Having big, broad shoulders is a symbol of power that everyone recognizes. Everyone wants to look more powerful, so it stands to reason that practically everyone, male or female, wants big, round, full deltoids. Even fashion designers know this, which is why you see padded shoulders in suits, coats, and even shirts: it's so that even little skinny people can look powerful.
Besides the obvious benefit of making you look and feel powerful, another huge plus of well-developed deltoids is the fact that they make your waist appear narrower, another thing everyone wants, with the possible exception of sumo wrestlers.
This optical illusion is exactly why, if you're a bodybuilder or a figure competitor, there's no such thing as deltoids that are too big. Competitors that look the best from the front are typically those that have big, wide shoulders.
Think about it: a V-taper is created by the contrast in width of your shoulders to your waist, also called the shoulder-to-waist ratio. The greater this ratio, the more accentuated the V-taper. While you can't alter the distance between your iliac crests without major surgery, you can certainly add muscle to your deltoids.
To help you add some lean beef to your deltoids, I've dug into my bag of tricks, and pulled out two shoulder-blasting supersets. I didn't just make these up, thinking they'd make for a cool article, by the way. They've been proven to work.
By proven, I don't mean proven in some sterile exercise physiology lab to work on hungover undergrad students. I mean proven to work in real gyms on hard-training individuals doing real programs. Many a guinea pig (...er, I mean client) has felt the pain, and enjoyed the benefits of these exercise combos.
If you're not afraid to work hard and leave it all on the gym floor, then I encourage you to give these a try. If you don't like to train with animal-like intensity, then you're on the wrong website, my friend. Enjoy your narrow, frail shoulders as best you can. For everyone else, let's get to it.
We'll get the party started with my Killer Delt Complex. I'll let Eric B, one of my clients, let you know how it feels.
"This is the first time I've ever felt like I was gonna puke while training shoulders."
Couldn't have said it better myself.
This complex is great for deltoid hypertrophy, and also has the added benefit of improving overall power or "speed-strength." It hits not only all three of the deltoid heads, but also the trapezius, rhomboids, and the external rotators.
I came up with this complex last year after being trained in the Olympic lifts by renowned strength coach Robert dos Remedios. While I have been a CSCS for years and already knew how to do Olympic lifts, I'm humble enough to realize that they aren't my strongest point.
Besides, when you have the opportunity to learn from someone who's world class in their field, you take it, no matter how good you think you are.
Right after training with Coach Dos, I was talking with Alwyn Cosgrove about complexes, or supersets, as we bodybuilders call them. We began brainstorming on how complexes may be of benefit to bodybuilders.
(If you had told me two years ago that I would be talking bodybuilding with Cosgrove, and that the talk would actually help enlighten me, I probably would've fallen out of my chair laughing. Or maybe I would've punched you, depending upon my mood.)
So while you're doing the Killer Delt Complex and cursing my name, don't forget to also curse Dos and Alwyn, as they unknowingly helped me come up with it.
Hanging snatch, start position
Hanging snatch, midpoint
Hanging snatch, end position
Hanging clean and press, start position
Hanging clean and press, midpoint
Hanging clean and press, end position
Hanging clean, start position
Hanging clean, end position
High pull, start position
High pull, end position
Now let's move on to a superset that's less power-oriented and more like a traditional bodybuilding superset: the Delt Triad.
I have no thrilling stories about working with world-renowned coaches here. I came up with this one about a decade ago after reading a training article about some pro bodybuilder's shoulder workout. He did a dumbbell tri-set, but not in the proper order to match one's natural strength on the given exercises.
I created this superset such that you do the most difficult exercise first, then the next most difficult, followed by the easiest. As you'll see, dumbbell presses aren't so easy when your medial and anterior delts are already toasted.
Seated lateral raise, start position
Seated lateral raise, end position
Seated front raise, start position
Seated front raise, end position
Seated dumbbell shoulder press, start position
Seated dumbbell shoulder press, end position
As a general rule of thumb, you don't want to focus on trying to bring up more than one (or two, in some instances) body part per training cycle. Sure, you want your whole body to grow each cycle, but your emphasis should be on just one or two lagging body parts.
If you're going to partake in either of the above delt destroyers, then let's assume shoulders are a body part you'd be focusing on. With that understanding, do a more conventional training program for other body parts while implementing the above two.
As luck would have it, these two programs are very different from one another. The Killer Delt Complex focuses on power via quick movements, heavy weight, and low reps, while the Delt Triad focuses more on hypertrophy and isolation by using precise movements and higher reps with a relatively lighter weight.
Because of the unique nature of each, they go very well together in one program. For example, do the Killer Delt Complex on Monday and the Delt Triad on Thursday.
Assuming you keep the rest of your program fairly moderate, you could use these with virtually any type of workout, whether that be full body or body part split.
As an example, here's how I might implement these into a bodybuilding type routine.
That's it for now, my friend. Now get busy building some massive delts!
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