How to pump up your shoulders at home: a complex with dumbbells. How to pump up your shoulders in the gym and at home? Shoulder exercises, tips, training programs How to build huge shoulders

27.10.202327.05.2017

Beautiful broad shoulders are the pride of any man. In order for the figure to be in the form of the coveted inverted triangle, it is necessary to correctly load the shoulder muscles. Read more about this.

Exercises for the shoulders, like for other muscle groups, are divided into basic and isolating. When performing basic exercises, the shoulders are pumped as a whole, a load is added to the trapezius, while isolating exercises pump individual bundles of the deltoid muscles. To obtain the best form, it is important to combine these loads.

3 basic shoulder exercises:

1. Barbell overhead press on a Smith machine

Perform the barbell overhead press in a Smith machine. This is much safer than free weights, and this machine will ensure smooth and correct arm movements. All that remains is to control the movement of your elbows. The elbows should be strictly in a straight line in the plane of the body. Your back should be kept straight, so place the back of the bench strictly perpendicular to the floor. Breathing is very important for proper performance in the gym. You need to exhale at the top of the press. If you start exhaling simultaneously with the start of the exercise, then in the peak part of it, you will not have enough oxygen. Accordingly, you will not be able to squeeze more weight. With this exercise, you work the middle deltoids, as well as the trapezius, triceps, and serratus anterior. When working to failure, ask someone from the audience to back you up - this way you will perform the approach better and safer.

2. Seated dumbbell press

The dumbbell press trains the front, middle, and very slightly rear deltoids. Hands with dumbbells go in one straight line, elbows strictly to the side along the body. A common mistake is to pull the elbows to the sides and bend the lower back. Keep your shoulders level, without raising or lowering them. Take only those weights that you can squeeze without breaking your technique.

3. Barbell row to the chin

The barbell is taken with a straight grip and pulled to the chin, while the elbows look to the side and up. For best results, try to raise your elbows higher than the barbell. The load will go mainly to the middle deltoid muscles, then to the anterior and trapezius muscles. Perform barbell rows to the chin extremely slowly. Jerking can cause unwanted injuries. The choice of grip (narrow, wide) is a controversial issue. It is believed that a wide grip is less dangerous for the shoulder joints.

3 isolated shoulder exercises:

1. Standing dumbbell lateral raises

The exercise is highly technical and requires proper technique. If the technique is incorrect, the dumbbell lift ceases to be an isolated load, because you turn on the trapezoid, and when swinging your body, you also use your legs. Therefore, it is important to choose the right weight that you can lift using only your deltoids.

The shoulders should be lowered, the elbows reaching parallel to the shoulders. If they go higher, the shoulders will automatically rise and the trapezoid will start working. The little fingers should be at the top point.

To better understand the technique, beginners have such an association as “spill water from a mug.” Imagine that you are holding a glass of water in your hand, you need to spread your arms to the sides so that every drop is poured out of it.

This dumbbell lift can also be done with a block. Take 2 handles on different sides of the lower block and perform the exercise.

2. Reverse flyes in the Peck-Deck simulator

When performing reverse flyes, there is an isolated load on the rear deltas, and this exercise also engages the muscles of the upper back.

Before starting your workout, adjust the Peck-Deck, set the handles to shoulder width, and raise the seat to such a height that your arms are in line with the floor when sitting on the machine. Move your arms as far back as possible, squeezing your shoulder blades together. As you exhale, bring your arms together. Your elbows should be behind your back; if this cannot be done, reduce the weight. The back should be stiff and straight. Slouching and swaying your body will lead to loss of efficiency and injury.

3. Raising your arms with dumbbells in front of you

Lifting dumbbells in front of you will perfectly work your front deltoids.

This exercise is performed standing, arms with dumbbells lowered until they touch the thigh. As you inhale, swing your arms with almost straight arms. The position of the dumbbells can be:

1) back of the hand up;

2) palms facing each other.

