Boulder shoulders

[Tatersalad]

These shoulders have come a long way but all kinds of room for improvement. Military press, front raise, lateral raise, dumbbell presses, rear delt machine, and smith machine raises. About all I know. Am I missing anything important or just need to stay at it?

 

[Test_Subject]

These shoulders have come a long way but all kinds of room for improvement. Military press, front raise, lateral raise, dumbbell presses, rear delt machine, and smith machine raises. About all I know. Am I missing anything important or just need to stay at it?

You have the basics down. Keep hammering those and progressing and you’ll get where you want to be.

Front raises kind of suck, but that’s another discussion. You’re better off hitting anterior delts with incline bench, weighted dips etc. Way better bang for your buck.

Shoulders respond very well to volume, so don’t be afraid to run the rack on lateral raises.

 

[wsmwannabe]

Neutral grip OHP has always built my front two delt heads the best. Think of an Arnold press without the supination at the bottom

EDIT: nope I said that wrong, I meant that the palms should be facing each other throughout the entire ROM

 

[cmK9s33]

Neutral grip OHP has always built my front two delt heads the best. Think of an Arnold press without the supination at the bottom

EDIT: nope I said that wrong, I meant that the palms should be facing each other throughout the entire ROM

To that end, a viking press attachment (if your gym has one) is a great accessory or even part time main overhead lift.

 

[Jestopherson]

Try anterior delt Flys. Sit like you would to do dbell press but instead to a fly motion. Only go to just about parallel and come up with a hard squeeze. Run lighter weights.

 

[Jestopherson]

Neutral grip OHP has always built my front two delt heads the best. Think of an Arnold press without the supination at the bottom

EDIT: nope I said that wrong, I meant that the palms should be facing each other throughout the entire ROM

Using one of those barbells with the neutral grip handles? No idea what it's called

 

[Tatersalad]

To that end, a viking press attachment (if your gym has one) is a great accessory or even part time main overhead lift.

I will have to look that up. LoL I don't even know what that is.

 

[EazyE]

You have the basics down. Keep hammering those and progressing and you’ll get where you want to be.

Front raises kind of suck, but that’s another discussion. You’re better off hitting anterior delts with incline bench, weighted dips etc. Way better bang for your buck.

Shoulders respond very well to volume, so don’t be afraid to run the rack on lateral raises.

Totally my philosophy on shoulders too. Mine only really improved when I stopped focusing too much on overhead pressing and more on laterals and lots of volume. Took an injury to figure that out! Incline presses give me all the delt pressing I need. Plus hit my chest too. But lateral work is where it’s at for sure.

 

[Canknucklehead]

Keep hammering away with the basics... military press, db press, smythe machine press... blast the hell out of these until you can rep 2 3 plates a side and you will have “Boulder” shoulders

 

[Canknucklehead]

Oh and keep crushing your protein calories and keep yourself in a nice anabolic state

 

[wsmwannabe]

Using one of those barbells with the neutral grip handles? No idea what it's called

I’ve always heard it called a Swiss bar but I’m not sure how many people are familiar with that. I’ve built a nasty overhead press with that bar.

 

[malfeasance]

These shoulders have come a long way but all kinds of room for improvement. Military press, front raise, lateral raise, dumbbell presses, rear delt machine, and smith machine raises. About all I know. Am I missing anything important or just need to stay at it?

Might even want to back off some if you are doing all of those exercises each time.

One heavy pressing type exercise, lateral raise for the medial head, and a rear delt exercise, and call it a day. Personally, I reverse the order nowadays, rear delt, medial head, and then a heavy pressing exercise. Then call it a day. The first two (rear and medial) are higher reps (12-15) and sets, and the last is less sets and as heavy as possible for 8-15 reps.

Try that for a few weeks.

Oh, and drop body fat. Shoulders don't show well at higher levels of bodyfat. Just making a snap judgment off the pic you posted in the first post, no definition of anything visible in that pic.

When you drop bodyfat down, it is like carving a statue - the fat between the shoulder and the arm is, visually, scooped out, leaving a defined shoulder and arm separation, which makes the shoulder look rounder. On the other hand, with higher bodyfat, the line of the shoulder does not curve in toward the arm, making it look round, but is simply buried in fat and visually lost.

