Adding Mass to shoulders?

[BiggerthanLavar]

Hey all I'm wondering if you guys could suggest some exercises to add some serious size and mass to my shoulders. I'm talking mostly about the three delts. I just can't seem to get my shoulders to grow. My shoulder routine is as follows:

Military press: 5x5
Lateral raises: 2x8
front raises:2x8
opposite of pec flyes(don't know hat else to call them but it hits the rear delts 2x8

behind the neck presses on a smith mach. 2x8

Yesterday I added another set to each of the secondary exercises. making all of them 3x8. I also try to up the weight used on each exercise fairly often. Am I missing anything here? You can see in my progress pics that i need to add some mass to my delts. those pics are a bit old though, I'm not as lean now. I am a tad thicker though.

thanks

 

[bula]

your routine is fine - it hits all three heads. But obviously if your not growing, focus on other factors related to growth. Is your diet and supplementation spot on (the #1 key to growth)? Are your lifts slow and deliberate .. squeezing as hard as possible at the contraction. Is your training split condusive to proper delt rest in order to maximizing strength on training days?

If everything checks out, you may consider shocking your shoulders with a higher rep routine. Sometimes HIT doesn't cut it for some lagging muscle groups. They need high rep burn to kick them in gear. One arm cable flys are great for these types of sets.

My thoughts. Good luck.

 

[AngryMuscles]

are you doing heavy on your back days? that oughta hit your rear delt vry hard.
doing shoulders after your chest routine helps too...how about squats? you do squats?
good luck!!

 

[DiscoFever]

deads and other backwork mofo

 

[tman55]

Hey Lavar, you know if I did that same workout i would be over training my shoulders. I know everyone is different and responds to different things, but I look to bench and incline or decline, deads and squats to make the shoulders grow. I do Pullups, reverse pulldowns every week and some rows, but that is all. Shoulders are easily overworked imo.

 

[jcp2]

Try doing sets of 15, where you hit failure in that area. For some reason that worked for me. Try doing to all out sets of around 15 with dumbell presses, and 2 all out side lateral raises for 15, 1-2 sets of dumbell rear delts for 1 reps. It may work since you have never done it before. Make sure each set is to failure and it is going to be painful so have fun.

 

[bouncer88]

Reprinted from a post i put up at Extreme Fitness

Some of My Favorites-Shoulders

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At 45, I've had some serious training over the years. I've tried alot of different approaches, listened to conflicting sermons on bodybuiling how-tos from different gurus, and put alot of sweat into some serious trial and error. I started reading Bob Hoffman's Strength & Health when I was twelve. I'm not sure how much dough I've spent reading and looking for gems.

At any rate I'm going to start at the top, and list some of my favorite exercises and routines. Hopefully, you can find something here that you can try and get some results with. Much of this stuff will fall into the advanced category, so beginners should wait a while and get basics in.

SHOULDERS:

Mine were wide naturally, but I saw a bodybuilder years ago who had roundness to his delts that I had never seen up close. This is the routine I used to close the gap.

Seated behind the neck barbell press, pyramid style. 3 x 10, 8, 6. Rest only as long as you have to.
( I worked up to a single with 315 on this one)

Seated dumbell presses.

This is where the pace quickens. These are done using only the middle 3/5ths of the range of motion. Holding the dumbells up, your pinky fingers are higher than your thumbs, and instead of moving the dumbells in a straight vertical motion they actually form something of an arc. Tension never leaves the delts.

I alternate these between straight sets of 3 x 8, and going up and down the rack for a complete set. If you aren't familiar with this approach, this is the way it works. You can start at either end of the dumbell rack and work up or down or both. Example A: start with a pair of 50's do as many as you can, then 60's, as many as you can, then 80's, then 60's then 50's. This counts as one set. Try to get 8-10 reps with each weight. Example B: Start with the 80's, and drop all the way down the rack 8-10 reps at a time (80's 70's,60's, ect...)

Delt Raises.

To finish off the delts (realize that the rear delts get alot of work with rowing and pulldowns-so I do more rear delt work at the end of my back workout) I go to the dumbells or the low cable pulley. I do the following one arm at a time. I'm looking to finish them off, pulverize 'em and create seperation.

