One thing I noticed in looking at before/after photos of guys with good shoulders, is that the shoulders genuinely seem to get wider over time. This is in addition to building up the delts. It seems that the position of the shoulder girdle actually changes over time.
I don’t think this is just an illusion.
Any ideas which exercises might do this (over the period of a few years)?
Heavy overhead presses? Bench press? Weighted pullups/pulldowns?
There was a real old-school guy at my gym a few years back who swore that heavy breathing pullovers would expand the ribcage and widen the shoulder girdle.
OP can you do 20 strict push ups yet?
I think that one thing that causes this is better posture. I find that lifting really helps posture and good posture makes your shoulders appear broader.
[quote]furo wrote:
I think that one thing that causes this is better posture. I find that lifting really helps posture and good posture makes your shoulders appear broader. [/quote]
^this^
[quote]LoRez wrote:
Heavy overhead presses? Bench press? [/quote]
It should be a given, but it helps to do more pulling than pressing.
[quote]yolo84 wrote:
OP can you do 20 strict push ups yet?
[/quote]
Can op do a two times body weight below parallel squat yet? Or press body weight?
I don’t know what’s fact and what’s fiction, and don’t care about looking into some of the particulars, but I like the way Zraw summed up the theory on fascia/extreme stretching as advocated by DC. It doesn’t take any more than a couple minutes’ time, and what’s the worst it could hurt (other than the agonizing pain, of course.)
posture definitley doesnt make your shoulders look broader, i have found the opposite to be true. With my shoulders rounded forward, my lats were always sort of flexed and i looked a lot bigger from the front. Now that my rhomboids etc are stronger and my shoulders are pulled back in the proper position, i look even more narrow. I naturally have narrow clavicles, but they look worse since i sorted my posture.
don’t waste your time overhead pressing this is the dumbbest workout I’ve ever seen, just…NEVER DO IT.
Yeah I am significantly wider than before I started lifting.
the majority of width comes from building each head of the delts with isolations as well as building up the lats with compounds.
Thanks for the replies.
It was just a question, and one that didn’t really have a direct answer sitting in the archives (that I could find) There was the whole DC fascia stretching thread, but that’s all I found.
Noticed how I stay out of here for the most part now?
Your clavicle in one of the last bones to mature meaning you could have growth into your mid-twenties. This along with your spine and jaw. My wisdom teeth are still coming in at 24. Maybe your seeing this or possibly just the illusion of broader shoulders
You might be too old but the pullovers in our teens would be the first to target. It is suggested to do them just after heavy squatting(no brake) to benefit from the heavy breathing. Some buy help to improve, this might be why you see improvements over time.
All the best !
[quote]paulieserafini wrote:
don’t waste your time overhead pressing this is the dumbbest workout I’ve ever seen, just…NEVER DO IT.
Yeah I am significantly wider than before I started lifting.
the majority of width comes from building each head of the delts with isolations as well as building up the lats with compounds.[/quote]
lol you serious paulie? you dont overhead press at all?
[quote]wannabebig250 wrote:
[quote]paulieserafini wrote:
don’t waste your time overhead pressing this is the dumbbest workout I’ve ever seen, just…NEVER DO IT.
Yeah I am significantly wider than before I started lifting.
the majority of width comes from building each head of the delts with isolations as well as building up the lats with compounds.[/quote]
lol you serious paulie? you dont overhead press at all?[/quote]
IIRC, Waylanderxx said something to the measure of raises being more beneficial for delt growth than presses…
he’s a pretty big boy
[quote]paulieserafini wrote:
don’t waste your time overhead pressing this is the dumbbest workout I’ve ever seen, just…NEVER DO IT.
Yeah I am significantly wider than before I started lifting.
the majority of width comes from building each head of the delts with isolations as well as building up the lats with compounds.[/quote]
x2
Quit OHPing a while back and my shoulders have never looked or felt better.
I overhead press first in the workout. I don’t think my shoulders are held back because of it. If anything, they get more comments than anything else.
I don’t go all out in terms of weight because of risk of injury, but ignoring them doesn’t make much sense. I do tons of incline work also…but my goal was basketball shoulders…not “slightly bigger than average shoulders”. I agree to not make it the main concern, but the group-think approach should be avoided.
[quote]Mr. Walkway wrote:
[quote]wannabebig250 wrote:
[quote]paulieserafini wrote:
don’t waste your time overhead pressing this is the dumbbest workout I’ve ever seen, just…NEVER DO IT.
Yeah I am significantly wider than before I started lifting.
the majority of width comes from building each head of the delts with isolations as well as building up the lats with compounds.[/quote]
lol you serious paulie? you dont overhead press at all?[/quote]
IIRC, Waylanderxx said something to the measure of raises being more beneficial for delt growth than presses…
he’s a pretty big boy[/quote]
yea but i remember waylander posting videos of his OHP 315lbs for 6 reps. thats a huge OHP.
[quote]gregron wrote:
[quote]paulieserafini wrote:
don’t waste your time overhead pressing this is the dumbbest workout I’ve ever seen, just…NEVER DO IT.
Yeah I am significantly wider than before I started lifting.
the majority of width comes from building each head of the delts with isolations as well as building up the lats with compounds.[/quote]
x2
Quit OHPing a while back and my shoulders have never looked or felt better.[/quote]
I’m in the same boat here too. All OHP ever did was hit my anterior delts, did nothing to make my shoulders wider and just caused loads of injuries.
Zraw doesn’t OHP either I don’t think
[quote]rds63799 wrote:
[quote]gregron wrote:
[quote]paulieserafini wrote:
don’t waste your time overhead pressing this is the dumbbest workout I’ve ever seen, just…NEVER DO IT.
Yeah I am significantly wider than before I started lifting.
the majority of width comes from building each head of the delts with isolations as well as building up the lats with compounds.[/quote]
x2
Quit OHPing a while back and my shoulders have never looked or felt better.[/quote]
I’m in the same boat here too. All OHP ever did was hit my anterior delts, did nothing to make my shoulders wider and just caused loads of injuries.
Zraw doesn’t OHP either I don’t think[/quote]
There are a lot of people who don’t OHP much anymore and focus on laterals and John Meadows Mountain Dog training ideas.
Very helpful IMO. Shoulder pumps like I’ve never experienced before.
Barbell OHP was also killing my shoulders. Dumbbell presses were FAR superior.
I made great gains with heavy DB presses performed in an alternating fashion. However, I can’t pinpoint if it was the presses that upped my delt hypertrophy or the fact that they just made me stronger so I could perform heavier lateral raises - which I performed in many different ways, rep ranges and high volume.