How To Develop Wide Muscular Shoulders

To build your shoulders, it is necessary to combine both heavy, compound exercises which add size and strength as well as lighter, more isolated exercises which emphasize building shape and width. By compound exercises, I am referring to exercises which utilizes more than one muscle at a time, such as bench presses, military presses, bent over rows, etc.

For the deltoids, the military press, otherwise known as regular barbell presses, is a great compound movement for building big, strong shoulders. Now, isolation exercises are those movements that utilize only one muscle, thus "isolating" that particular muscle. Some examples of these exercises are upright rows, concentration curls, push-ups, lateral raises, etc. For the deltoids, lateral raises is an excellent movement for building wide, shapely shoulders.

Barbell Military Presses

This is a are a great movement because they force you to use your core muscles and many stabilizers. Some guys like to do them seated but there is nothing like picking up a barbell and pushing it over your head to build power and size. Standing presses are a great way to build functional strength for sports and to build your muscles for other lifts. When done without a belt you can actually get an ab workout from the stabilization but you will need to use lighter weight to keep the form strict.

Upright Rows

You'll probably need some straps for this exercise so that you can go heavy. Use a medium grip because if you go to close you may start to strain your wrists from putting them into a non friendly ergonomic position. Make sure you aren't starting the movement with your legs to get the weight up. Once you are starting to reach failure you can do a couple extra reps by cheating the weight up a little with your legs from the starting position. This will hit your front delts and trapezius muscles. You want to have traps that tie into your shoulders nicely.

Push-ups

The old favourite, push-ups don't get the kind of favourable coverage that I think they deserve. Sexy they may not be, but when it comes to results and building big shoulders, push-ups are pretty hard to beat as a non-weights home exercise that, let's face it can be performed pretty much anywhere.

If you're stumped as to how to get big shoulders then you really should be making push-ups a regular habit. They're great as a warm up or warm down at the gym, or any time you're away and can't make it. Try inclining your legs on a bench or the side of the bed to work your front delts and upper chest even more.

Dumbbell Side Raises

The dumbbell side raise works the medial (side) deltoids. Secondary stress is applied to the front deltoids and the forearms. Grab 2 dumbbells and stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Hold the dumbbells just in front of your body with the palms of your hands facing each other. Keep your elbows slightly bent.

Raise the dumbbells out to the sides and upwards. Do this in a semicircular arc until they are just above shoulder level. You should also hold this position for a second to maximize the peak contraction in the deltoids. Lower the dumbbells back to the starting position and repeat.

Barbell Front Raises

This exercise is great for building shape and endurance in your anterior delts. Since barbell front raises put tremendous resistance on the front of your shoulders, you should not attempt to do this exercise with heavy weight. Moderate poundage with strict technique (i.e., no bouncing or jerking the weight with your body) is sufficient to add strength and shape to your anterior delts. For variety, you can also do this exercise with a straight bar attachment to a low cable apparatus.

Whether you use a barbell or low cable machine, you must stand with your arms straight as you raise the bar forward from the front of your thighs to a position parallel to the floor at about shoulder height. To put secondary resistance on your rear delts and traps, raise the bar slightly above shoulder height. It won't take long to feel the burn from this exercise, but the payoff in deltoid development is well worth it.

Cardio is actually one of the most important part of a great shoulder workout. If you want that lean and angular look, then cardio will do that for you. The lifts in your shoulder workout will build width in the shoulders, but cardio will give you a smaller waist. Low body fat will emphasize the side delts even further. Cardio will actually put finishing touches on every body part. It is an important part of your shoulder workout and should be performed year round.