Ah, Training Your Shoulders! There’s a lot you can do when you train these – and there’s nothing like great shoulders! Good shoulder development is a big key to a complete physique. One of the muscles of the shoulder are the deltoids, or delts. Huge cannonball delts add a lot of width. When I think of delts like that, I think of guys like Gary Strydom, Larry Scott, the first Mr. Olympia, and guys like Dorian Yates. Of course, you have your own favorites (probably more recent guys). In this article Series on Shoulder Training, we’re going to cover everything you need to know to build big shoulders. Let’s get going with Part 1!
The Importance Of Training Your Shoulders
The shoulders are one of the most important muscles in the body. The deltoids are a major part of this area. If you’re a bodybuilder, you have to be sure you train all 3 deltoid heads. It’s easy to neglect the muscles you can’t see, such as your rear deltoids. Also, as noted the side deltoids help build width, one of the keys to the coveted V taper. Can you imagine Arnold, Yates, or any of the bodybuilding greats with narrow-looking shoulders? Not to mention, the front deltoids are directly involved in exercises such as bench presses.
Functional Benefits
The functional benefits of the shoulders include anything that involves the upper body. This includes passing something across a table. It also includes lifting a suitcase or briefcase, and lifting overhead. These are only a few activities the shoulders are involved in. You can see how important strong, well-developed shoulders are. Avoiding injury is important because it affects more than the shoulders. Therefore, understanding how to do the exercises will help you develop strong, injury-free shoulders.
Shoulder Anatomy
Before you can correctly exercise a muscle, you need to know what the function of that muscle is. You’ll get limited results if you just rush into the gym and start throwing weights around. With that in mind, let’s look at the anatomy of the shoulders.
The shoulder is a ball-and-socket joint. It sits between the humerus bone of the upper arm and the scapula bone (shoulder blade). The shoulders are complex and have the greatest range of motion of any joint in your body. (1, 2)
Here’s an example:
Six Major Movements Of The Shoulder
- Flexion – Your upper arm is elevated forward toward your face.
- Extension – Your arm moves backward behind your body.
- Abduction – Your arm moves up and out to the side of your body.
- Adduction – Your arm pulls in toward the side of your body.
- Internal rotation – Your arm pulls your forearm toward your body
- External rotation – Your arm pulls your forearm away from your body.
Now Let’s Look At The Function Of The Deltoids
As noted, the deltoids are part of the shoulder muscles. The deltoids form a “cap” over the shoulder joint. Also as noted, the deltoids have three heads. First, the front head is also called the anterior deltoid. Next, the middle head is also called the lateral deltoid. Finally, the rear head is also called the posterior deltoid.
Here’s the function of each:
Anterior or Front Deltoid – Raises your arm to the front of the body. It pulls your arm across your body.
Lateral or Middle Deltoid – Elevates your arm perpendicular to the body. This moves your arm to the side, as in lateral raises.
Posterior or Rear Deltoid – Pulls the arm back.
Let’s Look At The Rotator Cuffs And Traps
The name rotator cuffs describe four small muscles that hold the shoulders in place. These allow your arm to rotate at the shoulder. They are important for the strength and stability of the shoulders. These muscles originate from the scapula (maybe better known as the shoulder blade) and go across the shoulder joint. They attach to the humerus bone of the upper arm. (1, 2)
The traps, or trapezius, is the muscle at the base of the neck. Think of that enormous explosion of muscle around the neck when hitting a most-muscular pose. The traps raise your shoulders, rotate your shoulder blades, and turn your head. (1)
When Should I Train Traps?
You can train your traps with your back or your shoulders. That’s the thing about traps, even though they are part of the shoulders, lots of lifters see them as part of the back. Therefore, there’s no wrong time to train them. However, to make this Series complete, we will include trap work with our shoulder work.
Shoulder Injuries
The complexity of the shoulder joint can make it susceptible to injury. Two common problems are shoulder dislocation and shoulder impingement.
Shoulder Dislocation
Shoulder dislocation means your upper arm bone has popped out of your shoulder joint. Your shoulder can dislocate in several ways: forward, downward, or backward. A dislocated shoulder is very painful. (3)
Shoulder Impingement
Shoulder impingement takes place when bones in your shoulder rub against or pinch your rotator cuff. It happens when swelling in the area makes your rotator cuff too big to comfortably fit between your bones. (4)
Can I Use Machines?
I tend to prefer free weights, I always have. But, now I’m training more at the gym. If your gym has decent shoulder machines, feel free to try them out. The typical Shoulder Press machine isn’t bad, and of course, you can use cables instead of dumbbells. The advantage is that a cable lateral, for example, will provide even, constant tension across the entire range of motion. As mentioned, give machines a shot and see how you like them. Regardless, I would never abandon free weights, especially a compound shoulder exercise such as Overhead Presses.
Training Your Shoulders – Part 1 Summary
As you can see, there’s a lot to the shoulder muscles. Training them sufficiently will therefore require a range of exercises. As we will see in Part 2, they are also fun to use various intensity techniques with, such as drop sets, to name one. With that in mind, let’s jump to Part 2 and get ready to train!
References:
- Bodybuilding Anatomy: Shoulders • Bodybuilding Wizard (bodybuilding-wizard.com)
- Normal Shoulder Range of Motion (healthline.com)
- https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/shoulder-dislocation#:~:text=Dislocation%20of%20your%20shoulder%20means,dislocated%20shoulder%20is%20very%20painful.
- https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/shoulder-impingement-rotator-cuff-tendinitis