Front raise 10 reps, lateral raise 10 reps, and then bend over and get a rear delt raise for 10. This is one set, done non-stop, and I do two sets. Arms are slightly bent at the elbow.

I've found that my shoulders respond like my calves. Heavy lower reps mixed with high volume work.

This is followed by some kind of shrug, either barbell or dumbells. When it comes to shrugs with a barbell, I like to vary my grip spacing like what's done with bench pressing. The traps are already warmed up from the delt raises, and it's a good time to hit them.

This is one of many routines I've used, but I have to say that I've made the best gains when I pull this one out. I hope someone gives this a try and PM's me or replys in this thread.

 

[cham]

drop sets doing side lateral dewd

Do 3 sets with 4 different weights.
Start with the heaviest you can lift and end with a rather light weight.
Aim for 10 reps with each weight.

It worked for arnie and it works at present for me

regards

 

[daan69]

i do the front delts on chest day, then really focus on shoulder press and lateral raises... higher reps 12+ work well for me too

 

[Vigilance]

IMO, your volume is way to high.

Try doing sets of 15, where you hit failure in that area. For some reason that worked for me. Try doing to all out sets of around 15 with dumbell presses, and 2 all out side lateral raises for 15, 1-2 sets of dumbell rear delts for 1 reps. It may work since you have never done it before. Make sure each set is to failure and it is going to be painful so have fun.

I agree, my shoulders responded better when I focused on time under tension. 15-20 reps, nice and slow, and as heavy as possible.

 

[blackbeard]

i havent done any consisten over head pressing in about 6 months and my shoulders have gotten bigger..the reason heavy squatting/benching etc

I do side laterals but not to failure rear delts get hit hard doing heavy back work as long as you are squeezing the shoulder blades together..

I see lots of guys strong ones too doing prolly way to much shoulder work while they may be pressing 100lb dbells their shoulders dont really look all that special..

My point it may be they dont need all that much more work than a few sets perhaps after doing chest

 

[jcp2]

IMO, your volume is way to high.




I agree, my shoulders responded better when I focused on time under tension. 15-20 reps, nice and slow, and as heavy as possible.

Shoulders and quads for high reps works, everything else never really mattered, i would just mix it up. I tried never to take my reps below 8 on anything i did for shoulders. In the last year my shoulders have probably gotten stronger, pressing wise, maybe not, not sure, but they are smaller now and not as rounded off.

 

[BiggerthanLavar]

Hey all thanks for all the responses. I've had a hard time getting onto the forum because of the Data base error.

Ok so, I'm basically over training? Maybe I should drop the behind the neck press. I actually threw that in there recently because I thought my vol. was low. I do try to make my movements slow and deliberate and I do need to work on squeezing when I do back because sometime I get sloppy just trying to move a heavier weight. I go as heavy as I can on back in general and I try to increase weight as often as possible. Good thing is I haven't plateaued yet.
I think I will take the higher rep advice and mix that type of routine in once every 4 cycles. Do you all think that would shock my shoulders?

I do squats and deads as heavy as I can. One thing I should mention about that though is that I've only been back for about 3 months and previously I had never done Squats or Deads so I'm pretty much starting from scratch on those two exercises. Maybe I'm being impatient??? Right now I'm doing a 5x5 of squats with 225 lb's. I do them once in my 5 day cycle and I try to add 5-10 lb's a week. As for deads, for some reason they are very akward for me. I try to keep the best form possible( back arched[not rolled], butt out, evenly lifting with the legs and pulling with the lower back-especially at the top of the movement). I'm deading 185 right now also adding 5-10 lb's a week. I only do these 1 time a week max and a few days after squats because they really kill me. I could go heavier but my form would suffer and I'm sooooo scared of injuring my back somehow.

As for diet, I just revised that today. I was getting just under 100gms of protein a day and that was with OptNut Whey shakes!!! What a joke! Needless to say I need to DBL up on the scoops, add an extra chicken breast per sitting and throw in a can of tuna somewhere in the day. I weigh 195 and I know I should have just under 300gms to build lean muscle. It's just difficult to get that much protein. I'm already drinking 3 shales a day and as I mentioned above, I'm going to go double on the servings to fill in the void of protein.