You can raise your arms alternately or simultaneously. Keep an equal distance between your hands! It should either be equal to shoulder width or slightly narrower. Do not use your lower back and legs to help push the weight of the dumbbells out. Also, do not lift the dumbbells above 45 degrees from parallel to the floor, otherwise the trapezius and serratus anterior muscles will become involved.

Don't rush to increase weight. In order for there to be a concentrated load, do not lower your hands to your hips, keep them in front of you and work in the upper part of the amplitude.

In order for you to better understand how to perform the exercises, we asked the famous Russian bodybuilder Alexander Fedorov to do a shoulder workout.

Shoulder training with Alexander Fedorov

Prepared by: Anastasia Kuzheleva

Broad shoulders and a narrow waist are the dream of any athlete, because refined proportions are now more important than shapeless muscle mass. And it would seem that pumping up your shoulders is quite simple: do the base to failure and you will have deltoids like cannonballs. After all, it’s not a shin. But with training the deltoid muscles, this scheme fails. To pump up voluminous 3D shoulders, you need to train them in a special, technical, thoughtful and original way. But how exactly to do this and how to pump up your shoulders width, according to scientific research, read in this article. The most interesting things about training and sports nutrition on our telegram channel

Introduction

My story today is another article about research conducted by a modern bodybuilding guru named Bret Contreras. I have already talked about how science advises, and, and today it’s time to learn about shoulder training for mass, and what exercises are best suited for this.

To be honest, Contreras’s previous conclusions were far from clear-cut, but the results of his research regarding shoulder training simply amazed me. But if you have not yet heard about his experiments, let me remind you.

In 2010, Bret Contreras, a famous American fitness trainer, scientist, writer and experimenter, conducted research to identify the most effective exercises for each muscle group. As equipment, he used a medical device, an electromyograph, which determines the electrical muscle activity of contraction of muscle fibers.

That is, Contreras took it and found out which exercises make our muscles work to the maximum and are, accordingly, the most effective for muscle growth. The results of his research were simply shocking. Contreras crushed many exercises that were considered unambiguously the best, while others he exalted to the skies. According to his results, the best exercises are now:

For the chest -
For biceps – pull-ups on the horizontal bar with a narrow reverse grip
For triceps – extension of arms on the upper block with a rope handle

But let's get back to mass training for shoulders. Even during the “golden” era of bodybuilding, athletes knew that the deltoid muscle consisted not of three, but of seven separate muscle bundles. They perform flexion and extension, adduction, horizontal abduction and adduction, internal and external rotation.

This means that the basic shoulder exercises that we are told about in the literature are clearly not enough to develop all individual segments of the deltoid muscle. The meager set of exercises that ordinary gym-goers perform is the main reason for their lack of the sought-after 3D shoulders, which are characteristic only of bodybuilding stars.

Conclusion: to give your shoulders the shape of a ball, you need to pump not three deltoid bundles, but all seven, so the range of shoulder exercises should be wide and varied.

This was the introduction, and now I propose to move on to the main part of the story and learn about how to pump up your shoulders. , and what exercises the rebel Contreras considers best for this. So…

The best exercises for the anterior deltoid

The anterior deltoid is rarely a lagging muscle group; the posterior deltoid and deltoids are usually lagging behind. The difficulty in developing these bundles is the inability to isolate each of them and make them work solo. But such problems do not arise with the anterior delta, because it takes an active part in all chest exercises. Heavy bench presses put a lot of stress on the front muscle, and it grows without any effort. But if, nevertheless, the anterior delta lags behind in development, science names the three best exercises for this muscle segment.

Bench press

I’ll say right away that this is not a typo. At first I myself did not believe that this basic exercise for the middle delta turns out to be the best for its anterior bundle. But Bret Contreras says there is no other shoulder exercise that works the anterior deltoid as much as the overhead press. And imagine my disappointment when I realized that by trying for years to level out the imbalance in the gap between the middle and front bundles, I was only aggravating it.

