Schwarzenegger Arnold, Dobbins Bill The New Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding Book 3

EXERCISES

Introduction

Despite all my success in competition, I am the first to admit that no one has an absolutely perfect physique. Of course, when it comes to certain parts of the body like the chest or biceps, I could face off with anyone. But what bodybuilder can confidently say that he is ready to measure the power of the latissimus dorsi with Franco Columbu or the muscles of the thighs with Tom Platz? It takes terrific triceps to keep from falling face first compared to the shoulders of Yusup Wilkoz, and a fantastic torso to stand up to the sculpted abs of Dennis Tinerino.

Therefore, and in order to represent the best in bodybuilding, I have selected several champions known for their outstanding development of individual parts of the body to illustrate the various exercises described in this section. Pay close attention to the details of the photographs, including the position of the head, torso, arms and legs, to ensure maximum efficiency and safety of the exercises. When you begin to master the exercises, open the book and refer to the photographs to protect yourself from minor inaccuracies. Using strict exercise technique, you will accelerate the development of your muscles.

As for my photographs, they are selected from the personal archive and photographic library of Joe Weider in such a way as to constitute an illustrative series from my very first performances up to the present. In these photos you can see my musculature at every stage of its development. They create an album of my personal history in bodybuilding, but can also be used as technical illustrations.

SHOULDER GIRDLE

MUSCLES OF THE SHOULDER

Deltoid: A large, powerful muscle of the triangular muscle, consisting of three main bundles or heads. It starts from the collarbones and scapula at the back of the shoulder and extends to the connection with the forearm.

Main function: rotates and raises the arm. The anterior (clavicular) head of the deltoid muscle raises the arm forward; the middle (shoulder) head raises the arm to the side, and the posterior (scapular) head raises the arm back.

Trapezius muscle: a flat, triangular-shaped muscle covering upper back and neck.

Main function: raises the entire shoulder girdle. Raises the shoulder blade, lowers it and moves it to the sides; helps to turn the head.

SHOULDER DEVELOPMENT

In the 1940s, men wore jackets with huge padded shoulders and a very narrow waist, giving them an exaggerated V-shape (a style that is starting to come back into fashion in recent times). Bodybuilders work hard to create such a form; its important element is broad, well-developed shoulders.

Flex Wheeler

Steve Reeves was one of the first bodybuilders to develop the classic V-shape. He was able to achieve this due to the fact that he naturally had broad shoulders and a narrow waist. Such proportions help to create the most aesthetic physique in bodybuilding.

Steve Reeves

Shoulder width is largely determined by skeletal structure. An athlete like Reeves, with very broad shoulders, has a huge advantage, especially when standing in a relaxed posture. Don Howarth, Frank Zane, and Dave Draper - all champions who started training around the same time as me - can exemplify the "square" shoulder girdle. Kevin Levrone and Nasser El Sonbaty also have broad shoulders.

Dave Draper

Lee Hani demonstrates the latissimus dorsi in front. His square shoulders, combined with superb deltoid development, turn a simple pose into something to behold.

There is another type of physique, which is characterized not by narrow, but rather by sloping shoulders. Reg Park's shoulders are not narrow at all, but his powerful trapezius muscles give the impression of sloping. My shoulders are shaped the same way, so they look much narrower when I'm standing in a relaxed stance, compared to showing off the lats when the actual width of the shoulders becomes apparent. Look at Paul Dillett on stage and you'll see roughly the same structure.

The "square" appearance of the shoulders also depends on the posing. When I stood on the stage in a relaxed position, my shoulders seemed to be sloping ...

… but when I showed the latissimus dorsi, you could see how much wider the shoulders looked.

Another component of the "square" appearance is the development lateral deltoid muscles. When these muscles are fully developed, they look very impressive when tense. Sergio Oliva and Tom Platz, for example, have superbly developed shoulders, but their shoulders don't look particularly wide and square when they're on stage in a relaxed pose. In this regard, the ideal bodybuilder in competition is a square bone structure and well-developed lateral deltoid muscles. Look at the shoulders of Dorian Yates and you will understand how valuable such a structure can be.

