When I was growing up, I was a huge wrestling fan. WWE was called WWF back then, and one of my favorite wrestlers was ‘Ravishing’ Rick Rude. Looking back, part of the reason why I thought he was a great character was his trash talking ability, but also because he was super buff.
Additionally, part of what made Rick Rude’s ‘look’ so great was his massive shoulders, which I didn’t realize until I started lifting weights in recent years and was watching old wrestling footage.
I wouldn’t go as far as claiming that shoulders are underrated by people trying to improve their physiques, but they don’t seem to get the same level of focus and attention as other muscle groups like the chest, biceps, and calves. Building ‘3-D shoulders’ is not easy to do, however, they really do add to a person’s overall look.
Arnold Schwarzenegger had massive, defined shoulders, and he dedicates a section of his book The Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding to shoulders. He points out that the shoulders (deltoids) have three heads: the front, the side, and the rear. He also mentions that the trap muscles are a big part of shoulder development, but I will save trap stuff for another article and stick to just shoulders in this article.
“There are two basic kinds of exercises for the shoulders – Straight Arm Raises and Presses.” Arnold writes in his book (page 259). Below is what Arnold says about both lifting types:
- Raises – “You need to do Raises to the front, to the side, and to the rear. When you do Raises, you do not involve the triceps, but almost completely isolate the various heads of the deltoids.”
- Presses – “Because you are straightening your arms as well as lifting upward, Presses involve both the deltoids and the triceps.”
Arnold believes in doing a lot of ‘power training’ when it comes to the shoulders. With that in mind, Arnold suggests that non-advanced lifters to do the following:
- Clean and press
- Heavy upright rows
- Push presses
- Dumbbell laterals
Once lifters become more advanced, Arnold recommends incorporating bent-over lateral for the rear delts in addition to the lifts listed above. He also recommends:
- Machine presses
- One-arm cable laterals
- Bent-over cable laterals
Another bodybuilding legend with massive shoulders is 4-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler. I recently signed up for Jay Cutler’s email list, and this week he sent out an email blast dedicated to building sculpted shoulders. Below is the routine that Jay recommended in his email:
- Machine shoulder press (3 x 10-12 reps)
- Seated dumbbell lateral raises (3 x 10-12 reps)
- Incline dumbbell front raises (3 x 10-12 reps)
- Reverse pec deck (3 x 10-12 reps)
- Cable rear delt pulls (3 x 12 reps)
A parting thought about working out your shoulders – it is really, really important to protect your shoulders at all times. The shoulder muscles are key to nearly every upper body lift, and if you experience a shoulder injury, you will basically be shut down until they heal, which can take a long time when someone is over the age of 40.
Make sure to always stretch before working out your shoulders, do a warm up set or two of lighter weight, and err on the side of caution.
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