Shoulder exercise program. Huge deltas

Have you ever tried to compare photos of past and current Olympia champions? Surely a striking change in the volume of the deltoid muscles caught your eye. Let us remember that the textbooks of the past called the coincidence of the measurements of the arm and deltoid muscle exemplary, but nowadays such a proportion has completely lost its meaning. The pros take a different standard as a basis: deltas should be equal to... the size of the headdress. Even if such an extreme landmark is considered a curiosity, one thing is clear - let your deltas be as large as possible!

If you decide to pump up your deltoids, it is better to combine training of the pectorals and triceps.

Find out how to build beautiful shoulders without the risk of injury, important tips, recommendations proven by experience and time.

Everyone who is involved in fitness and bodybuilding has exercises related to pumping. A beautiful shoulder joint is not only visual attractiveness, but the strength and health of the entire shoulder girdle, without which all movements will be difficult.

We often do not notice what an important role the deltoids play in our lives, how much work they do, but as soon as they get injured, you will immediately feel where the shoulders work and what they do. To prevent this from happening, learn the 9 main mistakes to avoid injury.

1.Not all presses are the same

Many people associate the concept with a rough basic exercise that is aimed at increasing strength and mass; of course there is some truth in this, but the bench press is different.

For example, with, the load moves from the middle section to the front, and if you do the bench press not with a barbell, but with dumbbells, then the shoulders occupy a more advantageous anatomical position. The overhead barbell press is a more traumatic exercise if done incorrectly, but it allows you to lift a decent one, in which the entire load goes into the middle delta.

Also, do not forget about, of course, Schwartz did not invent it, but he performed it often, which is why it bears his name. This exercise allows you to work both the middle and front deltas at the same time, but still it is the front deltoids that receive more load.

8.Don't use huge weights when doing overhead presses.

The overhead barbell press is the only exercise in which it is possible to maximally load the middle delta, but this does not mean that critical weights need to be taken.

The whole problem is that the shoulders occupy an anatomically awkward position for the middle deltoids, lowering the barbell with a very large

weight, the shoulders are under critical tension and can easily get injured.

Therefore, set the weight so that you can do at least 5-6 repetitions and do not try to lift weights for 1-2 repetitions, this is a sure way to injury.

9.Don't arch your lower back while pressing

Having hung a decent weight on the barbell or taken fairly heavy dumbbells, in the last repetitions the back begins to deviate from the vertical, arching the lower back. This happens because the body begins to look for all possible ways to cope with the severity.

At this moment, you will squeeze out the weight, part of the load will transfer to the upper part of the pectorals, but the lower back will receive an unnatural deflection, which will lead to injury. Therefore, when performing a bench press, keep your lower back tightly pressed against the back of the gymnastic bench, if it still bends, there is only one way out - to reduce the weight.

Train your shoulders correctly and then injuries will bypass you. Happy training!

If you're wondering why your shoulders aren't growing, it's likely that they're just not hearing you. Increase your volume with this workout!

Many will recommend that you throw all your energy at lagging muscle groups. A classic “cut your pants to your knees to show off your calves.” Don't say anything like that to Tom Graff. The up-and-coming NPC Physicist will quickly answer that his shoulders are his trump card, but he continues to train them as intensely as if they were the worst in the world.

And you can’t argue with his reasoning. He emphasizes that hypertrophied deltas contribute to better development of the trunk muscles and improve the definition of the relief of the arms. In short, the shoulders are more important than any other muscle group for the shape and definition of your upper body.

Graff uses a unique high-volume, high-frequency training approach that will benefit anyone looking to add width and definition to their deltoids, not just competitive athletes getting ready to hit the stage.

Here are the principles that Graff finds particularly effective for shoulder training, and a program of exercises to put these principles into practice.

1. Train your delts more often

Graff's training split is designed to work the delts not once, but twice in 7 days. “Even so, there is not much growth incentive,” he says. “Increasing emphasis helps delts grow like never before.”

In addition to special training, individual bundles of deltoid muscles are worked out on days of other muscle groups. The posterior head is actively involved in rows on back day, the anterior head is recruited in chest presses, especially in the head-up press. For Graff, this regimen is no problem, and he even trains his chest, shoulders and back three days in a row without rest.

