¿Why Shoulders - Exercise Guide for a Glorious Look!

What's On Why Shoulders? Exercise Guide for a Glorious Look! Shoulders (Deltoids) - General Info Deltoid Front Head Dumbbell Press Seated Barbell Press Seated Cable Font Raise Dumbbell Front Raise Deltoid Middle Head Cable Lateral Lift - one arm Dumbbell Lateral Lift -two arm Deltoid Rear Head Cable reverse fly, two arm, bent Cable reverse fly, two arm, upright Dumbbell Reverse Fly , standing bent Dumbbell Reverse Fly, seated No Gym - What to do!

- Training Guides for Print Out General Info Deltoid Front Head Dumbbell Press Seated Barbell Press Seated Cable Font Raise Dumbbell Front Raise Deltoid Middle Head Cable Lateral Lift - one arm Dumbbell Lateral Lift - two arm Deltoid Rear Head Cable reverse fly, two arm, bent Cable reverse fly, two arm, upright Dumbbell Reverse Fly , standing bent Dumbbell Reverse Fly, seated

Why Shoulders?

Whether you are an apple or a pear shape: Shoulders build the visual framework for the whole body.

I'm a pear and even in the snapshots below it becomes clear that the chubbier I got my bum/leg area got wider than the shoulders. Additionally the upper arm starts to gather fat which later leads to the dreaded bingo-wings. That adds to the impression of an 'A' shape, with the shoulders hanging a bit and the waist not as defined, although I always was rather slim around the middle.

Well knowing that the work on the lower bit would need time it was clear to me that I would have to put the focus on the shoulders to balance the bottom bit quickly. This would make me feel better instantly while giving me time to catch up with the legs.

From the last image one can see that there is still quite some work to be done on those - and of course this is not the worst of pictures - believe me! There IS WORK still to be done.

However, back to the shoulders. If you are an apple shape you might be afraid to look even bulkier in the top bit: Go for shoulder exercises nevertheless. You might have to put the focus of the training on some leg and bum exercise, but don't neglect the shoulders. When you are top heavy it is likely that you have big arms as well, and the shoulder exercises will help to frame your arms and neck nicely. In combination with good arm exercises you will be able to bring some definition into the upper body what will quickly give you a more streamlined appearance.

Exercise Guide for a Glorious Look!

Due to the fact that the shoulders are actually a group of 3 muscles it needs 3 exercises which are equally important to build nice round shoulders. There are a lot of exercises to choose from and if would ask three different people about it you will get 5 different answers - it has a lot to do with individual likings.

I had periods where I did different exercises from what I'm doing now. Sometimes I got bored, and one time I had an injury (fell on my wrist - stupid me) and couldn't hold the dumbbells.

Altogether it is rather beneficial to change from time to time because every exercise targets the muscle slightly differently. Change will make the muscle more alert again. Additionally it's a good way to work around occupied stations in the gym. So it is good to know about alternative exercises.

The table below gives you an overview and briefly describes the advantages and disadvantages of each exercise. More details you will find in the exercise description linked to the respective entry and you will find a PDF link which provides a printable version of the exercise description.

The list doesn't cover gym machines. Although I usually prefer free weights - I have good experience with most of the machines. There are a few that don't fit a ladies proportions but the shoulder machines were all very good. So if your gym has one get an instructor to explain it to you - every machine is working a bit differently and will need some explaining an testing.

I sometimes do free weights for some weeks and then I go to the machine for a while. Usually I will get some muscle ache after the first time after change what tells me that it was about time to tweak the muscle a bit differently.

Which Ones are Your Favourite Exercises?

Here is an overview of the advantages and disadvantages of the different exercises. Some of them I just don't like and never do them, but you might feel differently, some of the not so preferred ones I do whenever my favourite station is occupied, or because I just need a change. But usually I will go back to the 'Winners' for the good reasons listed below.

Whenever you lift a weight some part of your body has to counteract the movement. For example: If you lift a shopping bag with your right hand you automatically will bend to the left and maybe lift your left arm a bit to balance it out.

You will always want to try to choose your exercise in a way that the weakest of the muscles which counteract the original movement is the biggest ones possible. It will exhaust less quickly and hence you can put all the effort into the muscle that you actually want to train. Additionally you can keep a good posture more easily what helps to avoid injuries.

Numbers, Numbers, and a few things more!

It's time to get started now. So here is the number of sets and repetitions and whatever else you need to know.

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Exercise Guide

From Start to UP and Down again!

Take up your weights as described in 'Lucky Number - Handling Weights' keeping your back nice and straight, and sit down on your bench resting the weight on your thighs.

Breathe in and lift the weight into position 'A'.

Balance it out until it is almost lined up as if you were holding a bar. Breathe comfortably in and out as you please until you feel comfortable and stable.

• The little tilt towards the inside is okay. This is one reason why I prefer the dumbbells to 'Shoulder Press with barbell' - the wrist position is more comfortable. It needs a bit more balancing and hence you can't use as big weights, though.

Look up to the point in the air where you want the weight to go to (B),

Take a deep breath in and press up the weight while breathing out through the mouth.

• Don't lift higher than B (in fact this is almost a bit too high already)
• The idea is that the weight should hover above the shoulder (C), everything other would involve other muscles to help to get it there and you want to use the shoulders as isolated as possible.
• If you would stretch your arm straight up like in 'D' you would have the weight above the shoulder as well, but it would be resting comfortably there. In Shoulder-Arm-Weight setup 'C' the centre of gravity is not above the shoulder, but a bit outside. So there is still balancing work to do and the shoulder has to keep the tension. In setup 'D' the centre of gravity would be above the shoulder and the whole thing would be nicely balanced, giving the shoulder a rest - what we don't want to happen.

That counts as 1 repetition.

Breathe in through the nose while bringing the weight back down. Do this very controlled and don't let the weight 'fall'. Keep the tension even in the down position and then press up again while breathing out through the mouth counting the next repetition.

Now it hurts!

I'm not faking it here!

I deliberate finished myself off in this exercise to give you an impression what you are supposed to achieve - for the rest of the photo shoot I took it a bit easier.

For some of you this might look odd, but if it is not getting hard it is a bit of a waste of time. There will be a natural limit what I think I have almost reached meaning that I won't be able to increase the weights any further. But nevertheless I will go to the very end of each set to sort of stay on a maintenance level.

And this grimace has an additional advantage - It is the best face training you can get. I somewhere heard about this advice to grimace for 5 minutes in the morning in front of the mirror to keep your face wrinkle free and smooth. Well, I saved at least those 5 minutes. But be honest: Where else can you get this kind of muscle tension in the face without having the people with a straightjacket coming after you!

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Pictures by Babul

Dumbbell Press

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Here the movement goes towards the front so a 'lunge' posture gives a lot of stability while the cables support the stability towards the sides. Although the movement comes from the rolls those are fixed. This is a much more controlled setup compared to the