When fully developed, round, dense delts are more visually impressive on a bodybuilder’s physique than perhaps any other body part. If you go to your local gym, you’ll likely see many lifters showing off a pair of big arms or displaying thick, squared chests. But it’s far more rare to witness a couple of massive cannonballs hanging off a lifter’s clavicles. Maybe you even feel that your shoulders could stand to get a little supersized.
Whatever the case, I’m here to provide some novel twists on basic deltoid exercises that may prove to be the key to pushing your shoulder development from ordinary to extraordinary. Let’s dig in.
Pictured: NPC athlete Indony Jean Baptiste (@jb033190)
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Edgar Artiga / M+F Magazine
Cable Lateral Raise
The Tweak: Perform sitting sideways on an incline bench.
The Execution: Set an incline bench to between 35 and 45 degrees and place a few feet in front of a low pulley (fixed with a D-handle attachment). Grab the handle and lie sideways on the bench. Begin with the arm straight, held a few inches above the side of your thigh. Keeping your arm in line with your torso, raise the weight until your side deltoid is fully contracted. Hold this position for 1 to 2 seconds before slowly lowering back to the starting position.
The Result: The unique angle of this movement will tap into new motor pool units and exhaust muscle fibers previously untouched. Additionally, the increased tension at both the beginning and completion of each rep will force the side delts to work harder than ever.
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Edgar Artiga / M+F Magazine
Machine Press
The Tweak: Perform one arm at a time, palm in and torso adjusted.
The Execution: Sit in a shoulder press machine that allows you to grip the handles with a neutral grip. And shift your torso so that your deltoid is directly underneath your hand. Press upward until just before reaching full lockout, keeping constant tension on the shoulder. Lower slowly, feeling the anterior deltoid work all the way to the bottom.
The Result: When performed in this manner, this exercise will directly hit the front deltoid head while keeping the side delt disengaged. You will experience added growth to the front of the shoulder, increasing overall roundness, as well as added separation from the upper pecs.
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Edgar Artiga / M+F Magazine
Cable Front Raise
The Tweak: Perform on an incline bench.
The Execution: Set an incline bench to between 45 and 60 degrees and place it a few feet in front of a low cable. Attach a short straight bar or rope to the pulley. Grab the bar (or rope) and sit back on the incline bench. (Note: You can vary the width of your hands on the bar from narrow to wide. When using a rope, grasp with a neutral grip.) At the beginning of every rep, the arms should be completely straight, with your hands held a few inches above your thighs. Using only your shoulder, slowly raise to a point just over your head, making sure to hold this (fully contracted) position for 1 to 2 seconds before lowering back to the starting position.
The Result: This unique angle allows for max tension at both the beginning and end position of each rep—and more tension equals more growth.
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Edgar Artiga / M+F Magazine
Reverse Cable Flye
The Tweak: Perform seated.
The Execution: Sit on an adjustable bench, set to 45 to 60 degrees and placed a foot or so away from a cable pulley machine, with the pulley set to the lowest possible setting. Also, be sure to use light weight for this movement. Then grab the end of the cable so that your palm is facing the floor. Keeping a slight bend at the elbow, slowly perform a reverse flye motion until your rear delt is fully contracted. (Make sure not to pull back so far that you engage the traps.)
The Result: This movement better isolates the rear delt and creates tension from the beginning to the end of every rep. The fact that it’s performed unilaterally only adds to its growth potential.
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Christopher Bailey
Dumbbell Side Lateral
The Tweak: Perform on an incline bench.
The Execution: Grab a pair of dumbbells that are about 75% as heavy as you’d normally use and sit down on an incline bench set to about 45 degrees. While keeping your arms just slightly bent, with chest high and shoulders back, raise the dumbbells out to your sides until your palms are facing directly toward the floor. Lower under control until your arms are again hanging at your sides.
The Results: This unique angle will torch your laterals delts in a manner they are not used to, igniting a growth spurt (and hopefully making you too wide to fit through most doorways).When basic movements are performed in slightly different planes of motion, you will stimulate muscle fibers that may have remained dormant beforehand.
