Shoulder Routines

Shoulders Overview

The Shoulder relative to the chest and back is a very dense muscle, and therefore must be bombarded with more sets and a variety of rep ranges in order to be thoroughly worked out. And since they are in fact a  dense muscle group, they respond much better than other body-parts to special bodybuilding techniques such as drop-sets and supersets. Arnold Schwarzenegger himself is a proponent of executing more sets for the shoulders than average.

The shoulder muscle has three distinct parts. They are the front delts, side delts, and rear delts. Each of these parts can be isolated by specific exercises (front raises isolate the front delts, side lateral raises isolate the side delts, and bent-over lateral raises isolate the rear delts). The most significant general exercise for shoulders is the shoulder press which may be executed with both barbells and dumbbells (the shoulder press works mostly the front and side delts). If you are a guy and your goal is to become more muscular and massive, you should concentrate on executing shoulder presses with very heavy weights for 6-8 reps. The isolation exercises for shoulders on the other hand should be performed with very light weights and excellent technique to elicit maximum effect.

For shoulder presses with dumbbells, make sure your arms don’t flair out in front of your head in so that the side delts can garner some the action. For side lateral raises do not bend your wrists and your hands should be in a position in which your thumbs are higher up than your pinkies

Mass Builders: Barbell Shoulder Presses (sitting down), Dumbbell Shoulder Presses, Upright Rows, Arnold Presses

Isolation Exercises: Front Raises, Side Lateral Raises, Bent-Over Lateral Raises

*After you have reached exhaustion while performing Arnold Presses, it works great to immediately transition right to plain dumbbell shoulder presses in order to work the muscle to the max.

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Shoulder Routines for Mass

As mentioned before, the shoulders respond very well to a variety of rep ranges as a result of their density and muscle fiber makeup. However, to construct a genuine mass routine, you must concentrate on lifting heavier poundages for less reps to tax a great deal of those fast-twitch muscle fibers. Also it is essential to stick to the main mass building movements such as the shoulder press, which recruit the highest amount total muscle fibers which have the greatest growth capacities.

In order to promote gains in mass, it is more advantageous to begin your routine with the shoulder press while you are fresh and can lift as much weight as possible rather than begin with an isolation movement such as side laterals, which some bodybuilders do because they feel that using lighter weights when performing the shoulder press is more conducive to preventing elbow injuries. However, it is important to note that not all bodybuilders have this approach because there elbows and joints feel just fine beginning with a mass movement. Try beginning with the shoulder press in your next shoulder workout to test whether it works well for you. If you feel more comfortable beginning with side laterals, then feel free to do so.

Notes: This routine begins the barbell and dumbbell shoulder presses with moderate rep-ranges to both warm-up the elbows and activate a wide range of muscle fibers rather than only fast-twitch ones during the course of the entire workout. Side laterals should be performed with light weights for high reps in order allow for optimum concentration on using proper technique since the rear delts are an extremely difficult muscle to isolate.

Notes: Arnold Presses are incorporated in this workout because they accommodate all of the muscular functions of the shoulders in the movement, but cannot be executed in low rep ranges due to technical inefficiency.

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Balanced Shoulder Routine

In order to construct a balanced shoulder routine, our workout must activate both fat-twitch and slow-twitch muscle fibers. Fast-twitch fibers (activated by low rep ranges) grow the largest promoting mass but activating slow-twitch fibers (activated by high rep ranges) promote muscle definition because they shape a higher quantity of total muscle fibers since there are significantly more slow-twitch muscle fibers in the human body. So therefore, a balanced workout is one that delivers you the greatest possible combination of muscle mass and definition derived from the recruitment of the widest range of muscle fibers.

For this reason, our balanced shoulder routine will consist of exercises, rep ranges, and special bodybuilding techniques such as supersets and drop-sets which the delts respond very well to.

Notes: The superset activity in this workout will burn, pump up your delts, and feel awesome! Bent-over laterals are only efficient when using light weights and high rep ranges because they require full concentration on proper technique since the rear delts are a difficult muscle to isolate.

Notes: The drop-set activity in this workout will give your delts a great burn and pump

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Shoulder Routine for Definition

As we know, the more muscle fibers that we activate during our workout, the more defined our they will become as a consequence of it. In order to activate the largest amount of muscle fibers, you must work with high rep ranges relative to bodybuilding, because doing recruits slow-twitch fibers which are the most numerous. And, the more muscle fibers you activate in your workouts, the more defined you will become as a result of shaping more of your muscle (which is comprised of muscle fibers).

For the reasons mentioned above, our shoulder routines will consist of high rep ranges for straight set exercises and the incorporation of even more bodybuilding special techniques than was prevalent in the last “balanced routines” section

Also note that for shoulder routines in which increasing muscle definition is your goal, it is more beneficial to execute Shoulder Presses with dumbbells (which gives you a freer range of motion) than Barbells.

Notes: This routine uses greatly incorporates bodybuilding special techniques in order to receive maximum benefits… For supersets, only rest 20 seconds between cycles but none between the transition from shoulder press to side laterals…You really have to have a lot of heart to legitimately get through this type of workout.

Notes: This routine is even more vicious than the last one. Good luck.