Make your shoulder muscles burn!

Here's what you need to know...

1. Powerful looking shoulders will have the biggest impact on your overall appearance and even make your waist look smaller.
2. Remember to train bodybuilder style and avoid training like a grandmother. To get stubborn shoulders to grow, use a range of intensity techniques.
3. The pump serves a purpose. To get the most out of it, you need to activate the muscles and load them up with nutrients beforehand.
4. Build slow-growing shoulders by giving them at least one dedicated training day in the gym.

The V-shape turns heads

It doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman. Bigger shoulder muscles will make your waist look slimmer and give you that coveted V-shape upper body that tells the world you don't miss workouts.

Broad shoulders turn guys into guys and gals into athletic women. The best bodies feature a shoulder girdle that makes the waist look small.

Some have even gone so far as to calculate the perfect shoulder to waist ratio using classic bodybuilders. The best look is achieved when your shoulder circumference is 1.618 times your waist circumference.

However, you don't need to get out the tape measure. It's enough to know that one of the most important things you can do to improve your physical appearance is to build up your shoulder muscles.

There's just one problem with this. Some people are genetically punished with slow-growing shoulders. But we can make the most of our genetic potential in shoulder development by avoiding these training pitfalls.

5 reasons your shoulder muscles stop growing

1. you forget to train like a bodybuilder

Performing just one exercise for the shoulders won't cut it. This approach may be fine for strength, but not for hypertrophy.

So if you are married to shoulder presses and only perform shoulder presses for the shoulders, then your shoulder mass and shape change will stagnate after a while.

You need a variety of exercises to maximize all three shoulder muscle heads (anterior, lateral and posterior shoulder muscle head). You also need to use as much weight as you can tolerate at a range of different repetition ranges - not just the 1 to 5 range.

Remember that building muscle means increasing time under tension, using descending sets and mechanical descending sets, and knowing when to train with heavier weights and lower reps and when to train with slightly lighter weights and slightly higher reps.

2. you train like grandmothers

Yes, controlled (and even slow) eccentric repetition - the lowering or negative phase of the movement - is an important component of hypertrophy. But exercisers challenged by their shoulders often forget the importance of the concentric or lifting phase of the movement. They move the weight up with the speed of a grandmother.

Remember that a fast concentric tempo can recruit high threshold motor units, which have the greatest potential for muscle growth.

If you struggle with speed, pay more attention to the lifting phase. Move the weight up explosively and lower it back down to the starting point in a controlled manner.

Tip: De-emphasize the eccentric phase by counting each repetition at the beginning of the repetition rather than on the way back to the starting position.

Moving the weight up should feel powerful - even if there is a smooth transition from concentric to eccentric phase. Less Tai Chi, more Muay Thai.

Yes, using a steady cadence can be of value when performing multiple reps, but if you're letting an extra slow tempo stop you from increasing the weight, then you're doing something wrong.

3. forgetting to increase your training load

Do you habitually grab the same pair of dumbbells when you train shoulders? If you're using the exact same dumbbells week after week, try doing a few reps with dumbbells that are one step heavier than the dumbbells you've been using.

You may well surprise yourself and find that a few repetitions turn into a full set of 8 to 10 repetitions.

Don't worry if you can only manage two or three repetitions. Just do what you can and then reduce the weight to a weight you can handle better. Next time, try to do four repetitions before reducing the weight, then 5, then 6, and so on.

4. you pinch during a set

Some exercisers finish their workout sets when they have several more reps left in the tank.

Try rest-pause when you feel your muscles start to become fatigued. Pause briefly at the lowest point of the movement, take a few breaths and perform a few more reps before finishing the set or moving on to lighter weights for a descending set.

You will be able to work your shoulders and move the weight up explosively and have the energy to perform more repetitions. You may well feel your shoulders working even harder if you have to start the concentric phase without momentum from the previous repetition.

If rest-pause is not possible, then simply perform a few more repetitions with a lighter weight through descending sets.

