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Saturday, July 25, 2009

Body Building Workouts, How to Exercise Your Shoulders

By Ricardo d Argence

If you're looking to develop an impressive, muscular physique, well-developed shoulders are an absolute must. Thick, round "cannon ball delts" will make your upper body appear wide and powerful and will help immensely in creating the v-tapered look that all bodybuilders strive for. Many serious lifters will argue that underneath clothes, muscular shoulders make the greatest contribution toward the overall appearance of the upper body.

Your shoulder (or deltoid) is a 3-headed muscle that performs the function of lifting and rotating the arm. It is a large three-headed muscle group consisting of the anterior (front), medial (side) and posterior (rear) deltoid. Shoulder training involves two basic types of exercises: presses and raises.

Both a barbell and a dumbbell can be used to achieve your goal, but dumbbells are the best overall choice. The overhead press is the meat and potatoes of effective shoulder training. There isn't a single lift out there that can match the incredible shoulder-stimulating effect of a basic overhead pressing movement.

The purpose of dumbbells is to add mass and fully develop the shoulder muscles. Since this is the primary mass building movement in this routine, it is best to start your workout with this exercise. The beginning of your workout is when you are the freshest and have the most energy. This will allow you to handle the heaviest weight possible with the most intensity and focus. I prefer dumbbell presses to other pressing exercises for a couple of reasons.

Next in the pecking order are side lateral raises. Side lateral raises primarily develop the medial head (side delt) of the deltoid. The anterior and posterior deltoid also comes into play in this movement as well the trapezius (to a much lesser degree). This exercise is great for capping the delts, giving them a nice round look from the front. Stand with your knees slightly bent and hold a pair of dumbbells with your palms facing inward. With a slight bend in your arms, raise the dumbbells up to shoulder level and then lower them back to the starting position. And it is, but you should still go heavy if you are trying to build size, side lateral raises are an effective mass builder as well.

When it comes to training your shoulders for maximum size and strength, a basic overhead press and a side lateral raise is all you need. It's very important to realize that the shoulders are stimulated on virtually every single upper body exercise that you perform and therefore they do not require a lot of direct work. Most people perform far too much work on their shoulders and actually hinder their gains as a result. Because of this I typically do not recommend that you perform isolation exercises for the anterior and posterior heads. Don't forget that the key to massive shoulders is quality, not quantity.

Here is a sample shoulder routine that you can use: Seated Overhead Dumbbell Press - 2 sets of 5-7 reps. Standing Dumbbell Side Laterals - 1-2 sets of 10-12 reps

Bodybuilding exercise for the shoulders are a key to widening the shoulders. Increasing the shoulders' width is the most crucial stepping stone to make them appear broader. All sets should be taken to complete muscular failure where no additional reps can be completed using proper form, if you do that you'll be watching results after a few weeks. - 17273

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