The thing is that even sitting on a bench with a horizontal back, during the press we necessarily lean back, thereby removing the load from the middle, weaker delta and shifting it to the front, stronger one. And if you consider that most standard bench presses (for some reason unknown to me) have a slight slope back, pumping up shoulder width with such an exercise becomes very problematic.

An unpleasant picture emerges: the overhead barbell press is a complex and traumatic movement that “kills” the elbows and. And instead of pumping up the width of the shoulders, it gives them thickness, causing them to visually “slide” forward. Question: why the hell is it even needed?

I remember reading an interview with one of our professional bodybuilders, who came to the USA and trained for a year under the guidance of Charles Glass. His surprise knew no bounds when it turned out that the coolest coach in bodybuilding openly dislikes the classic overhead press with a barbell and recommends doing it in a bench press machine, sitting with your back to the gym. The bench of such exercise machines is located at an angle, the trajectory of the press is forward, but at an angle. In this case, the load on the front deltoid is removed, while on the middle and rear deltoid, on the contrary, it increases.

The same Alexey Shabunya, the famous Belarusian bodybuilder openly admits that he rarely does the overhead barbell press, because he feels severe discomfort from it. He, not caring about all the canons of training shoulders for mass, prefers flyes with dumbbells as the best exercise for the middle delta. And most importantly, the question of how to pump up the width of his shoulders does not bother him at all; Alexey has truly voluminous and powerful 3D shoulders.

Bent-over barbell chest press

This exercise for the anterior deltoid did not come as a surprise to me. Even without knowing about the results of Bret Contreras's research, I realized a long time ago that this exercise is not for the upper chest, but specifically for the anterior deltoid.

Bent over barbell press is not an exercise for the chest, but for the anterior deltoid.

The load on the chest during an incline bench press, according to the electromyograph, increases by only 5%, but on the anterior delta by 40%.

Conclusion: This exercise is not suitable for pumping up the upper chest, but it is perfect for the front deltoid.

Army press

This classic pressing movement for developing the shoulder girdle ranks third on our hit parade, once again proving how far the stereotypes of traditional bodybuilding are from real life. The military press is a really cool exercise for the front deltoid, but in terms of its effectiveness it is much inferior to the previous movements.

But oddly enough, I do military presses quite often, but not for the shoulders, but for the chest. Or rather, for a very small but extremely important muscle segment called the subclavian muscle. It is this that is the most difficult section of the upper chest to build, without which the upper section of the pectoral muscles looks unfinished.

I do the military press at the very end of the chest workout, because the front deltoids are already tired and will no longer be able to engage in the work. Thus, most of the load will fall on the small, inaccessible, but extremely important subclavian muscle. Unlike the traditional military press technique, I perform this exercise by pressing my elbows as close to my body as possible and squeezing my pectoral muscles.

Conclusion: The classic overhead press turns out to be the best exercise not for the middle, but specifically for the front deltoid. And excessive enthusiasm for this exercise does not contribute to the expansion, but, on the contrary, to the narrowing of the shoulders.

The best exercises for the middle delta

The middle bundle of the deltoid muscle is responsible for the visual width of the shoulder girdle and creating that very V-shaped silhouette that is so valued nowadays. Therefore, the bulk of shoulder training is always spent on pumping the middle deltoid. However, the results of Conteras's study suggest that the exercises that we thought were most effective for the middle beam are not so. The best movement for growing shoulder width, which is many times faster in impact, is an exercise that is extremely rare in our gyms:

Horizontal pull of the upper block with rope handle

And here I was shocked for the second time, because I saw how professional bodybuilders do this exercise, but I thought that it was aimed at developing the muscles of the upper back, namely the trapezius. But science says the opposite: performing a horizontal row of the upper side, but with the obligatory extension of the arms to the sides, is many times more effective than all other exercises for the middle delta.