“The results speak for themselves,” he says, challenging the premise that a muscle group should rest for 48 hours before the next workout. - Of course, you cannot ignore recovery factors, so pay attention Special attention frequent, balanced, high-protein meals and good rest.”

2. For heavy bench presses, use machines, not free weights.

It may seem like it goes against every rule of thumb when designing a training program, but Graff believes the biggest downside to free weights is that the need to balance the machine leads to reduced tonnage. The main thing for him is to raise Weight Limit, allowing you to work in the intended repetition range.

“For bench presses, I prefer machines because I can use more weight, he says. “Because I don’t have to expend energy balancing the bar, my job becomes simpler: I just need to push as much weight as possible without having to guide it.”

3. Keep your volume high throughout your workout.

What really stands out about Tom Graff's shoulder workout is the volume; even his heavy sets consist of 12 repetitions. Although sports scientists agree that the ideal range for hypertrophy is 8-12 repetitions, Graff prefers to stay at the upper limit.

“I usually try to do 12-15 reps,” he says. - I tried to do less than twelve, but often, when I was limited to 8 repetitions in a set, there was a feeling that this was not enough. I'd rather sacrifice some tonnage but get more reps. This increases blood flow to the muscles, helps achieve a better pump, and the muscles hurt more the next day.”

Do you think the mirrors are in gym just to practice posing or admire yourself? Not at all. For Tom Graff, this is yet another functional tool that proves that his chosen training style is truly effective.

“I can see the striations of the muscles directly during the workout, and it tells me that the exercise is working,” he says. - If the striations increase with each approach, this is sure sign that the exercise is doing its job. For example, this is how I make sure that raising the arms in front of you or to the sides not to shoulder level, but above your head, is effective and forces the muscle to plow through an expanded range of motion.”

5. When the load is high, do fewer failure sets.

High-volume, high-frequency training forces Tom Graff to take a small step back. “I finish most sets on the verge of muscle failure, and only in the last set do I give it my all, doing either a little more or a little less repetitions than planned,” he says. “If you push almost every set to failure, the secretion of cortisol can increase, and this is a catabolic hormone.”

6. Additionally work on weak points

The deltoids may be Tom Graff's best muscle group, but he admits that the same can't be said for each individual deltoid head. His front delts are overdeveloped, which, in his opinion, is explained by their active participation in chest training.

“The rear delts are my weak link, so I might add another exercise for them or increase the volume,” he says. “And since the more massive your shoulders, the brighter the illusion that you are a tough bodybuilder, on shoulder training day I pay special attention to the middle buns.”

Shoulder workout by Tom Graff

Tom Graff begins his delt training with light warm-up sets and performs internal and external rotations on the shoulder joints, ligaments and muscles. Rest between sets 60-90 seconds. Use a weight that makes it difficult for you to reach your rep target. Warm-up approaches are not included in the exercise program.

Seated press in the simulator.“I sit not with my back, but with my face to the machine. This allows me to get into a deeper position and forces my hands to go further behind my head. Thus, the emphasis shifts to the rear and middle deltoids, and the load on the front bundle, which is already strong for me, is reduced.”

Pull to the chin.“I raise my elbows as high as possible. Very often people begin to shorten the range of motion with each subsequent repetition. I find that full-range repetitions help me develop my upper trapezius as well. I really like to pull my elbows up really high because that way I can really feel the traps working. To be honest, this is almost the only exercise for the upper trapezius muscles in my training program. I prefer to take the bar narrower, since it puts a little more stress on the front deltoids than with a wide arm position.”

Raising dumbbells in front of you incline bench. “I achieved much more definition in my front heads when I started doing this exercise on an incline bench and started raising my arms overhead, increasing my range of motion. Often I see in the mirror how the striations intensify and the muscles become more prominent as the range of motion expands. I consider this my key exercise for the front delts.”

Raising arms with dumbbells to the sides while standing.“I strive for my shoulders to not just be visually larger; I want to increase the volume of deltas both in width and depth, because this emphasizes the muscular relief of the upper arm. In this exercise, I raise my arms to about shoulder height. As an alternative, I can do a variation for medium delts, in which I lean on my side on an incline bench and lift the dumbbell over my head, performing the movement with a full amplitude.”

