T Nation

Want Medial Delts?

Bodybuilding
#1

This is an advice for those who have trouble with the side delts…and from what I’ve seen they are not just a few of them…

The most common exercise for the side/medial deltoid head is the lateral raise.
Now you are gonna take that exercise but in a different way.

1-Grab some light dumbells.

2-Now your feet should be as close as posible, almost touching each other, only leave space to get the proper balance.

3-Now push dumbells down. Or the same as fully stretch/extend as much as possible your arms.

4-Raise it, but make sure you keep your traps unshruged(dont know if this word actually exist) and again like pushing the dumbell far away.

5-Do as many reps as you can with good tempo(slow negative, fast positive).

6-Do not pause either at the top or bottom.

7-Feel the pain.

8-Once you reach failure or almost, do partials from the bottom(lower position) like little swings(a la zraw).

9-Again the same concept with these partials(full ext, unshruged)

10-Enjoy the pain.

11-Get ready to get some real gainz in ur side delts my friends.

Nothing fancy but hope it helps!

#2

or focus making your elbows as wide as possible instead of raising them. When you can go no wider a small forward rotation of the upper arm will squeeze the delt. Makes all the difference. No need for 10 steps that won’t get followed correctly.

You can contract your delt fully, much like a peak contraction while flexing your arm, doing this seated with no weight if you have good proprieception

How do you work your arms/back/chest if you can’t flex them? Same goes for the delts

#3

Gironda

#4

Good breakdown of technique it took me a long time to figure how to use lateral raises effectively after seeing a lot of guys half shrugging half jumping far too much weight up without really recruiting any delt whatsoever

May I also add to keep shoulder blades retracted and chest semi puffed out, this cue helps me to keep the traps and front delt out of the movement

#5

[quote]lemony2j wrote:

May I also add to keep chest semi puffed out[/quote]

Like in a military/beach stance right? Yeah… thats excelent as well.

#6

For some reason, people have trouble recruiting the medial delts on lat raises. Maybe because a light weight is required, or maybe just tough to get the mind muscle connection.

-stand normal with good posture, feet slightly wider than shoulder width
-keep arms slightly internally rotated
-raise at 90 degree angle with elbows locked or almost locked
-feel the medial delt squeeze when your arm is parallell to or just above parallell to the ground, this is the lockout position
-try holdng the lockout position for a second or 2
-the lockout position, if done just right will stretch the chest and bicep, yes the chest and bicep
-the lockout position can be tough to find for some

For medial delts, I’ve become a big fan of BB and DB upright rows done a very certain way, behind the beck press, and standing DB overhead press with the elbows out and palms forward. Cable external rotations work also.

#7

Don’t forget to extend your head (look at the ceiling) to get the traps off work

Mat’

#8

I often suggest to perform these seated. Sure it will drop your weights down (oh, such a blow to the fragile ego), but it will better enable you to focus on actually contracting the target muscles.

S

#9

[quote]Matias A. wrote:

Nothing fancy but hope it helps!
[/quote]

Had no clue the “shrugging” was asinine. All the big dudes at the gym do it so I thought that was the right way. Doh!

Thanks.

#10

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
I often suggest to perform these seated. Sure it will drop your weights down (oh, such a blow to the fragile ego), but it will better enable you to focus on actually contracting the target muscles.

S[/quote]

Lol i figured this out at some point, seated is so much better for contracting on these

#11

[quote]giograves wrote:

[quote]Matias A. wrote:

Nothing fancy but hope it helps!
[/quote]

Had no clue the “shrugging” was asinine. All the big dudes at the gym do it so I thought that was the right way. Doh!

Thanks.[/quote]

Well to be honest im not a big guy for internet standars(lol if u know what i mean).
So if u are looking advice from the big guys then im not the right person.

But yeah most of the guys at my gym, big or small do them shrugging, and yes they got great traps but zero medial delts.

#12

The easy way to know if u are doing them wrong is that if you feel more trap action than delts.
For example when I do them, after the set I try to emulate the same pattern movement weightless and the shoulder burns man!
If not, you are doing something wrong mate!

#13

Where exactly is the medial deltoid again?

#14

Trying to raise the dumbbells and keeping them as far away as possible really hits the nail on the head for me.

#15

One of my favorite author…

page 2 :
‘So for lateral and posterior deltoid training, I advocate extending your elbow very close to fully, not using the scapular plane, and internally rotating your shoulder.’

Mat’

#16

[quote]mat_angus wrote:
One of my favorite author…

page 2 :
‘So for lateral and posterior deltoid training, I advocate extending your elbow very close to fully, not using the scapular plane, and internally rotating your shoulder.’

Mat’
[/quote]

Good article. Thanks for sharing.

#17

Reverse Grip Rope Cable Face Pull (Over the Head) with at least a 2-Count Hold
Savickas Press w/ a Max Time Mid-Point Iso-Hold at the end of each set.
Scott Dumbbell Press.
Leaning Away Straight-Arm Side Cable Pull (aka Leaning Side Raise).
Incline Bench Dumbbell Side Raise (slightly bent elbow)

#18

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
I often suggest to perform these seated. Sure it will drop your weights down (oh, such a blow to the fragile ego), but it will better enable you to focus on actually contracting the target muscles.

S[/quote]

This makes a huge difference as well. Also, keeping the arms at 10 and 2 if looking from a birds eye view. Then all you have to worry about is widening the elbows as far as possible and not raising them, followed by a small forward rotation of the upper arm at the peak. All these text steps are useless for a beginner to follow. You can’t be doing more thinking then actual doing

#19

Confused what everyone is saying here. Are you saying keep your arms as straight as possible like flapping wings or 90 degrees like when you use a lateral raise machine? I have seen so many versions of this exercise that I never know what’s correct. If you want wider shoulders what to you do?

[quote]Matias A. wrote:
This is an advice for those who have trouble with the side delts…and from what I’ve seen they are not just a few of them…

The most common exercise for the side/medial deltoid head is the lateral raise.
Now you are gonna take that exercise but in a different way.

1-Grab some light dumbells.

2-Now your feet should be as close as posible, almost touching each other, only leave space to get the proper balance.

3-Now push dumbells down. Or the same as fully stretch/extend as much as possible your arms.

4-Raise it, but make sure you keep your traps unshruged(dont know if this word actually exist) and again like pushing the dumbell far away.

5-Do as many reps as you can with good tempo(slow negative, fast positive).

6-Do not pause either at the top or bottom.

7-Feel the pain.

8-Once you reach failure or almost, do partials from the bottom(lower position) like little swings(a la zraw).

9-Again the same concept with these partials(full ext, unshruged)

10-Enjoy the pain.

11-Get ready to get some real gainz in ur side delts my friends.

Nothing fancy but hope it helps!
[/quote]

#20

Straight as possible, unsrhugged as possible