You are doing it wrong: a deltoid muscle building routine that actually works

Building the deltoid muscles aren’t as easy as people tend to believe, so chances are that you’re doing it wrong. The deltoid muscle can be divided into three different heads, known as the frontal deltoid (anterior deltoid), the posterior deltoid (rear deltoid) and the side deltoid (lateral deltoid). It is therefore a not wise to think that shoulder presses alone will give sufficient stimulation for the deltoid muscles to grow. I’m not trying to suggest that you replace shoulder presses entirely, because I would never do that, someone that tells you to not do shoulder presses is a git. Shoulder presses is one of the most effective shoulder exercises out there, but the keyword in that sentence is “one”, because alone it will not suffice.

I’ve been told that I only need to do shoulder presses, i.e dumbbell press and military press to build my shoulder muscle, is this true?

If shoulder presses forms the bulk of your shoulder routine, you’re doing it wrong! As I’ve been trying so diligently to explain to you, shoulder presses are important, but they need to be combined with other exercises. Would you only do flat bench presses for your chest? No, you do flyes, cable crossovers, decline and incline presses and so on. This ensures maximum stimulation of the muscle from all angles. The same principle applies when training the shoulders.

The deltoid muscles are responsible for shoulder abduction externally rotated (frontal deltoid), transverse extension (rear deltoid) and shoulder abduction internally rotated (side deltoid). What this means is that you have to do front lateral raises, side lateral raises as well as reverse flies to maximize shoulder growth.

I have been doing this exercise routine for quite a while now, and have seen great results. I share this exercise routine with you with great confidence it its effectiveness. I normally incorporate some shrugs with shoulders, big traps help to make your shoulders appear larger, so don’t neglect them.  You can read up on how to build bigger traps in one of my previous posts.

You’re doing it wrong – a deltoid muscle building routine that actually works – the exercise program.

1. Shoulder Presses (alternate between Military Press and Dumbbell Press) 4 sets 8-12 reps
2. Side Lateral Raises(alternate between Dumbbells and Cables) 3 sets 8-12 reps
3. Front Lateral Raises (alternate between a Bar and Cables) 3 sets 8-12 reps
4. Reverse Flyes (alternate between seated and standing) 3 sets 8-12 reps
5. Shrugs (alternate between Olympic Bar and Dumbbells) 3 sets 8-12 reps

When referring to alternating between the exercises, I mean that you should alternate them on a weekly basis, for example:

Week 1 will look like this.

1. Military Press
2. Side Lateral Raises Dumbbell
3. Front Lateral Raises Bar
4. Reverse Flyes Seated
5. Shrugs Olympic Bar.

Week 2 will then look something like this.

1. Dumbbell Shoulder Press
2. Side Lateral Raises Cable
3. Front Lateral Raises Cable
4. Reverse Flyes Standing
5. Shrugs Dumbbell

It’s pretty straight forward, yet highly effective. Remember to go heavy, but to make sure you keep good form. A shoulder injury can put you out of the gym permanently.

-Michael

Related Muscle Shredding Posts:

• 21 Great Exercises for Training at home!
• SA Muscle Blogger’s killer Chest Workout
• Strength Training: A definite how to
• How to build bigger Trapezius Muscles
• The Principles of Training to Build Muscle

Tagged as: deltoid muscles, dumbbell press, exercise routine, military press, shoulder muscle, shoulder presses, shoulders, shrugs