Think of drawing an outline of a head and torso on a piece of paper. When you draw the round head, neck, traps, and then get to the shoulders, the shoulder line just goes straight down the arm in a straight line, or you carve out that fat, and now the line you draw is rounded to connect to the arm.

 

[cmK9s33]

I’ve always heard it called a Swiss bar but I’m not sure how many people are familiar with that. I’ve built a nasty overhead press with that bar.

There's swiss bars and football bars but I'm not sure of the difference to be honest (or if there even is one lol). A little tough to maintain a front rack for the heavy stuff. You could also use a hex bar and stand inside it. Granted, you'd ideally have one of the ones that's rackable instead of the standard sized ones.

 

[wsmwannabe]

There's swiss bars and football bars but I'm not sure of the difference to be honest (or if there even is one lol). A little tough to maintain a front rack for the heavy stuff. You could also use a hex bar and stand inside it. Granted, you'd ideally have one of the ones that's rackable instead of the standard sized ones.

As a strongman competitor, the swiss bar is the closest bar you can use to a log, and when you have to build a max log, that's the best bar for it IMO, outside of the log itself. But always having to clean a log takes a lot of energy once it gets heavy enough.

And yea, I don't worry about a front rack, just gotta hold it static between reps.

 

[Tatersalad]

Might even want to back off some if you are doing all of those exercises each time.

One heavy pressing type exercise, lateral raise for the medial head, and a rear delt exercise, and call it a day. Personally, I reverse the order nowadays, rear delt, medial head, and then a heavy pressing exercise. Then call it a day. The first two (rear and medial) are higher reps (12-15) and sets, and the last is less sets and as heavy as possible for 8-15 reps.

Try that for a few weeks.

Oh, and drop body fat. Shoulders don't show well at higher levels of bodyfat. Just making a snap judgment off the pic you posted in the first post, no definition of anything visible in that pic.

When you drop bodyfat down, it is like carving a statue - the fat between the shoulder and the arm is, visually, scooped out, leaving a defined shoulder and arm separation, which makes the shoulder look rounder. On the other hand, with higher bodyfat, the line of the shoulder does not curve in toward the arm, making it look round, but is simply buried in fat and visually lost.

Think of drawing an outline of a head and torso on a piece of paper. When you draw the round head, neck, traps, and then get to the shoulders, the shoulder line just goes straight down the arm in a straight line, or you carve out that fat, and now the line you draw is rounded to connect to the arm.

Mal, do you have any pics of yourself on here? I have never seen a pic of the beast that goes by Maleficent

 

[MindlessWork]

Getting shoulders to grow is my sore point...

 

[MindlessWork]

Try anterior delt Flys. Sit like you would to do dbell press but instead to a fly motion. Only go to just about parallel and come up with a hard squeeze. Run lighter weights.

I should give these a go too. Thanks for that one.

 

[cmK9s33]

As a strongman competitor, the swiss bar is the closest bar you can use to a log, and when you have to build a max log, that's the best bar for it IMO, outside of the log itself. But always having to clean a log takes a lot of energy once it gets heavy enough.

And yea, I don't worry about a front rack, just gotta hold it static between reps.

Ah, gotcha. Wasn't considering the strongman aspect of it. Should have given your handle.

 

[malfeasance]

Mal, do you have any pics of yourself on here? I have never seen a pic of the beast that goes by Maleficent

Just remember that just because I look like shit, does not mean that I do not know what I am talking about.

Anyway, post #13,036, pic was recent when posted and at 53, so keep in mind my age when you see it and go easy on me. Bodybuilding is definitely tougher to do as you age.

Who is our biggest, most shredded member at Meso?

thinksteroids.com

 

[Tatersalad]

Just remember that just because I look like shit, does not mean that I do not know what I am talking about.

Anyway, post #13,036, pic was recent when posted and at 53, so keep in mind my age when you see it and go easy on me. Bodybuilding is definitely tougher to do as you age.

Who is our biggest, most shredded member at Meso?

thinksteroids.com

LoL, I never said you didn't know what you was talking about. It's very obvious you are an intelligent man. You look amazing brother. I can't even imagine all that.