For guys, broad shoulders are a very important element of a well formed physique. However, due to a lack of understanding many men waste a great deal of time and energy training their shoulder muscles incorrectly. So I wanted to share some ideas with you today outlining the best shoulder exercises for men…
For my current work out split which I got from Rusty Moore (creator of the Visual Impact Muscle Building) I’m training shoulder every 4th day (along with arms) and I’m doing three sets of three different excersises for my shoulders.
Personally, I LOVE training shoulders and I must admit that I used to really over do it with volume. In fact a couple years ago I was doing as many as 20+ sets for my delts at every workout! I just love training delts…
But look — when you are training ANY muscle group you’ve got to think about what your goal is for that body part. Do you want bigger delts? more defined delts? stronger delts? bigger rear-delts? Bigger traps??? The options are endless.
So, it is very important to choose a shoulder routine that will help you get the results that you want. Right now my goal is to increase my shoulders muscle density. My shoulders are big enough, so I just want to tighten them up… And the workout I do reflects this.
My picks for the best shoulder exercises for men depending on your fitness goals:
Bigger delts?
Building large powerful delts, can completely change the way you look and make you look like a total badass. The best way to stimulate overall growth in these muscle is to lift moderately heavy weights in a moderate rep-range (8-12). my pick is over head dumbbell presses. Rep out with these twice a week, eat some protein and watch those puppies grow.
dumbbell shoulder press
More defined delts?
This is what I am going for right now… and believe me, you don’t need to spend hour pumping light weights for mega reps in order to get cut the way that some “fitness experts” would have you believe. Instead, to get really defined shoulders you’ve got to watch that diet and get your body fat percentage lower. As far as the best exercise for this, I’d recommend doing lateral dumbbell raises for low-reps with a moderately heavy weights… I know this rep-range may sound counter intuitive but I am getting some awesome results with it, and once you melt some of the fat off the lateral raises will sear in that definition for you.
dumbbell lateral raise
Bigger rear-delts?
Rear delts are a muscle that 90% of guys seriously neglect. They are in the back, they are kinda smallish, and thus many guys fail to hit this muscle group directly… BIG MISTAKE. Pumping up your rear delts can make a big difference in your overall physique becaue they will fix and balance out the shape of your shoulders. My favorite exercise for these is bent-over dumbbell lat raises. This is an awesome exercise that i throw into the mix just about every time that I train delts. I like to do it leaning on a incline bench to support my torso so i can focus all of my energy on squeesing the dumbells up and back with my rear delts.
bent lateral raise
Bigger traps???
Bigger traps are not something that I am interested in at all. Mine are naturally big, so I never train them at all anymore… When I do train traps, they BLOW UP QUICK. The exercise I like best is plain old dumbbell shrugs. Do them with heavy weights for moderate reps (8-12)… four sets of these and your traps will be screaming at you! but be sure to stretch out your neck and shoulders first and don’t go too heavy because trap training is notorious for causing kinks in the neck…
dumbbell shrugs
So, hopefully this will give you a good idea for how to train your shoulders to meet your specific goal.
You could even use these four moves for a well rounded shoulder workout…
And if you are looking for a fitness plan to get you the lean “Hollywood Look” try out that guy Rusty Moore’s Visual Impact Muscle Building, I’m loving it.
