THE MECHANICS OF SHOULDER TRAINING

Last Updated on January 7, 2021

You’’ll see bodybuilders starting with the weights held together in front of them, using fairly heavy dumbbells and then “swinging”” the weights up to either side so that momentum helps with the lift. This kind of ““cheating”” can be useful for advanced bodybuilders, but it can easily get out of hand and diminish rather than increase intensity. So be wary of using this technique.

FRONT LATERALS

Stand with a dumbbell in each hand, held at arm’s length in front of you, palms facing backward. Lift one arm forward and up and bring it toward the middle, palm remaining downward. The reason for bringing the weight up toward the middle is to help isolate the front deltoid. You can pronate the hand, rotating the thumb downward slightly, to further isolate this muscle. Raise the dumbbell so that it’’s directly in front of you and slightly higher than the top of our head, pause for a moment at the top, then lower it under control back to the starting position. Repeat using the other dumbbell. This movement is usually done by alternating arms but can also be done lifting both dumbbellsat the same time.

REAR LATERALS

Bend over from the waist holding a dumbbell in each hand, arms length below you, palms facing inward. Keeping your body steady, lift thedumbbells out and up to either side and (this is important) slightly forward so that the weights end up beside your ears rather than back even with your shoulders. This helps transfer the stress to the rear delts and away from the side delts. Pronate the weights by rotating your thumbs down slightly. Lift as high as you can, pause at the top, then lower the weights under control back to the starting position.

CABLE LATERALS

The three basic types of laterals can be done using a cable and handle attached to a low pulley and in some cases two such cables and handles.

For cable side laterals, you can do the lateral to the side with the pulley beside you and the lift going straight up, or with the cable on the other side with the cable crossing over in front of your body as you do the lift.