How to Get Bigger Shoulders with Weights
Shoulders are one of those body parts that we fail to pay attention to when in the gym. Arms, abs and legs are more striking which is why sometimes we leave out the shoulders, thus creating an unflattering figure. If you want to achieve more muscular shoulders, next in oneHOWTO we explain how to get bigger shoulders with, but remember that you should never focus on a single muscle group if you want to prevent disproportion or injury.
Steps to follow:
The first exercise we highly recommend for bigger shoulders is the military press. Standing or sitting on a bench, with arms parallel to your shoulders, grab the bar and upload it from the shoulders to fully extend your arms.
You should start the military press exercise by lifting the bar from in front of your face, but you can do this from behind (from behind your shoulder). In both cases, the more you close the hands the more the triceps work, and as you open them you work the trapezius. In any case, you will be exercising your shoulders.
Do 3 set of 6 presses each, making sure you rest for 60 minutes .
A variant of the previous is to do the same exercise but using dumbbells. The seated dumbbell press is considered one of the best exercises for shoulders.
To do this exercise, you sit with your back straight and feet flat on the floor. Concentrate on controlling the rise and fall, inhaling as you raise and breathing out as you lower them. A common mistake is to move the torso, try to avoid doing this.
Again, do 3 more sets of 6 repetitions with 60 seconds rest in between.
Now we focus on the front and side deltoids, an exercise where we also use barbells or dumbbells. Stand with your knees slightly bent (this is vital for stability) and a barbell or dumbbell in each hand. Slightly bend your elbows to avoid problems and lift elbows to shoulder height. Try not to push the rest of your body with your shoulders, try to gain control of the rise and fall.
To work your rear deltoids you can do a similar exercise to the previous exercise but lying face down on the bench (ideally at an inclination of 90 degrees, but you can tilt the bench slightly if you find it too hard). With a barbell or dumbbell in each hand we rise them up to shoulder height. It will be difficult to do this so use a little less weight. Perhaps in the first repetition you will struggle to lift the weights so you can help yourself by pushing yourself up, but only do this when strictly necessary.
Do 3 sets of 10 reps resting for 60 seconds in between sets.
Another great exercise for your shoulders is the dumbbell front raise. This will work out both your medial and posterior deltoids, which you should not miss out on. In order to do so, hold one dumbbell from one of its tips with both hands. With your back straight, lift the dumbbell from downwards to the front of your chest, without bending your arms. Bring the dumbbell down once more and repeat.
Do 3 sets of 10 repetitions while resting 60 seconds in between sets.
If there are instructors in your gym do not hesitate to ask for their advice on these positions, your technique, weight or number of sets and repetitions you should do; but with these exercises we can generally follow a routine that includes 4 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions each without any problems.
In terms of weight, start light to become familiar with the technical elements and once you have mastered these you can start adding additional weight. At oneHOWTO we tell you about how often you can increase weight lifting.
Besides these exercises to have bigger shoulders there are others that can help us gain weight. Among the most common are chest or bench presses, especially sloped ones which have greater impact on shoulders.
Push ups, weightlifting, clean and jerk exercises, working the trapezius, rowing... all these exercises will also help us larger shoulder muscles, which is what we want.
If you want to read similar articles to How to Get Bigger Shoulders with Weights, we recommend you visit our Fitness category.
Tips
- Remember to build the rest of your muscles in order to avoid the V shape, which is very unflattering and will only make it obvious you're working out.