Horizontal rope row - the best exercise for the middle deltoid

The second important aspect of the high impact of the horizontal row with a rope handle is that the trajectory of this exercise has no “dead” zones. The middle delta is actively involved in work and does not relax for a moment. I regularly do this middelt exercise during shoulder mass training, and I can say that it really engages previously untouched segments of the deltoid muscle, making the shoulders look like cannonballs, round and large.

I just want to add that I (perhaps due to my height) feel the work of the deltoids better when I stand not directly towards the machine, but leaning back a little. Thus, the trajectory of this exercise for the middle delta turns from horizontal to inclined, turning off the core muscles from work.

Retracting the arm to the side on the lower block

But I knew about the effectiveness of this exercise for the middle delta for a long time, intuitively feeling its high effectiveness. As it should be, at every shoulder workout for mass, I do the usual lateral raises with dumbbells, but only in order to tire them and the trapezius, which always impudently gets involved in the work. And when the shoulder muscles are thoroughly tired, I move on to the main dish of my deltoid feast. I begin to move my arm to the side on the lower block.

I can say with all sincerity that in no other exercise for the middle delta do I feel such a high level of involvement of this segment in the work. And it is very difficult for an ordinary gym goer to find the answer to the question of how to pump up shoulder width without performing this isolating exercise on the middle delta.

The secret to the high impact of this movement lies in the elongated trajectory of the movement. Externally, moving the arm to the side on the lower block resembles the same movement with a dumbbell. But thanks to the low location of the simulator block, already in the initial phase of the movement, the middle delta ends up in an unusually stretched position, which remains constant during the movement.

This is a really cool exercise, I also like it for its variability, since it can be performed in two versions:

The lower block cable is located in front of the housing. In this case, the front (so to speak) part of the middle delta is included in the work.
The lower block cable is located behind the housing. Then the posterior part of the middle delta and the posterior deltoid bundle itself are more actively involved in the work.

Pulling the arm to the side on the lower block is also interesting because by changing the position of the body (standing straight or tilted), you can constantly load your shoulders in different ways, bringing into the work all the new muscle bundles that were relaxing before. Of course, my deltoids are still not far from ideal, but after I started doing this exercise, their shape improved significantly.

Bent-over dumbbell flyes

Having read about this exercise as one of the best for the average delta, I sinfully thought that Bret Contreras must have mixed something up by drinking too much tequila out of scientific fatigue. Because bent over dumbbell flyes are the best exercise for the rear deltoid, but not the middle deltoid.

I think our fitness guru himself was a little taken aback when he received such results, but the fact remains: bent over dumbbell flyes, in addition to the rear ones, also quite heavily load the middle bundles of the deltoid muscles. But if a number of conditions are met:

The hands should be positioned in one line, and not be parallel, as we are used to. A prerequisite is that the little finger must point upward.
The breeding itself occurs not only to the sides, but also a little forward.

At the next shoulder training session for mass, I included these bent-over dumbbell flyes into my set of exercises and honestly tried to catch the moment when the middle bunch would come into play. I felt my rear deltoid unusually strong and sharp, and I think these bent-over dumbbell flyes are a really cool way to pump them up. But I cannot say that this movement is aimed at increasing the muscle mass of the middle deltoids. Sorry Contreras, but my mid-deltas don't agree with you here.

The best rear delt exercises

The posterior segment of the deltoid muscles is extremely small in volume, but extremely important muscle segment, which makes it possible to make the shoulders like balls, round and proportionally developed. But the whole problem with training the rear deltoid is that it is extremely difficult to work it in isolation, excluding other parts of the deltoid muscle from work.