5. you don't feel the shoulder muscles working

It is possible for an exerciser to perform a demanding shoulder training session and still barely feel their shoulder muscles being activated. It is as if the work has been done but the shoulders have slept through the training session.

Training the shoulders directly after a hard chest day can be the cause of this. Your chest will be activated during pressing exercises and you won't feel your shoulder muscles because your pecs are "screaming" too loudly. (And yes, women have this problem too).

The simple solution is to separate chest training from shoulder day in your training schedule, or you can train chest and shoulders on the same day, prioritizing shoulders first if they need a higher priority.

Another possible reason that you may not be able to create a mind-muscle connection with your shoulder muscles is that you are simply going through the motions. Wake up your shoulders, try to pause at the point of maximum contraction and consciously tense the shoulder muscles hard. Optimize your exercise form when you are in this paused position until you can feel stimulation in the shoulder muscles.

Then slowly lower the weight back down to the starting position and try to perform a few more sets with isometric pauses until you start to feel the tension. The rest of your reps should set your shoulders on fire - in a positive way. These pauses work really well with cable exercises like face pulls.

Hypertrophy training for the shoulders often burns and hurts - but make sure it hurts and burns in the right places. Not in your pecs, not in your biceps and not in your trapezius.

The pump is functional

It's not just good for selfies and poses in front of the mirror - achieving a muscle pump serves multiple purposes.

Pumping blood (and the nutrients it carries) into the muscle plays an important role in hypertrophy. The better you pump blood into a working muscle group, the more potential for growth that muscle group will have.

This means two things:

1. Techniques like the bodybuilding techniques described above that give you a stronger pump give you a greater chance for shoulder muscle growth. This means that training programs that lack such techniques are limited in their ability to make your muscles bigger.
2. The pump relies on nutrients being available to be pumped into the muscles. Have you ever gone to the gym starving? Muscles that lack nutrients do not reap these benefits. They suppress muscle growth when there are no nutrients available to be pumped into the muscles you are training.

This means that if you're obsessed with fat loss and are training on an empty stomach and empty glycogen stores, you can't expect to see stubborn shoulder muscles (or any other muscle group) grow. In fact, this is a perfect recipe for atrophy.

What's the best thing you can pump into your working muscle cells? Anabolic and insulinogenic nutrients. I use a high quality product with functional carbohydrates and hydrolyzed protein to fuel my muscles before and during training.

A dedicated shoulder day

The following training program should be performed on a dedicated shoulder training day. This is a very strenuous specialization program that should be performed once a week. If your shoulders are particularly stubborn, you can add some less strenuous shoulder training to another training session later in the week.

Shoulder presses with double descending sets:

Arnold Presses and shoulder presses will prepare your shoulders for the rest of the workout. Use a mechanical descending set to transition from Arnold Presses to dumbbell shoulder presses and then perform a descending set with a reduction in weight. For mechanical descending sets, do not reduce the weight, but use a slight modification to the exercise that allows you to perform more repetitions after reaching muscle failure.

Warm up

Choose a weight that is heavy enough to work your shoulders. Perform 10 to 15 clean repetitions with this weight. If you can do a lot of reps with ease, then your warm-up weight is too light and you should use a heavier weight.

You should feel tension in your shoulder muscles even when using your warm-up weight. Keep your warm-up weight within reach.

Work sets

1. Use a heavier pair of dumbbells. If you are a man, the weight should be heavy enough that you can perform no more than 7 to 8 repetitions. If you are a woman, you should not be able to do more than 8 to 10 repetitions. If you can do more than this number of repetitions, then you should increase the weight.
2. If you are unable to perform more repetitions of Arnold Presses, perform standard dumbbell shoulder presses (without rotation) using the same weight. You should be able to perform a few more repetitions, especially if you use rest-pause between the last repetitions.
3. Without pausing, grab your warm-up dumbbells and repeat: Arnold Presses to muscle failure and then dumbbell shoulder presses.

That's one set. Perform two more sets in the same way.

