How to Build Balanced Shoulders

Knowing how to build balanced shoulders will add much to the look of your physique. Wide shoulders make the waist look smaller and your upper body look larger. The shoulders are also a key to upper body strength as they are used in all types of upper body strength movements. There are three separate muscle heads that make up your shoulders, also called the deltiods. A balanced shoulder workout needs to include exercises that work all three of the deltoid heads. There is the front deltoid, the side deltoid, and the rear deltoid. A quality shoulder workout will lead to muscle tone and growth for the front, side and rear deltoid.Whether you are a training for a specific sport or just looking to stay fit, building wide, balanced shoulders are a must.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Weightlifting Belt
• Lifting Partner/Spotter

Build Balanced Shoulders

1. Warm-up: A proper warm-up is essential to the continued health of your shoulder. A quick five minutes on the stationary bike or treadmill will get the blood flowing throughout your body. After which, you should stretch out your shoulders and arms to ready them for the weights to come.

2. Execute Front Deltoid Exercise: The front shoulder or deltoid is generally the strongest of the the three heads. There are many exercises to work the front deltoids. The most popular being the shoulder press. The shoulder press is the primary mass builder for the entire shoulder muscle group, but does focus most on the front deltoid.

3. Execute Side Deltoid Exercise: The side deltoids are important in adding width to the shoulder muscles. Though it gets worked during the shoulder press, you will want to perform an exercise to isolate this head of the shoulder muscle. Side laterals are the best way to isolate the side deltoid.

4. Execute Rear Deltoid Exercise: The rear deltoids are easily overlooked, but it is important to make sure you work them the same as your other two shoulder heads. Bent-over laterals are the best exercise for isolating the rear head of the deltoid muscle.

5. Execute Trapezius Exercise: The trapezius muscle is the large muscle that connects the shoulders to the neck. It is a good idea to train this muscle at the same time as you do your shoulders. Upright rows or shoulder shrugs are excellent exercises to train your Trapezius.

Tips & Warnings

• Having a training partner or spotter helps not only for safety reasons, but can also help to push you on each exercise and make your workouts more intense and efficient.
• Shoulder presses can be done with either a barbell or a dumbbell. If you are looking to add mass and strength, go with sets of 8 repetitions or less. If you are looking for tone, go with 8 repetitions or higher.
• Side laterals and bent-over laterals can be done with either dumbbells, cables or machines. These are normally exercises best done with higher repetitions in the range of 10 to 15 per set.
• Always use a weightlifting belt on all shoulder exercises to protect your lower back from the strain of the weight, especially exercises in which the weight is lifted over the head.
• Always use a spotter on any overhead press to reduce the risk of injury.
• Make sure to move up in weight slowly to allow your muscles and joints to get used to the increased weight. Jumping too quickly to a maximum weight can lead to shoulder injury.

Resources

• Workouts from Flex Magazine for those with specific shoulder problems.
• Additional tips for builder overall shoulder muscle.
• Tips on how to avoid debilitating shoulder injuries.

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