Here's the kicker guys: I'm not only trying to build muscle and get bigger(as big as I can without AAS-for now) but I'm also trying to lean out a bit. I'm not going on a major cutter, I'm just trying to eat clean and I do cardio(Mountain bike for 1/2 hour-it's more like HIT/Interval than cardio) on a separate day from weights so I don't canibalize the muscle. So.....Am I spinning my wheels here or will I eventually achieve my goal of being 205lb's and 7% BF(that would be my normal everyday weight) and 195, 5% BF (My summer lean look)????

thanks again for all your help

 

[Dlove]

It sounds like you might be overtrainin the shoulders. I used to devote a day to a bodypart and go in and blast it. I really never got bigger or stonger shoulders.

My shoulders are getting much bigger since starting PB's routine which only gives ya 2 shoulder exercises a week and their done on chest day. What has helped me has been heavy BB uprights. Shoulder width grip. I love that exercise i can watch the whole shoulder girdle turn red and veins comin out. Then i polish it off with side laterals. I do them standing up, tske em out to the side parraleel and at the top turn your wrists down like your dumping out a milk gallon. Shoulders get worked so hard on chest day and back day maybe try focusing harder on those days. One other exercise i like is grab a handle on the low pulley and bring it across the waist to the side and hold at the top that rips the hell out of them.

What's your current routine like? Knowing that might help these guys suggest things.

 

[2passion8]

Hey biggathnlavar,

Good job !
Thats quite wonderful transformation from wot u were in2003.
But dude accomplishment is not about reaching success its about maintaining the success consistently.
U need to get back to ur workouts.
Can I suggest something ?
Though I'm not a very hi-fi bodybuilder, but I used to have perfect 6 pack and a good back-muscles(deltoids)

I saw all your pics, I saw what you have. But bro, do u really think u need shoulder press ?
I would recommend decrease time for shoulder press and give time for ur back, lats and chest

Without a proper back (deltoids) and lats no one can claim to have a good wellshped curved well-cut muscular body.

Also I want to know what are ur current stats, ur chests, biceps, and shoulder ?

Ur biceps are ok but I think u shd give more time to ur chest and back alongwith lats to make urself look better.
If u r following a good diet with plenty of protein (it shd be as many grams as about twice ur weight in lbs)
and taking adequate rest in between workouts with complementary drinks/shakes, theres no reason absolutely why u shdn't start losing weight and build up lean nice looking muscles.



Give one day to ur back and lats and another day to ur chest. that way u can concentrate on one thing at a time and the muscles will be able to get adequate rest before severe heavyweight workout.

For ur back I would recommend these exercises.

Exercises for back and lats :
Lat Pull Downs
Bent-Over Barbell Rows
T-Bar Rows
Seated Cable Rows
One-Arm Dumbbell Rows
Chin-Ups
Behind the Neck Pull Downs

and for chest I think these exercises should do.

Exercises for chest:
Bench Press
Incline Bench Press
Decline Bench Press
Dumbbell Presses
Dumbbell Flies
Pull-Overs
Pec-Deck Flies
Standing Cable Crossover


After u try out all these, prepare a chart ... which-one do to and how many times (reps) and many times over / frequency (sets)

Write to me back if u follow these exercises and get benefitted.

Till then take care, shape up and enjoy life to the fullest !!

Bye.

 

[hammer53]

heres my shoulder routine, i like it, feel good after it ( i usually do either #2 or #3, not both)


1. Front Dumbbell Raise 3 sets 10-10-10

2. Bent-Over Dumbbell Rear Delt Raise (Head On Bench) 3 sets 10-10-10
or
3. Seated Bent Over Rear Delt Raise 3 sets 10-10-10

4. Seated Dumbbell Press 4 sets 15-12-10-10

5. Standing Low-Pulley Deltoid Raise (cables) 4 sets 15-12-10-10

6. Bent Over Low-Pulley Side Lateral (cables) 4 sets 15-12-10-10

i really like #'s 5 + 6 so i do an extra set with a few extra reps...