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STRAIGHT-UP DELT WORKOUT FOR MASSIVE SHOULDERS

Last Updated on January 7, 2021

Scale back the weight to turn up the heat with this DOMs-inducing shoulder-building routine.

One of the worst feelings in the world is the anticipation of delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMs) that never materializes. You may feel a little tight the next day, but it’s not the kind of soul-rending ache in your muscle bellies that you typically associate with growth. These are the times when you typically commit to crafting (or adopting) a routine designed to remind those muscle fibers, whose growth-resistant antics now border on contempt, who is really in charge. And when it comes to your shoulders, this type of beatdown is even more important. Trained to some degree on every other workout day, delts are quick to become complacent. But with a careful mixture of exercises and the proper manipulation of training variables that push your muscles beyond failure, your shoulders can see impressive and oftentimes rapid growth.

GET WARM, THEN GET WRECKED

No matter how hard you’re hitting your delts on any given day, make sure that you precede your working sets with a more-thorough than-normal active warm-up. Going beyond the tired ritual of “a few light sets” before your heavier work, a more dynamic warm-up helps you increase core body temperature and increase blood flow to working muscles, which is even more important when we’re talking about the more delicate structures of the shoulder joints. Spend 5-10 minutes performing activities that engage your shoulders, such as jumping jacks, shadowboxing, arm circles and band work to properly lubricate the joints. Bonus: This type of warmup can also enhance central nervous system recruitment, which means you’ll be stronger and more efficient for every rep of the workout to come.

ABOUT THE ROUTINE

It’s pretty standard practice to begin your shoulder routine with some heavy over- head presses. Done standing or seated, overhead presses build crazy strength by bringing your triceps, upper pecs and even your abs into play to help you move more weight. The goal here, however, is beefier delts and, sometimes, a simple reduction in weight is advisable. But that doesn’t mean you have to scale back the intensity. By simply alternating sides with each rep, you can create a new stimulus for growth. But here, we’ll dial it back yet another step by keeping one dumbbell stationary—either in the up or down position—to further increase the total time that your delts are under tension. This increases the time the delts work for, fatiguing your muscles in a different way than with normal presses, and igniting that deep burn you haven’t felt in a while.

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