And the results of scientific research actively confirm this, since the best exercises for the rear delta are the same:

horizontal pull of the upper block
Bent-over dumbbell raises in the variation described above

In other words, these two movements build muscle mass equally well in both the middle and rear deltoids. And although there are many other exercises for the development of the posterior bundle (the same reverse flyes in the chest machine), but according to the electromyograph indicators, all of them are significantly inferior to these movements in terms of the number of muscle fibers involved in the work.

This strange situation is slightly diluted by another exercise for the rear delta, which Bret Contreras called the third most effective. These are horizontal pull-ups on a barbell or Smith machine. But you just need to pull yourself up not to the belt, but to the head. In this case, the load on the rear deltoids becomes maximum.

Horizontal pull-ups - a rare exercise for the rear deltoid

In my opinion, this is a technically difficult movement; it can be easily replaced with a rear deltoid exercise that is similar in biomechanics. Namely, bent over barbell pull. But you just need to stand strictly parallel to the ground and pull the barbell towards the shoulder girdle. I do this rear delt exercise from time to time, but I do it exclusively on my favorite Smith machine.

If we summarize all of the above about the most effective exercises for the rear deltoid, it turns out that it will not be possible to isolate it 100%. In any case, the middle bundle of deltoid muscles will also be included in the work.

Conclusion: You need to start training your shoulders with these two exercises, trying to load the back beam to the maximum. Only targeted specialization in the development of this segment will make it possible to make 3 D-shaped shoulders.

Conclusion

If I had shoulders like cannonballs, when I read about such unconventional research results, I would simply laugh and continue training my shoulders for mass the old-fashioned way. But I still have to work and work on my deltoids. Therefore, I am constantly looking for new methods of training them.

Although the effectiveness of some of the exercises described by Bret Contreras raises questions for me, the lion's share of the information he voiced became extremely useful for me. In any case, the two most effective shoulder exercises: horizontal rows and dumbbell raises are firmly established in my training arsenal. I recommend trying it!

And in conclusion, I suggest you look at the unconventional shoulder training of the charming Dana Linn Bailey, an Internet star and part-time Miss Olympia 2013 in the Women’s Physique category .

I want to hope that my story will be useful to you and will help you make a breakthrough in training your deltoid muscles, increasing their volume and significantly improving their shape. May the mass be with you. And strength!

“Defender”, “brave”, “strongman” - such flattering epithets are often given by lovely ladies to the lucky owners of oblique fathoms in the shoulders. The same one for which hundreds of thousands of men around the world flock to the gym every day.

However, the answer to the question of how to make your shoulders wider can be found not only in the gym. Special exercises can be performed both outdoors on the horizontal bar and at home.

Experts say: it’s easiest to visually broaden your shoulders before you’re 20 years old. It is during this period that the skeleton is actively formed, bones lengthen and thicken. According to some trainers, even if a young man who intensively pumps up his muscles on the horizontal bar in his teens completely gives up sports after turning 20, his shoulders will visually retain their youthful range.

Those who have long ago crossed the threshold of adolescence will have to work hard, because they will be able to make their shoulders wider only after long training. You will have to sweat on the horizontal bar, puff in the gym, and grunt at home. But the reward for perseverance, you see, is considerable!

Before you start

Regardless of where exactly - outdoors, in the gym or at home - you work out and what kind of equipment - on the horizontal bar, with dumbbells or a barbell - you use, it is important to follow a few fundamental rules:

Gradually increase the weight of the apparatus or the number of pull-ups. Strive for better results;
when doing bench presses, do not extend your elbows all the way: this will strain your muscles even more;
be sure to achieve a burning sensation in the muscles. Don't feel sorry for yourself;
when pulling up, rise smoothly, using your own muscle force, not inertial force. The descent should last as long as the ascent;
exhale with effort, inhale when returning to the original position: this way you will provide the muscles with oxygen;
Rest as little as possible between sets. The shoulders form a small number of muscles that are easy to relax. Don't be afraid to overwork them!

The exercises proposed below are simple in technique. Meanwhile, they allow you to achieve amazing results in just a few weeks of training. Go for it!

