Big Shoulders Made Simple

Building big shoulders is easy if you know how to do it. The deltoids consist of three parts: The anterior (or front), the lateral (or side), and the posterior (or back). In order to fully develop the shoulders, you need to build all three of these heads.

Your front delts are stressed through bench presses and shoulder presses. You normally don't have to perform an isolation movement for the fronts. And the rears are stimulated to a lesser degree by bent-over rows and lat pull-downs. However, your side delts really are not worked out at all by the complex movements advocated here at Muscle-Build.com. Therefore, if you want to build big shoulders, you'll need to supplement your weight training with some isolation moves.

Here's a great delt work-out if you want wider, more developed shoulders:

• Side laterals. Using dumbbells at your side, raise them in an arc such that when you're finished you will have formed a “T” with your arms. As a variant, you can do these slightly bent at the waist to involve the lateral and posterior deltoids. Do 3 sets of 10-15 reps.
• Rotating dumbbell presses. Starting at the chin, with hands in the finish position of a dumbbell curl, press the dumbbells up while rotating the arms to finish in a dumbbell press position. In effect, you're working the front delt, but also involving the lateral delt with the rotation. Do 3 sets of 10-15 reps.
• Bent-over laterals. Similar to the side laterals above, you do the same motion, only with your torso parallel to the floor. Do 2 sets of 10-15 reps.
• Upright rows. Using a barbell, with a 6-12 inch overhand grip, hands at the waist, pull the barbell up to your chin. This exercise works all three heads of the deltoid as well as the trapezius, that triangle-shaped muscle that tapers from the neck into the shoulders. Do 2 sets of 10-15 reps.

This shoulder routine will blast your delts and force them to grow. If you want barndoor-wide delts, follow this work-out routine.