Abducting dumbbells to the side from the plank.“It’s two exercises for the price of one because it works both your core and rear deltoids. Essentially, you first stabilize your torso in a one-arm plank and then perform a dumbbell lateral raise. I start with a neutral grip, and when I raise my arm high, I rotate my hand so that thumb looked down. I feel like my rear delts are contracting more this way than if my arm remains in a neutral position for the entire rep.”

"Graff-ik" of change

This workout works for Tom Graff, but don't think this is the last workout in his—or yours— sports life. “Like most bodybuilders, I believe that training programs need changes,” he says. - I like to add variety by changing exercises to keep my delts from adapting to a particular movement pattern. I do some exercises almost every workout, and change the rest relatively often.”

In the off-season, when the goal is to increase volume, he makes additional sacrifices for the sake of muscle growth. “For starters, I don’t do cardio at all. “I slow down the pace of my workouts and keep my heart rate no higher than 120,” he says. - I also force myself to eat even when I don’t feel like it, which is even more difficult when you adhere to the rules of “pure” mass gain. I have to prepare food in advance, and I devote about 2 hours to this every Sunday. There are so many food supplies for a week that they barely fit in the refrigerator.”

Do you want to build bigger shoulders? This is the kind of attitude this requires. Focus your efforts on muscle growth, and you will definitely get results!

SHOULDER TRAINING FOR MASS: 16 MAIN RULES Find out how to build broad shoulders as quickly as possible, with minimal risk of injury. Only proven advice from professionals! Many gym goers use the rule, lift more and you will get bigger, these words have some truth, but they need to be used wisely. Dumb lifting of weights will give initial results, but then you will not get the long-awaited effect and your results will stall, plus you will get injured. To do this, you need to connect your brains, use different training schemes, apply varying degrees loads and so on. We present to your attention 16 main rules for proper development perfectly works all 3 areas of the deltoids, triceps and other supporting muscles, it is very important to work in the range of 6-12 repetitions, this is where muscle hypertrophy comes into play. 6. SPECIAL ATTENTION TO BEHIND THE HEAD PRESS Training shoulders for mass is impossible without the overhead press; this is a good exercise for creating large shoulders, allowing you to take on large working weights, but this is where a dangerous pitfall lies. When the barbell drops as low as possible towards the back of the head, the shoulders are in the most awkward anatomical position and are easily susceptible to injury. shoulders, with minimal possibility of injury, remember them so that shoulder training for weight will be successful. 1. STARTING WITH AN OVERHEAD PRESS Start working on your deltoids with a seated press while you are full of strength and energy, you can do it with both a barbell and dumbbells, it is better to alternate them, rather than focus on one of them. This basic exercise stabilizer muscles are activated well. 9. ROLLING THE REAR DELTA Usually the least time is spent on the back area, but its development looks impressive when viewed from the side and behind, making the shoulders round. To do this, perform dumbbell raises in an incline position, in a machine, or in crossovers. 10. MONITOR EVEN SHOULDER DEVELOPMENT Uneven shoulder development is not only noticeable and doesn’t look nice, but it can also cause injury to the rotator cuff. Guys who frequently train their chest and do other exercises to develop it have larger anterior deltoids. lateral. At the same time, they do not pay special attention to the sitting press, because the main thing is to have a beautiful, powerful chest. Because of this, the shoulders look underdeveloped in appearance, the chest is large, and the shoulders are not wide enough. Not liking traction exercises for the back leaves the rear part of the deltas out of work.. Few train it, it doesn’t matter how much you pump it, it’s not visible, but its main task is not to show off externally, but to balance the shoulder joint. Rotator cuff - consists of 4 muscles, always before training your shoulders, take small dumbbells in your hands and perform circular movements with your arms, slightly bending your elbows. Perform 10-15 rotations forward and then backward, repeat this for 2-3 approaches. 13. RESPOND INSTANTLY TO PAIN Sharp pain during exercise is bad pain and is nothing like muscle pain after exercise. If it occurs, immediately finish the exercise and move on to another, similar one.