How to grow your BOULDER SHOULDERS

Who doesn’t want boulder shoulders? Men and women alike are all hammering the gym to try and round off their delts and grow some compliment-worthy boulder shoulders!

 Having good shoulders perfectly rounds off your physique whether you are male of female. Bigger shoulders give the illusion of a slimmer waist and bigger upper body – every gym goer and bodybuilders dream!

 Before we embark upon building your shoulders, it’s important to understand the anatomy of your shoulders.

 Many people at your local gym will only ever associate the shoulders with being the front (anterior) deltoids as well as the upper traps – but if you’re going to develop impressive shoulders then it’s time for you to learn about every area involved in shoulder development and how best to target them all.

Anterior deltoid

This is the area of the shoulders that sticks out towards the front of the body and is the most commonly trained.

 Medial deltoid

This is an absolutely vital area that is often targeted via the “lat raise” exercise, it’s the area which sticks outwards at the sides giving you that rounded, capped look.

Posterior deltoid (rear deltoid)

The third muscle in the deltoid “trio” – this area of the deltoid is easily the most overlooked and is rarely (if at all) targeted effectively.

So what are the best moves to hit all heads of your shoulders muscles and make them GROW?

Seated Front Dumbbell Press

The dumbbell press is a real mass builder. This move targets your front delts perfectly allowing you to increase the weights as you see fit. Not only does this movement add size and width, it also activates your stabilizer muscles too.

Using dumbbells as opposed to a barbell allows you to isolate each shoulder so you aren’t overcompensating with one side. The dumbbell press is perfect for achieving equal symmetry.

Barbell Front Raise

The barbell front raise targets the anterior and medial delts, which sit on the front and sides of your shoulder. The movement is pretty exhausting and you will soon reach failure with no real problem!

The front raise also activates a number of secondary muscles such as the trapezius, erector spinae, biceps, pectorals, rotator cuff, serratus anterior and even your abs!

Shoulder press

You can perform a shoulder press with an EZ bar, regular barbell or a pair of dumbells. The shoulder press is and excellent compound movement, ideal for building muscle.

The shoulder press works the front and side delts, then the rear delts as well as increasing the stability of your core.

Cable shoulder press – This is a machine variant of the standard shoulder press. A pin loaded cable machine press makes for the perfect opportunity to complete a drop set to really burn out your shoulders.

Drop sets are essentially a technique where you perform an exercise and then drop (reduce) the weight and continue for more reps until you reach failure.

The lat raise complex

A lat raise is one of the most effective exercises / methods you can utilize to add width to your delts. Take lateral raises above parallel to prompt middle delt and trap growth.

The dumbbell lateral raise provides good deltoid recruitment and doesn’t put your shoulder joints in a stressful situation. For a lat raise complex you perform lat raises as usual except don’t rest the non-moving arms.

Keep it held suspended out to your side so tension is kept on it at all times whilst you perform the raise with the alternate arm.

Locking down your shoulder-training regime will enable you to have strong, functional shoulders that will make your training even more effective

To achieve boulder shoulders make sure you train them regularly every single week and remain consistent with your healthy eating and protein intake.

Of course the above movements are intended to be part of a varied workout regime so make sure you incorporate a variety of different exercises targeting every area of the shoulder each time you train.