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Shoulders
(deltoids). This muscle consists of three heads; anterior (front),
lateral (medial), and posterior (rear). No one exercise can
hit all three heads well at the same time, however there are many excellent
exercises that can hit one of the heads very well. The good thing about
shoulders is that even if you don't work them out, they can get a sufficient
amount of work by secondary involvement in exercises such as bench presses
(work the front head), rows (work the rear delts), behind neck press (medial
and rear heads), almost any back exercise and all pushing exercises. This
is why I work shoulders the least out of all the muscle groups I train.
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Here are some good exercises and heads they
train:
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Seated Press |
Lateral Raise |
Bent Over Side Raise |
Bent Over Dumbbell Rows |
Upright Rows |
Front Raise |
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Seated Press
(a.k.a. shoulder press, military
press) one of the best exercises for shoulders, it's a basic compound
movement that trains your front and medial heads. Barbell
shoulder press puts more emphasis on your front head, while dumbbell
shoulder press shifts the emphasis on your medial head. This is actually
one of the few exercises where I prefer dumbbells to a barbell. This is due
to the fact that dumbbells force you to use your traps because the weights
are not connected and force has to be exerted to keep the dumbbells together
at the top of the movement. Also, stabilizer muscles are much more involved
with dumbbell rather than a barbell because each arm/shoulder is more
independent (you can not help your weaker shoulder with the driving force of
the stronger one). Dumbbells are the more difficult one of the two
alternatives, however you can go a little faster with them, with a barbell
you should lift at a slower pace.
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Lateral Raises
(a.k.a. side raises, side laterals), if done
properly, this exercise will add width to you shoulders in no time. It
works, you guessed it, the medial (lateral) head, although that's not
why the exercise is called that. This is one of the most difficult
exercises to perform correctly, mainly because it's so easy to cheat. All
kinds of secondary muscle groups readily come into play. You can perform
this exercise seated or standing, seated is more difficult. Hold the
dumbbells in front of your body at crotch level with arms slightly bent at
the elbows, the outer plates of the dumbbells may be resting on the front of
your thighs. Without swinging or tilting back, bring the dumbbells up at a
slow or moderate pace (never fast) to your sides just above shoulder level.
You should be marking off a quarter circle with each of your arms. At the
top of the movement, and this is very important, your elbows should be
slightly higher than your wrists, or at least just as high. Tilt your
wrists slightly forward to get the “pouring coke bottles” effect. This
exercise is very difficult and if you don't feel the burn after 3, max 4
sets, then you are doing it wrong. Two more important notes, never
sacrifice weight for form in this exercise, and always do it 2-4 more reps
than seated press, following it.
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Bent Over Dumbbell Rows
Aren't rows for back?! Not in this case. There is one way to do this
exercise to target the rear deltoids instead of the lats. Here is
how you do it. First, get in the same position you get to do this is
exercise for lats. I prefer the bench, although I've seen some people do it
without one. You should use less weight than you would for your back simply
because rear delts are so much smaller. Instead of rowing close to your
body and toward your stomach, you should move (not so much pull) the weight
parallel to your shoulders and out away from you body (not too far away).
Make sure you don't swing the weight, but pull it with your posterior delts.
You should feel the burn almost immediately.
[TOP]
*If you ever decide
to try this exercise, please e-mail me with your results or questions.
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Upright Rows Is
this a back page?! Once again, NO. To target your front delts
instead of your traps all you have to do is just take the bar wider. Grip
the bar with an overhand grip, wider than shoulder width, stand straight,
and… row. Very simple. Try to reach your chin. I dare you.
[TOP]
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Front Raises
are a good exercise
for front delt heads. You
can do them with a barbell or dumbbells, they're equally effective. Simply
hold the barbell (or dumbbells) in front of yourself and slowly, without
jerking them or swinging them, bring it up to just above shoulder level.
The good thing about using dumbbells for this exercise is that you can
alternate (do one at a time). This is one of those exercises that if you do
them fast, you are still going to get much of the benefit as long as you
don't swing the weight and don't squat down just when the weight is passing
through the sticking point.
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