Forming the shoulders...

...on the horizontal bar

Grab the bar on the horizontal bar at a distance equivalent to shoulder width. Bend your crossed legs and pull yourself up, touching the bar with your pectoral muscle. After a pause, take the original position.
Fix your position on the horizontal bar. Make sure that your palms are turned with their inner sides not away from you, as in the previous exercise, but towards you. Pull yourself up so that your collarbones are level with the bar of the horizontal bar. Take the original position.
Grab the bar on the horizontal bar so that the distance between your palms is less than shoulder width. When pulling up, try to reach the bar with the lower border of the pectoral muscle.
Grab the bar of the horizontal bar, placing your palms as far apart as possible. You need to pull yourself up from this position to the upper part of the pectoral muscle.
The starting position is the same as in the first exercise. When pulling up, the bar should be behind your neck. Be very careful when doing this exercise!

...using dumbbells

Ordinary dumbbells can be excellent helpers in the fight for broad shoulders.

Standing on slightly bent legs, fix your palms with dumbbells held in them slightly in front of your hips. Spread your arms in different directions. Make sure they form an even straight line. After a few seconds, return to the original position.
The starting position is the same as in the first exercise. Leaning your torso forward approximately 45 degrees, gently move your arms with the dumbbells back while lifting them. Then return to the original position. Try to do this exercise smoothly, without stopping.
Your position when performing this exercise is body forward, hands with dumbbells pressed to your hips. Raise one arm in front of you so that it is in a straight line with your body. Gradually lowering one hand, raise the other up. Alternate - sometimes right, sometimes left - and simultaneous raises of arms are acceptable.
Raise your palms with the dumbbells placed in them, pull them with the backs to your shoulders. Watch your elbows: they should point to the floor. Raise both arms up at once, connecting the dumbbells at the top point. For maximum effectiveness, perform this exercise without stopping.

...with a barbell

Grab the barbell so that the distance between your palms exceeds the width of your shoulders. Pulling the barbell toward your slightly protruding chest, raise your arms up, then gently return to the starting position.
The starting position is the same as in the previous exercise. After lifting the barbell up, carefully lower it behind your head. After a few seconds, raise your arms again and return to the original position.

As you can see, the answer to the question of how to make wide shoulders is not at all complicated. By dedicating at least an hour to an hour and a half several times a week for training in the gym or at home, after some time you will definitely feel how your shoulders straighten, expand, and your chest will be filled with muscles - and a sense of pride in yourself. And, most likely, you will not only see the results of your work...

An athletic build is a sign of a fit and beautiful body. Well-pumped muscles give the visual appearance of a polished figure in comparison with the ideals of proper build. Fully pumping up the shoulder structure will improve the shape of the male and female body. You can find out how to pump up your shoulders at home here.

Features of shoulder training

The shoulder consists of two muscles:

the main one is in the form of a delta;
additional - in the form of a trapezoid.

To give relief, you should pay special attention to their development, thereby highlighting the location of the biceps and triceps. The shoulder area is the most difficult area to pump. Due to the fact that the technique for performing a set of exercises does not always comply with the rules, injury to ligaments and joints is possible. And temporarily stopping classes will significantly slow down the results.

The criteria for the beauty of the male body have their own standards. Prominent and broad shoulders have been and remain one of the main measures of attractiveness for a man

The principles of training are aimed at strengthening the joint and ligamentous apparatus. The delta has three sections: anterior, medial (middle) and frontal (posterior). Special techniques have been developed for each muscle group, during which it is important to maintain the correct torso tilt. This will ensure normal functioning of the muscles involved.

At the beginning of training, you should master basic skills that develop not only certain, but also auxiliary muscle groups. Later, you can include isolating complexes that activate the work of the main muscles. For beginners, two exercises 10 times are enough. When using sports equipment, you can reduce the number of repetitions.