By the way, bodybuilders known for fantastic development of the deltoid muscles are also famous for their enormous strength: Sergio Oliva and Franco Columbu did 225-pound barbell presses from behind the head and 315-pound barbell cross-grip presses; Ken Waller, with his powerful anterior deltoids, did presses with 140-pound dumbbells.

But the width and development of the lateral head of the deltoid muscle is only one aspect of overall development. The shoulders should be powerful, showing the development of the posterior and anterior head of the deltoid muscle with a clear connection in the area of ​​the pectoral muscles and biceps, as well as with the trapezius muscles and the rest of the back.

The deltoid muscles help to perform a very wide range of movements. The three heads, or major ligaments, allow the arm to move backward, forward, sideways, and rotate at the shoulder joint. They play an important role in almost every posture taken by a bodybuilder on stage. In frontal display of the biceps, they visually increase your size and give quality to the muscles in the "most muscular" position. The power and development of all three heads of the deltoid muscle play an important role in lateral postures, such as the lateral chest or triceps display. The impression of showing the biceps from the back is highly dependent on the degree of relief and isolation of the posterior processes of the deltoid muscle.

Your deltoid muscles should be prominent, with a clear banding of individual bundles, no matter what movement you perform - both when fixing a particular position, and during the transition from one posture to another. There must be a relationship so that all three heads work together with neighboring muscles, giving you a tough, muscular look.

But good development of the deltoid muscles is also important when you are standing in a relaxed posture. From both front and back, powerful deltoid muscles make you appear wider. From the front, you should have complete isolation of the deltoid and pectoral muscles. For some people, this is almost a natural thing; others have to perform a large amount of special exercises. Seen from the side, the development of the posterior head of the deltoid muscle gives you that characteristic "bumpiness" of the shoulders so well expressed in great champions like Flex Wheeler or Dorian Yates.

Of course, shoulder width and deltoid development are two different things. For example, the deltoid muscles of Steve Reeves were not particularly dense and massive, despite the very wide shoulders. On the other hand, Larry Scott, who won the first Mr. Olympia competition in the 60s, showed powerful, massive deltoids. Their superior development compensated for the comparatively narrow proportions given to him by nature. Shawn Ray's shoulder width isn't exceptional, but you don't notice it because his deltoid muscles are very tight and fully developed.

Samir Banut

Shawn Ray

Many bodybuilders with relatively narrow shoulders have been saved by intensive deltoid training. My favorite example is Reg Park. He worked very hard to compensate for the rather narrow skeletal structure, and achieved impressive results. Reg was the first bodybuilder to bench press a 500 pound barbell, and this was only possible because of the size and strength of his anterior deltoid muscles, which in this exercise worked at full capacity along with the pecs and triceps.

It is worth mentioning that all these champions used different methods of training. Franco Columbu built huge anterior deltoid muscles with countless barbell and dumbbell presses, so he had to do a lot of rear deltoid training to correct his proportions. Larry Scott excelled in shoulder training using the drop method, starting with very heavy weights and progressively moving to lighter weights to increase muscle definition and definition: from 90-pound dumbbells to 30-pound dumbbells over several sets. Dorian Yates For several years I did a very intense workout with a relatively small number of series and various intensity techniques such as negative, forced and partial repetitions.

...I demonstrate a three-quarter biceps...

...the "most muscular" pose performed by Franco Columbu...

…and a fantastic backside biceps display by Ronnie Colman.

Franco Colombo

Larry Scott

I again want to emphasize that no two people have exactly the same physique or absolutely identical muscles after a workout. There are no bodybuilders who have never had to change their training program to work on weak areas and create a well-balanced, harmonious physique.

DELTOID TRAINING

There are two types of basic exercises for the shoulder girdle: lifting shells on straightened arms and various bench presses with a barbell or dumbbells in a standing and sitting position.

When lifting, your straightened arm moves up in a wide arc, which helps to better isolate the heads of the deltoid muscle. Lifts are performed forward, sideways and backwards. At the same time, the triceps almost do not participate in the work, but complete isolation of the different heads of the deltoid muscle is achieved. However, with isolation exercises, you can't lift as much weight as you can with presses because you keep your arms straight throughout the range of