Shoulder & Delta Workout Build Your Best Shoulders—5-Exercise Workout For Delt Domination!

Shoulder & Delta Workout Build Your Best Shoulders—5-Exercise Workout For Delt Domination!

BECOMING THE G.O.A.T - RONNIE COLEMAN MOTIVATION - STORY OF THE BEST BODYBUILDER EVER

A common misconception with hardcore training or HIT is that minimal sets are required and it's simply a case of going straight into an all-out heavy-as-a-hip-hop-star's neck chain, set to failure.

In this workout we will concentrate on pre exhausting the delts before maxing out with the heavy sets. It's volume meets HIIT.

Delt Domination Exercise Routine

Exercise 1. One-Arm Side Laterals

 

The first exercise is for the rear delts, starting with single-arm laterals. Raise the arm in one smooth motion until parallel with the floor, but ensure to rotate the arm as you move so that your arm is in the 'crucifix' position. Hold for a count of two so that you gain maximum contraction of the rear delt.

Exercise 2. Seated Bent-Over Rear Delt Raise

 

Staying with rear delts we will move onto bent-over dumbbell lateral raises. From the start position, raise the dumbbells until rear delts are fully contracted, hold for a count of 2 before lowering slowly. The movement should be performed under complete control in order for the rear delts to yield maximum benefit.

Exercise 3. Side Lateral Raises

 

Now that the rear delts are hit first, it is time to concentrate on the lateral head of the deltoid by performing side lateral raises. The trick here is to focus on contracting the lateral head, rather than swinging up the dumbbells to get a so called rep.

Pick a weight that you can actually handle without cheating, so that when you are at the top phase of the movement, your arms are parallel to the floor. Increase the weight with each set, while also lowering the rep range.

Exercise 4. Dumbbell Shoulder Press

 

The delts should be very much pre-exhausted by now and are ready to take the workout to the next level, dumbbell shoulder press. I tend to begin with the arnold dumbbell press, and as the weight increases change movement to traditional pressing, that is, palms forward through the whole movement.

Exercise 5. Standing Barbell Press Behind Neck

 

This next pressing movement is the behind the neck shoulder press. I tend to use the Smith machine here and press behind the neck. Now I know what some of you Kinesiology students are saying to yourselves here, "Press-behind-the-neck is soooooo bad for you, the shoulders are in flexion and externally rotated, and are at great risk of injury."

This is a valid point, but the argument could also be used for bent over barbell rows, seated cable rows, squats, deadlifts, I could literally go on and on here. The point I'm trying to make is that training, regardless of the exercise you are doing, poses a risk of injury. And most exercises, if not performed correctly will, in fact, cause injury over time. Press-behind-the-neck is one such exercise.

My advice is to fix the bench into place so that there is no need for any movement other than pressing the bar. What should happen is the bar should slightly graze the back of the skull as you lower the bar, however, it need only be lowered to ear level as this will limit the unnecessary joint action and minimize the chance of a rotator cuff injury.

After all, we are trying to build some serious boulder shoulders here, and how can we do that if we get injured. However since this is the last set of the pressing movement, it has to be stepped up a notch! After the first set of 10-to-12 repetitions is complete, load the bar to the maximum weight you can handle for 4-to-6 reps but use smaller plates (25 or 35 pounds) depending on your level.

Make sure to get as many good form reps as possible with the weight before stripping (this is what's otherwise termed as "drop sets"). This process is repeated until there is only one plate remaining on the bar, going to failure.

Recruit a training partner to assist with the concentric phase of the movement so that you are taking maximum stress during the eccentric (negative) phase, annihilating the delts.