Infinity Fitness

How to Get Massive Shoulders?

by Ivan Kalinin on 06/21/12

How long have you ben trying to get this V-shape, working your glutes off at the gym? Do you workout 4-5 times a week, but still can't get that superhero look with broad shoulders and a tiny waist? In this article I will give you some tips on how to pump up your shoulders, which will make you look much better.

No matter if you are a guy or a girl, a nice set of shoulders will make your arm and your frame look much better. I call shoulders an illusion muscle, as their full development changes the entire shape of your body. Guys with broad and rocking delts look much wider, while their waists look smaller. As well, ladies who train their shoulders look much more athletic and sexy. Unfortunately, most people disregard this important part of their bodies, concentrating on bigger muscles such as pecs/legs/back/arms.

In order to understand how to train your shoulders let's take a look on their anatomy. It is common to assume that shoulders are divided into 3 parts (anterior, lateral and posterior). However, a famous Canadian strength coach, Charles Poliquin, claims that the deltoids are actually divided into 7 parts. This means that a variety of exercises is necessary, in order to hit each part of the deltoids Now, most people in the gym limit their shoulder workouts to a few sets of shoulder presses and MAYBE do some lateral raises as well. In reality, you need a little bit more than that.

Shoulders consist mainly of slow twitch muscle fiber and so going too heavy on them would only be ineffective, it will also increase your potential to injure the shoulder joint (one of the most injured joints in the human body). So as a rule of thumb, we will train shoulders with higher reps and lower weights. In addition, since the slow twitch muscle fiber recovers faster from a workout, we can train shoulders twice or even three times a week and still see great results!

From my experience, I have seen great results from working my shoulders twice a week, while splitting arms (so one day I'd do shoulders with biceps and another day I'd do shoulders and triceps). In addition, I also encourage double sets and drop sets as they will blast your shoulders. I would also limit the shoulder presses to once a week as it is hard on your rotator cuffs and concentrate on raises. Try the workout below and see the gains for yourself!

Day 1:

Military Presses: 4 sets; 15,12,10,8 reps with increasing weight.

Lateral raise dropset: go to failure with each set, drop the weight twice. 3Sets

Upright Rows: 3sets of 12

Bent over lateral raise dropset: go to failure with each set, drop the weight twice. 3Sets

Day 2:

1a. Full lateral raise: 3sets, 10reps

2a. Lateral raise: 3sets, 10reps

1b. Seated rope pulls to the chin: 3sets, 10reps

2b. Bent over lateral raise: 3 sets, 10reps

3a. Upright rows: 3sets, 10reps

3b. Push press: 3sets, 10reps

Make sure that you work shoulders every 3-4 days. Also, mind the form as it is very important for ensuring that you don't injure the shoulder.

Have fun!