BOLDER Shoulders: A Complete Muscular Development Guide
The Shoulders are one of the more intricate sets of muscle groups that we have… and it’s also a pretty commonly imbalanced area as a result of our daily lives!
In this blog post, we are going to discuss the Shoulders (the Deltoids).
The Shoulders (Deltoids)
Anatomy and Function of The Deltoids
The Deltoids consist of three main muscle fibers: the anterior, lateral, and posterior deltoids. Each provides a specific function for the deltoids:
- The Anterior Deltoid is the front muscle fiber that allows the shoulder joint to move up and down (putting your hands in the air).
- The Lateral Deltoid allows us to move the shoulder joint straight out from our sides.
- The Posterior Deltoid allows us to extend our shoulder joint outward.
Each of these muscle fibers assist the shoulder joint through its full range of motion. Our shoulders are the most mobile of our body parts as they can move through various planes of movement. This is a good thing, yet if there is any imbalance, instability can occur. This could then lead to shoulder impingement issues.
As we’ve mentioned in previous chapters, a tight trapezius and upper back muscles could lead to our shoulders rounding, which then leads to weaker rotator cuffs. Add that with a “Bench Mondays” and “all I do is bench press” kind of lifting lifestyle… a shoulder injury becomes more of a matter of “when”. It is imperative that we strategize on minimizing too much work on the anterior deltoids and maximize lateral and posterior deltoid work.
To build some boulder/bolder shoulders, view the following section on Deltoid strategies.
Deltoid Training Strategies
Anterior Deltoid
When it comes to the anterior deltoid, we tend to overemphasize the development of this muscle group. If you do various types of chest work (bench press variations), the anterior deltoid is targeted. The following strategies are how to optimize anterior deltoid development:
- Pick ONLY ONE TO TWO major anterior deltoid exercise. This exercise should be a Shoulder Press variation or an Incline Bench variation. These exercises will benefit both the anterior and lateral deltoids.
- The reason why we minimize this is again if you do frequent bench-pressing, you are already hitting the anterior deltoid.
- The bench press mimics the front raise if done properly, which is why the anterior deltoid is worked on chest workouts.
- Do about 4–8 weekly sets maximum for your Anterior Deltoids. To reinforce the previously mentioned strategy, utilize 4–8 weekly sets for the anterior deltoids.
- Heavy Work. The anterior deltoids respond better to heavyweight. For muscular development, we recommend targeting your anterior deltoids in the 5–10 rep range. Recall that most “push movements/muscles” respond better to heavier loads.
Lateral Deltoid
When it comes to lateral deltoids, we know that we are usually limited to isolated lateral raise variations. This means that we have to get creative when it comes to muscular development in this area.
The strategies we recommend are the following:
- “Pinkies Up!” When raising the dumbbell or machine at the top portion of the lateral raise exercise, turn your hands inward so that your pinkies are up. This will assist in contracting the lateral deltoid to a larger extent.
- Do Lateral Raises with your shoulders, not Forearms. Most people lift the weight on a lateral raise with their forearms to bring the weight up. This won’t contract the deltoid properly; you need to use your arms as levers that move with the deltoids. If you have to go super light to achieve this, do so. Tension on the lateral deltoids > weight raised.
- Higher Reps. Since it is difficult to properly progress on the lateral raise, it is recommended that you focus on higher rep ranges to develop these muscles. Sets of 10–15 or 15–20 reps are highly recommended.
- Try Chest Supported Lateral Raises. Most athletes train lateral raises by using momentum, which is inefficient and could possibly be detrimental to both your elbow and shoulder joints over time.
- If you have a problem using momentum, we recommend a chest supported lateral raise. This will challenge you to keep proper form and constant tension on your deltoids. You might just have to go a little lighter.
- Single Arm Lateral Raises at a 45-degree angle. One of our preferred methods is to do single-arm lateral raises at a 45-degree angle, meaning that we use our opposite hand to hold onto a bench and hang off of it at 45 degrees. This helps to isolate the lateral deltoid on a lateral raise.
Posterior (Rear) Deltoid
There are more posterior deltoid exercises than the lateral raise counterparts. Just like the lateral deltoid, the amount of weight we can do is limited. We must get creative.
- HIGH Reps or more sets… We aren’t kidding. When it comes to the posterior or rear deltoid, we highly recommend utilizing high reps around 15–20 and, quite possibly, the 20–25 rep ranges. This may sound ridiculously unorthodox, but here are our reasons why:
- The rear deltoid is usually an undertrained muscle, so more volume is recommended to muscular balance and development.
- The rear deltoids can recover quickly.
- They typically can handle higher amounts of volume.
- Do both Face Pulls and Rear Delt Flys. I prefer to do Face Pulls on my back workouts and cable rear delt flys for my shoulder workouts. This means I target the rear deltoids at least 2–4x weekly. The reason for this is the muscular imbalances that I get from prolonged sitting and large amounts of chest/shoulder press work.
Effective Deltoid Exercises
As you can gather from the previous section, we tend to overemphasize the anterior (front) deltoid and underemphasize the lateral and posterior deltoids. As there aren’t many variations for each of the three heads, we will provide the exercises that provide the best muscular development.
Anterior Deltoid
- Barbell Overhead Press: One of my favorite exercises. I prefer to do them standing.
- Single Arm Dumbbell Press: I do these standing on one of my upper body days.
- Dumbbell Shoulder Press
- Arnold Press
- Incline Bench Press (Barbell/Dumbbell): If utilizing this exercise on your chest days, focus on an overhead press or shoulder press.
Lateral Deltoid
- Machine Lateral Raise: Constant tension and feels good!
- Chest Supported Lateral Raise: Humbles you and puts less momentum in the lateral raise.
- Cable Lateral Raise: Massive tension throughout the whole movement
Posterior (Rear) Deltoid
- Face Pulls One of my favorites. I love doing one-arm variations.
- Machine Rear Delt Fly: Constant tension and solid pump.
- Cable Rear Delt Fly: Massive tension!
The Deltoids: Summary
The Deltoids are a highly mobile area allowing us to move it in many ways. However, the consequence is that this area is more prone to injuries, tightness, and impingement.
In order to train these muscle fibers properly, I want to reiterate AGAIN that you should put less emphasis on the front deltoids and more in the lateral and posterior deltoids. The reason for this is the Chest work we typically implement with frequency. This will reduce the chance of impingement or injury.
Anterior Deltoid
For the anterior deltoids, you will experience drastic development from utilizing bench press, incline press, and overhead presses. You don’t necessarily need to utilize front raises for the development of this deltoid head. Anecdotally, my anterior deltoids blew up from Bench pressing and overhead press only!
Since this muscle fiber is utilized while bench pressing, you should shoot for direct work with 4–8 sets per week. In addition, training this muscle fiber 2x per week is perfect. Finally, the anterior deltoid responds best in the 6–10 rep range.
Lateral Deltoid And Posterior (Rear) Deltoid
For both the lateral and posterior deltoids, shoot for at least 16 sets per week. Since these muscle fibers recover quickly, you can train the deltoid heads 2–4x weekly. With both the lateral and posterior deltoids, training in the 10–20 rep range is an effective way to train them.
To conclude, understand one more time that due to poor and extended sessions of sitting, the majority of individuals tend to have overactive anterior deltoids. This makes the muscles prone to injury, especially when overemphasizing pressing exercises and underemphasizing pulling exercises.
In addition, understand that since these muscle fibers fall on a ball and socket joint: stabilization is the key to muscular balance in this muscle. Never forget to warm up your rotator cuffs, as they are the most common shoulder injury.
Thanks for reading everyone!