Best Shoulder Exercises

Programs for developing the shoulder system are of the same type, differing in the method of implementation and type of equipment. The main condition is to correctly optimize the time for each training. Careful and thorough pumping will avoid injury to tissues and joints. How to pump up your shoulders correctly?

There are exercises for the anterior deltoid muscles. Let's look at the top 5 best complexes for the anterior deltoid muscle.

The first is an overhead barbell press from the chest. Perform in a standing or sitting position. The sitting position will clearly fix the position of the body. Thanks to this push-up, the load on the muscles will be distributed in the same way, pumping a certain type of deltas.

The equipment used when performing shoulder exercises depends on the location of the training.

Press algorithm:

The bench is located opposite the apparatus, with all the emphasis placed on the spine.
Having straightened the chest forward, the barbell is squeezed out using a closed grip: hands at a distance wider than shoulders at the elbows at a right angle.
Push-ups are performed while inhaling deeply and lowering as you exhale.
Do not lift heavy loads to avoid injury to the spine.
At the first stages, it is necessary to insure a person who will check the correctness and ensure the safety of the training.

The second is a press using the Arnold Schwarzenegger technique, aimed at the front and middle deltas. It is important to maintain coordination of movements in maintaining balance. Execution options: sitting or standing in front of a mirror to control the progress of push-ups. For beginner athletes, it is recommended to give preference to a sitting position.

The technique is as follows:

Take dumbbells, placing the bench near the mirror, while leaning firmly on its back.
Using the closed grip technique, with the palms facing back and the back side facing the mirror surface.
Slowly lift the dumbbells while cranking your arms.
After returning to the starting position, the limbs are toned and do not straighten.

Ideal training for pumping up the deltoid muscle at home

The third lesson is lifting the barbell, standing from behind your head. The principle of implementation is similar to the first option. The difference is that the projectile is behind the head. Care and proper timing must be taken when performing due to the unusual method of lifting. Perform no more than 12 repetitions with light loads.

Exercises for the medial shoulder band

There are three effective trainings for pumping the middle delta. How to pump up your shoulders at home? A simple exercise - raising your arms with dumbbells to the sides in a standing position. Work only on the shoulder area: arms bent at the elbows are spread in different directions, the body is motionless.

Another exercise that is great to do at home

Correct technique:

Body at an angle of 90 degrees, legs wider than shoulders.
Taking a deep breath, as you exhale, lift the dumbbells.
Return to the starting point, arms toned.

Exercises for the front or rear deltoid muscles

To train the front and rear deltas, you need to practice swings and swings of the limbs. Pulling your arms back on the machine loads the posterior group of muscles. Squatting down and pressing your chest, spread your arms to the sides so that the trapezius is stretched. During this method, you feel exactly the area that is being worked. As you exhale, the limbs are pulled back, and as you inhale, you take the starting point.

Aimed at working the back of the shoulder girdle muscles

Another isolating complex is dumbbell swings in an inclined position with the head resting. It is performed by pressing the frontal part to the bench, while the arms should be slightly bent at the elbows. Exhale – arms are moved to the sides at shoulder level, after which they return to the starting point.

How to pump up your shoulders at home?

Inflating the shoulder structure at home is carried out using sports equipment. You can buy prefabricated dumbbells up to 20 kilograms or a barbell with replaceable discs. An ordinary chair will serve as a special bench for push-ups.

Household cargo can be used as a weighting agent: filled containers, a bag with books, etc. Push-ups, exercises on parallel bars - all this also activates the work of the shoulder structure, helping to develop muscles. To pump up your shoulder muscles at home, you need extreme care in your technique. Any incorrect sharp jerk is fraught with damage to the ligamentous apparatus.

Broad shoulders and a narrow pelvis are a classic symbol of masculinity and a generally accepted sign of male beauty. It is impossible to create a beautiful silhouette without broad shoulders. If “oblique fathoms in the shoulders” are not given by nature, this can be compensated for by the systematic development and build-up of the deltoid muscles.