Flying movements for the rear shoulder muscles (side raises lying bent over) and front raises with a weight plate - descending set and superset:

Adjust the back pad of an incline bench so that your arms hang down in front of your body as you lie prone on the bench. Prepare three sets of dumbbells: heavy, medium and light. For our volume goals, "heavy" means a weight with which you can perform 12 to 15 clean repetitions.

Also place a 10 to 15 kilo weight plate within reach.

1. Start with the heavy dumbbells. Pause for a moment when you reach the point of muscle failure after 12 to 15 repetitions.
2. Without putting the weight down, perform as many partial repetitions through the lower part of the range of motion. You can use momentum on these partial repetitions as long as you feel your shoulder muscles working. If you are struggling to feel your shoulders working, try to straighten your elbows or position your wrists optimally.
3. After this, grab the medium dumbbells without resting and perform another set of flying movements for the back shoulder muscles. As soon as you start to feel fatigue, move on to partial repetitions with momentum.
4. Without pausing, grab the light dumbbells and perform another set.
5. Then stand up and perform 10 repetitions of front raises with the weight plate you prepared earlier. Move the plate up slightly above your head.
6. Repeat the whole exercise two more times.

It may be necessary to bend or straighten your elbows a little more, position your hands differently or change the angle at which you lift the dumbbells to get the tension in the right areas. Optimize the form of the exercise execution during the set if you don't feel the strain in your shoulders.

Reverse flying movements on the cable, side raises, alternating front raises as a compound set:

This is another great way to train all three shoulder muscle heads. If you prefer to do the last two exercises on the cable as well, feel free to do side raises on the cable and front raises on the cable. I prefer dumbbells because it is quicker to grip dumbbells than to set up the cable pull differently.

Don't worry if the dumbbells need to be light for this compound set - your shoulders should already be exhausted to some extent at this point.

• For reverse flying movements on the cable pulley: 10 - 15 repetitions, fast and controlled concentric movements. When you reach the point of muscle failure, perform a few partial repetitions in the lower or upper part of the range of motion. Then move on to side raises without pausing.
• For the side raise: 10 to 15 repetitions. There are several correct variations of this exercise. Choose the variation that feels best for you in terms of the joints and the mind-muscle connection.
• For the alternating front raise: Again, 10 to 15 repetitions. Try to maintain tension in the shoulder that is not being lifted.

Perform three rounds of this compound set.

Face pulls(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6wTUg_tA-A)

Perform face pulls at the end of your back day if you are no longer able to do them on your shoulder day. Face pulls work the back shoulder muscles like no other exercise.

Perform three or four sets throughout the range of motion. At the end of the range of motion, try to take a deliberate pause of 2 to 3 seconds if you are having trouble feeling this exercise in your shoulders. Go until just before the point of muscle failure. Your shoulders should hurt, not your joints. Your weight should not have to be heavy to feel your shoulders.

There are several face pull variations. I like the seated variation on a cable rowing machine. Find the best variation for you. Remember to keep your elbows high when doing this.

Tip: If you train your back the day after your shoulders, this is a great time to do this exercise at the end of your workout. Training shoulders the day before back training will not interfere with your back training. And if you train the shoulders lightly again on the back day, then you don't have to worry about training the same muscle group two days in a row. Doing this can even have a positive effect on hypertrophy.

Don't neglect face-pulls, as these will help you keep your shoulders healthy and you'll need healthy shoulders to keep training them hard enough to make them grow...which is exactly what will turn stubborn shoulders into impressive shoulders.

Supplements like Gods Rage and The Evil Narcotica can also boost your performance.

Summary of the training session

• A1 Arnold Presses, descending set
• A2 Dumbbell shoulder presses, descending set
• B1 Flying movements for the rear shoulder muscles, descending set and partial repetitions
• B2 Front raise with a weight plate
• C1 Reverse flying movements on the cable pulley with partial repetitions
• C2 Side raise
• C3 Dumbbell front lift
• D Face pulls

From Dani Shugart | 02/24/15

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/delts-on-fire,