Have you seen the guy in the gym that does endless sets of shoulder presses, front raises, with a few sets of side laterals? From the front all is well, the front delt is huge in proportion to his chest muscles, and it looks great. Once he turns to the side, his middle delt is small, his rear delt is not anywhere to be seen, and his middle and upper traps are deflated!
After my first year of training, I was that guy. I thought shoulder presses took care of everything, I thought shrugs would not only make my traps peak high, which they did, but also thicken my upper back area, which they did not. If you look at young Arnold and his side chest, you will see what I mean. At 19 he took a 3 year period to work on this area and by 22 when he threw a twisting back double biceps, he was huge. So I decided to do what he did and I devised a plan to bring my weak areas up, and this is how I did it.
This is unconventional, but in order to bring up what I lacked, I had to attack my body from weakest to strongest.
This first movement is unseen in most gyms, but I assure you it works. Wide grip bent over rows, pulled toward my lower chest until my traps meet at the top of the movement. Using straps I’ll deadlift the weight up, bend over enough to where its comfortable for my structure, and row the weight up, feeling the complete movement hitting my entire trapezius muscle, hitting the area I need most to give that thick look I am desperate to achieve. Rows works in opposites, wide works inner, and close works outer, remember that whenever you are training back. I will complete 3 sets of 10-15 reps in pyramid style training.
Next up, rear delts. I will pick one of two movements, and do 3 sets of 10-20 reps. The lay down rear lateral is my favorite, but I will also do bent over laterals as well, depending on how everything’s reacting to the training that day. Find a bench and lay on your side in the most comfortable way possible, hold a dumbbell with palms facing your lower body(overhand style grip) and raise it up to a complete contraction. I personally like to get a full stretch at the bottom of the movement and raise it up up until the tension is less, then repeat. I like a lot of reps with this movement because I feel that the more blood that’s in there, the more time under tension, the better. Limit the body movement to what is absolutely necessary to continue the set without taking over the movement.
The other, bent over laterals are a simple movement, and with little body movement, a very effective one as well. I prefer to bend as far as having my stomach rest on my legs and knees, so I can put as much effort as possible into my rear delts. From that point just raise it up to a peak contraction, feel the rear delts work and slowly lower the weight, never touching at the bottom, since obviously, there’s no tension down there. 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps is what I like on this movement.
Now time for some thickness to the middle delt. The staple of middle delt training of course, side laterals. KEEP THE CHEATING TO A MINIMUM PLEASE!!! If there’s one thing I see too many times, its swinging the weight up and letting it fall, that does nothing but make you look foolish, even worse when you injure yourself. Take light dumbbells (yes light) and lift them up under control until they make your body look like a t, then under control slowly lower the weight to your side and feel the muscle you are working. Anywhere from 8-15 reps for 3 sets will give you a pump like no other.
Last up is a superset of wide grip upright rows, along with barbell/dumbbell shrugs. Take a weight that you can complete 8-12 reps and row it up until it reaches your upper chest, or a peak contraction depending on your structure. Slowly lower it down under control safely, and repeat. Then find a weight that you can complete 10-12 reps and shrug it, either a dumbbell or a barbell, both work very well. I use this as a finishing movement for my middle delts and upper traps, to bring them to failure and bring them up to match the front delts.
For front delts, I do nothing on shoulder day, I believe they are getting stimulation from my chest training, and every other week I will do underhand front raises to give them direct stimulation so they don’t atrophy, or shrink.
This program brings up weak points that are in a lot of bodybuilders physiques and with time, will give you a back double biceps that Arnold would even be proud of. Train hard, train right, and stay safe.
Author: Bobby Leone
