If you’re a serious bodybuilder, no doubt you want wide delts. Talking about width, one of the first guys I think of is Gary Strydom – the guy had huge, cannonball delts! One of the exercises that can help you get there is the Wide Grip Upright Row. In this edition of Check Out This Exercise, I will take a closer look at this upright row variation, plus give you an example routine and provide supplement guidelines. Are you ready? Then let’s get started!
What Is The Wide Grip Upright Row?
The standard Upright Row is a compound exercise performed by pulling a bar from your thighs up to your shoulders. The standard version uses a narrow grip. The exercise becomes safer by shifting to a wide grip (shoulder width). I like to go wider, as far as I comfortably can. I find this hits the side delts harder.
Muscles Worked
As noted, the Wide Grip Upright Row targets the lateral (side) deltoid. The lower and middle traps act as synergists, as well as the rear delts, brachioradialis, and biceps. Stabilizers include the upper traps.
Deltoids, Shoulders, What Are You Talking About?
I have described this exercise as working the side deltoid. However, it’s a shoulder exercise. What do I mean? The “shoulder muscles” are the entire group of muscles surrounding the shoulder joint. This includes, among several other muscles, the deltoids. There are 3 deltoid muscles: the Anterior, Lateral, and Posterior. In simpler terms, that’s front, side, and rear.
Narrow vs. Wide Grip
Both grips hit the side delts, but the narrow grip works the traps more. The exercise becomes safer by shifting to a wide grip (shoulder width). As noted, I usually go even wider for more side delt stimulation.
Variations
This exercise can be done with dumbbells, resistance bands, kettlebells, or a low cable machine using D-handles, a rope handle, EZ bar attachment, or a straight bar attachment.
Add Them To Your Routine
Example Routine # 1
Here’s a sample shoulder routine. I suggest doing this as part of your Push Day (chest, shoulders, and triceps). This would assume you’ve already warmed up.
Overhead Press – 3 sets – 12, 10, 8 reps
I prefer a regular bar or EZ bar, but you can use the Smith machine, a weight stack machine, resistance bands, or dumbbells.
Wide Grip Upright Rows – 3 sets – 10-12 reps
Dumbbell Side Laterals – 2 sets – 12, 10 reps
Dumbbell Rear Laterals – 3 sets – 12, 10, 8 reps
Behind the Back Shrugs – 3 sets – 10-12 reps
While traps are part of the shoulder muscles, many lifters do them with their back. I usually do them both on Push Day, and sometimes on Pull Day (back, biceps).
Performance Tips
Use an explosive but controlled concentric and a slow eccentric. Your tempo should be 2 seconds up and 4 seconds down. On your last set of every exercise, hold at the fully stretched position for a 3-4 second pause.
Make sure you’re working hard enough. None of this stopping at the listed rep totals when you could easily knock out 3-5 more reps. Always train hard, in fact you should fail within the prescribed rep totals.
Example Routine # 2
You can implement various extended set techniques, such as rest pause, or for side and rear laterals, drop sets and/or supersets. Here is another example routine that takes the above exercises and implements these intensity techniques.
Overhead Press – 3 sets – 12, 10, 8 reps – Use rest-pause on every set.
Wide Grip Upright Rows – 3 sets – 10-12 reps – Use partials at the end of every set
Drop Set Superset
Dumbbell Side Laterals, go right into
Dumbbell Rear Laterals
1 set – 8 reps, drop to the next lightest dumbbell, do as many reps as possible, drop to the next lightest dumbbell, finish with as many reps as possible.
Behind the Back Shrugs – 3 sets – 10-12 reps, rest-pause.
Performance Tips
As above, perform a 2 second concentric and 4 second eccentric. Even on your most intense sets, perform a 4 second pause in the fully stretched position on your last set. Routine # 2 is intense, if you do it right, you should be unable to do more. If you can do more, you aren’t training hard enough.
Add These Supplements
Of course, the first supplement you should invest in is a good protein powder, such as Hi-Tech Precision Protein. Besides the fact that it tastes delicious, this protein optimizes protein synthesis by breaking down and digesting faster. This allows leucine to be released sooner. By making leucine more bioavailable, protein synthesis is stimulated sooner. Cool, huh?
From there, choose a great pre-workout such as Gorilla Mind Gorilla Mode, one of the best pre-workouts currently available. Finally, I advise a post-workout shake, and I suggest mixing EFX Sports Karbolyn with your Precision Protein. Or, you can mix fresh fruit and Greek yogurt with your protein powder. Since you’re building muscle, you’ve got to have creatine and, if maximum mass is your goal, I suggest prohormones. Since you’re visiting illpumpyouup.com, take the time and stock up on your supplement needs.
In Summary
As you can see, the Wide Grip Upright Row is a great exercise that will help you achieve those super-impressive wide delts. They’ll also hit the traps. Follow the suggestions in this article, and you’ll be on your way to the barn-door width you’ve been aiming for!
References:
- https://exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidLateral/BBUprightRow