Tips for Shoulder Width?

Start your shoulder workout with mid shoulder work (do warmup, though!). Cables raises work much better for me than DB’s (I’m guessing better loading at the stretched position). Use half reps at the end. Twice a week works better for me. Its a small muscle, and these are not compound movements.

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]DeltaOne wrote:
I’ll add this, I’m starting to think mid deltoid work is a bit overrated.
[/quote]

?

It isn’t. If you want wide shoulders, get to doing side laterals with more than 65lbs and tell me they don’t look like cannon balls.

My shoulders were not always a strong point at all. I go pretty heavy on side lateral exercises though.

You don’t build them with light weight.

You may refine what you built that way, but it won’t put the size on.[/quote]

I can do laterals with 65’s.

Now let me rephrase that sentence. I believe isolation work for the medial delts, such as laterals, is a bit overrated. It should be part of the shoulder-building arsenal, but not the main gun.

one thing i notice that really works with laterals and shoulders is reps in the 9-12 range so do laterals but strict, no momentum, you will use lighter weight. up to ear levelslowly down. When you cant do full reps, dont cheat, continue doing reps, partials til you are only getting your arms to raise just a little. It almost becomes isometric when you cant raise more than 3-4 inches and hold the top for a ssecond or two.

With all the prefatigue, supersets, etc… this one trick did the most to pump up the area. On shoulder day focus mostly on your side deltsAlso any cables side laterals again, done slowly and with peak contractioni and go past the burn…

I finish off with cables for rear and side 2-3 sets each side, one side at a time with cables you can get a super stretch and get peak resistance at same time.

one thing i notice that really works with laterals and shoulders is reps in the 9-12 range so do laterals but strict, no momentum, you will use lighter weight. up to ear levelslowly down. When you cant do full reps, dont cheat, continue doing reps, partials til you are only getting your arms to raise just a little. It almost becomes isometric when you cant raise more than 3-4 inches and hold the top for a ssecond or two.

indeed.

body blade

Dunno if it’s been said already, but try doing lateral raises with a constant prone grip, locking your knuckle side forward, kinda like you’re griping a bar and doing Upright rows.

For those with shoulder issues, especially SIS, consider doing your laterals in the scapular plane. That is, hold your arms out from your sides. Now move them forward 30 degrees. This is where you want to be doing your laterals for shoulder health.

[quote]Akuma01 wrote:
Dunno if it’s been said already, but try doing lateral raises with a constant prone grip, locking your knuckle side forward, kinda like you’re griping a bar and doing Upright rows.[/quote]

Elaborate pls. I think i’ve got you. Do you mean raising so that kind of like a reverse hammer curl in that the underside of your fist will be on top at the top of the movement? Does that make sense? If so, I do these also and like them.

Best quick example i could find. At 2:56 in, hes doing lateral raises. What to notice is that his fists are staying forward at the top at the movement. I believe this helps put a greater strain on the lateral head down to its insertion, and the result will be creating a better “pop” of the delt outward.

[quote]Akuma01 wrote:

Best quick example i could find. At 2:56 in, hes doing lateral raises. What to notice is that his fists are staying forward at the top at the movement. I believe this helps put a greater strain on the lateral head down to its insertion, and the result will be creating a better “pop” of the delt outward.[/quote]

Ok gotcha. Here’s a classic demonstration along similar lines:

For me what made them grow was doing heavy partials for 15-20 reps, then taking off 40lbs and doing partials again with a larger ROM then finally going to only 20-30lbs and doing 8-12 reps with full ROM

oh yeah this was for db lateral raises. Ive been doing like 2 working sets for each head lately but going heavy and theyve been growing a lot now aswell.

Ill gradually raise the sets over time, but when i do heavy i use a supinated grip its the only way i can do it without hurting my shoulder

[quote]Test Icicle wrote:
For those with shoulder issues, especially SIS, consider doing your laterals in the scapular plane. That is, hold your arms out from your sides. Now move them forward 30 degrees. This is where you want to be doing your laterals for shoulder health.

[/quote]

Due to shoulder issues, this is how I perform them. However, I do mine while holding a slight forward lean.

[quote]dannyrat wrote:

[quote]Akuma01 wrote:

Best quick example i could find. At 2:56 in, hes doing lateral raises. What to notice is that his fists are staying forward at the top at the movement. I believe this helps put a greater strain on the lateral head down to its insertion, and the result will be creating a better “pop” of the delt outward.[/quote]

Ok gotcha. Here’s a classic demonstration along similar lines:

great old video. larry scott, nice. many of the points addressed in this thread are addressed are within this video. leading w/ those elbows allows a bit heavier movement, as mentioned nobody builds big shoulders w/ 20lb dbs.

Anybody favor BB widegrip upright rows over DB laterals ?

first off you need to check your ego at the door and use a weight you can be very strict with!

up your volume with barbell presses, don’t lock out at the top as it keeps the tension on the shoulders (time under tension equals growth) and a lot of very strict DB lateral raises in the 8-10 rep group, try putting this in 3 times a week for about a month before reverting back to your normal routine and this should see noticeable difference!

[quote]tolismann wrote:
Anybody favor BB widegrip upright rows over DB laterals ?[/quote]

They are two different movements, targeting different things. That being said, i recall reading that upright rows are a dangerous movement that put a lot of stress on the shoulder joint. Id recommend laying face down on an incline bench and doing Front DB raises if you wanted some great front head isolation

Since I started using Meadows’ shoulder training principles, along with still progressing in weight on overhead pressing variations, my shoulder width has increased a good deal. Partial lateral raises and ultra-high rep machine felt raises, I feel, really hit the delts hard and have contributed a great deal to my increased width.

[quote]cyruseven75 wrote:

[quote]dannyrat wrote:

[quote]Akuma01 wrote:

Best quick example i could find. At 2:56 in, hes doing lateral raises. What to notice is that his fists are staying forward at the top at the movement. I believe this helps put a greater strain on the lateral head down to its insertion, and the result will be creating a better “pop” of the delt outward.[/quote]

Ok gotcha. Here’s a classic demonstration along similar lines:

great old video. larry scott, nice. many of the points addressed in this thread are addressed are within this video. leading w/ those elbows allows a bit heavier movement, as mentioned nobody builds big shoulders w/ 20lb dbs. [/quote]

Key quote from Larry Scott “the deltoid doesn’t know where your hand is, just knows where your elbow is.” The principle arising from this (in my interpretation): spread with the elbow, raise with elbows high.

[quote]BDiddy19 wrote:
up your volume with barbell presses, don’t lock out at the top as it keeps the tension on the shoulders (time under tension equals growth) [/quote]

There are more than one variable that affect growth, focusing on one would be a mistake.

Am I the only one that does lateral raises with a supinated grip?? lol