadays. Dumbbell presses are great too!

dumb press yeah he's right lol BIG i bumped this on purpose please dont be mad im was :2jk: ok

must be a full moon, third really old thread needlessly bumped in an hour.