I’ve been working out for a while and am currently following a good workout routine from my trainer. The one thing that I am having difficulties with though, is building strong shoulders.
I do all the recommended exercises but it seems like i cannot gain any size on my shoulders. How come? I’ve been doing presses, raises etc…but barely notice any change. My back and chest are fine and i see progress…it’s just the shoulders. Should i use different reps?
Remember that you should provide as much information as possible to get better answers. Right now I’d ask you to supply the info listed :
[quote]kinein wrote:
Remember that you should provide as much information as possible to get better answers. Right now I’d ask you to supply the info listed :
[/quote]
exactly, show us your workout routine. but if anything, the most obvious answer is not enough volume or frequency on that specific muscle group, or maybe your just genetically weak in that area.
since i am doing a general upper-lower body split, i do not focus too much on the shoulders. but still, they are the one area that doesnt seem to gain any size.
i am currently doing 2 upper and 2 lower body days per week, most followed by 15 minutes of HIIT cardio. I started about 5 weeks ago.
upper body is:
I usually change the workout up for the next upper body workout. for example, I will put in some upright rows and shoulder shrugs and leave out the front and side raise.
I am not trying to become huge but would like to see a bit of growth in my shoulders.
I am trying to keep this routine because it seems to workout good for me (timewise).
[quote]Philly wrote:
since i am doing a general upper-lower body split, i do not focus too much on the shoulders. but still, they are the one area that doesnt seem to gain any size.
i am currently doing 2 upper and 2 lower body days per week, most followed by 15 minutes of HIIT cardio. I started about 5 weeks ago.
upper body is:
I usually change the workout up for the next upper body workout. for example, I will put in some upright rows and shoulder shrugs and leave out the front and side raise.
I am not trying to become huge[/quote]WOW[quote] but would like to see a bit of growth in my shoulders.
I am trying to keep this routine because it seems to workout good for me (timewise).[/quote]
If you want something to grow work it first. if you stop seeing weekly gains in strength with a excercise then switch it, Barbell press to dumbell press etc. You could also just change the reps.
If your eating right and not growing Your routine dosent work good for you. What are you thinking? You want to make no progress in the gym because it fits in your schedule?!
Also you said you arent focusing on shoulders…
You answered your own question, You have to train the shoulder so it grows.
i want to keep the routine means that i think it works very good overall and timewise as well. i am just trying to adjust my shoulder exercise so that i will get more out of it.
i think i will try what u said. just changing the excercises and mixing it up. maybe thats the key
thanks
Well when it comes to your shoulders, it seems very generic even for a beginner, try adding in more volume. More sets, and more variations.
It’s too bland the way it is and not challenging at all.
Drop all the extra crap and do military press or push press with heavier weights (try 4x6). There’s no reason to do that many shoulder exercises on top of the bench press, and there’s no reason to stick with 3x10 if you’ve been “working out for a while”.
Also, I find it disturbing that your flies and raises are so close to your presses. This says that either your triceps are very weak or you’re really cheating–I would guess it’s a combination of both. Add a direct triceps exercise like the decline triceps extension. Use low reps and heavy weights.
I am not an advanced lifter by any means, but try adding some rear delt work.
Recently I have been making significant progress after adding some serious rear delt action into my shoulder workouts. Stuff like Laterals on an Incline Bench, and Face Pulls (also great for shoulder health) did wonders for me.
I personally think rear delts are incredibly underrated.
If the only problem you’re having with this routine is lack of progress in your shoulders try moving your shoulder work to the beginning of your workout.
Normally my shoulders and quads were absolutely pathetic. However, by doing the sheiko beginner routines and substituting bench press for push presses I got a fair bit of growth and strength out of that change while losing body fat.
I did the same for squats (leg presses) with similar effects. Yes I know that the squat is the king of quad builders but not for me. I seem to have been blessed with J-Lo syndrome and that only thing that ever grew from squats was my ass.
I just thought I would like to share my experiences of playing around with the sheiko routines.
Anyway, give it a go and good luck.
The muscles in your shoulders are not particularly big to start with. You should not expect them to grow significantly more (proportionately) than any other muscle. You notice changes in bigger muscles first, smaller muscles last because it takes a bigger % change for the smaller muscles to look bigger.
So the answer is to get bigger overall. Pity you said you didn’t want this.