The horizontal bar develops almost all the muscles of the shoulder girdle.

Principles of proper pull-ups

Smooth rise without jerking, due to muscle strength
Smooth descent, equal in time to ascent
Strong grip and upright body position
No inertia or swaying
Correct breathing - exhale on the way up, inhale on the way down

Exercises for the front delts

Reverse medium grip partial pull-up

Hang on the horizontal bar, grasping the bar with an underhand grip and bending your back, bend your legs at the knees and cross them.
Pull yourself up not to the maximum point, but to approximately the middle of the amplitude.
At this point, fix the body and bend the forearms, trying to bring the collarbone as close to the bar as possible.
The delta receives the greatest load when the forearms are parallel to the floor while holding in the middle of the lift.

Close-grip pull-up

Hang on the horizontal bar, grasp the bar with an underhand grip and bend your back, bend your legs at the knees and cross them. The distance between the palms is less than shoulder width.
Pull yourself up, squeezing your shoulder blades and moving your shoulders back. Try to touch the horizontal bar with the lower part of the pectoral muscle, looking at your hands.
In this option, the rear deltoids receive the load.

Exercises for trapezius muscles

Wide grip head pull-up

Hang on the horizontal bar, legs and back straight, no arch in the back.
At the top point of the lift, the bar of the horizontal bar should be behind your head.
Elbows point straight to the floor.

Circular movements

Take medium-weight dumbbells in your hands and swing them in circular motions.
Work at an average pace, control the weight, avoid sudden movements.

Shrugs

Raising arms to the sides

Stand up straight, put your feet shoulder-width apart, lower your arms with dumbbells along your body, bend your elbows slightly, they are fixed throughout the entire exercise.
Raise your arms out to the sides in the plane of the body in a wide arc. The palms are directed downwards, at the top point the little fingers are higher than the thumbs.
Smoothly lower the dumbbells down and immediately, without pausing, repeat the exercise.
The arms are raised to the sides to a horizontal position.
You can perform the exercise first with one hand, then with the other.

Dumbbell swings back

Stand up straight, tilt your body slightly forward, bend your knees slightly, lower your arms with dumbbells along your body, elbows slightly bent and fixed.
Raise one arm up and back with a swinging motion, slightly moving it behind your back.
Slowly return it to the starting position while simultaneously raising your other arm.
The exercise can be performed with both hands at the same time.

Dumbbell swings from a lying position

Lie on your left side on the floor or on a bench, resting on your left elbow, take a dumbbell in your right hand.
Raise your right arm up in the plane of the body to a vertical position.
Return your hand to its original position.
Repeat the exercise for your left hand.

Dumbbell up press

Take dumbbells in your hands, raise them to your shoulders, palms facing forward, bent elbows pointing down and slightly to the sides, the distance between the palms is slightly wider than the shoulders.
Press the dumbbells upward in an arc in the plane of the body.
At the top point, bring the dumbbells together and tighten your deltoids.
Smoothly lower the dumbbells to the starting position along the same trajectory.
To increase the load, do not pause at the lowest point.
Perform the exercise continuously and evenly.

Shoulder exercises with barbell

This is a basic foundation exercise for shoulder extension.

Take the barbell with an overhand grip, the distance between your palms is slightly wider than your shoulders, and the barbell is at hip level.
Raise the barbell to your chest, bend your back slightly in the lower back, arch your chest into a “wheel”, straighten your shoulders, push your elbows forward, palms pointing up.
Push the barbell up, straighten your arms completely at the top point, and raise your shoulders. Pause and slowly lower the barbell to your chest.
Perform the exercise at a moderate pace.
Do not push the barbell using inertia.
Your wrists and hands should be in a straight line, with your elbows slightly out in front of you.
The barbell must be pressed clearly vertically upward, and not forward in an arc.