motion.

With the shoulder press, you start with your arms bent, holding the weight at shoulder height, and press a barbell or dumbbell over your head. Since you are lifting the weight while extending your arms, both the deltoid muscles and the triceps are involved in the press. You can slightly vary the load on the shoulder girdle by directing it to different heads of the deltoid muscle (press in front or behind) using a barbell, dumbbells or various mechanisms.

ОСНОATНЫЕ EXERCISES

I consider strength training to develop the shoulder girdle absolutely necessary, regardless of your level of development. But training with heavy weights is perhaps the most valuable when you are at the start of your journey. The deltoid muscles respond well to heavy weight work. This contributes to your overall development, since many other exercises designed to strength builds, from bench presses and deadlifts to forward bent-over rows, put the shoulder girdle under heavy stress.

Therefore, I recommend that you start with exercises such as bench presses, push-ups, and wide-grip high rows in addition to dumbbell alternating raises and other lateral movements from the beginning. Such a program helps to build the mass and strength of the shoulder girdle, which is necessary for the transition to intensive training. I advise beginners to do bench presses instead of shoulder presses, because the extra movement of lifting the bar off the floor, rising to shoulder level, and intercepting the bar for underhand support works many other muscles besides the deltoids, especially the trapezius and triceps.

INTENSE TRAINING

When you reach the level of intense training, you need more than just bulk and strength. At this stage, you need to work on the overall development of the shoulder girdle: all three heads of the deltoid muscle and the trapezius muscles. Therefore, in addition to exercises such as seated dumbbell raises designed specifically to develop the lateral deltoid muscles, I included in the program barbell presses from behind the head for the anterior and lateral heads of the deltoid muscle, as well as dumbbell tilted raises for the rear deltoid muscles. heads of the deltoid muscle and raising the shoulders with dumbbells and a barbell for the trapezius muscles. By the way, for those who believe that the trapezius muscles are more connected to the back than to the shoulder girdle, it should be recalled that when you raise your arms above your head when doing presses or side movements, the trapezius muscles are immediately put under significant stress, raising the shoulders and allowing you to complete the full range of motion.

In this part of the program, you will also find a number of supersets to increase the load and additional momentum to the development of the shoulder girdle, including exercises such as high traction barbell (for the anterior deltoid and trapezius muscles), bench presses on the machine (for the anterior deltoids allows you to lower the weight lower than with a barbell), abduction of the arm to shoulder level on a block simulator (to isolate the lateral head of the deltoid muscle) and traction to the opposite shoulder on a block simulator (to isolate the posterior head deltoid muscle).

COMPETITION PREPARATION PROGRAM

In this pose, you can see that the anterior deltoid muscles are clearly separated from the pectoral muscles, a quality that is developed through special exercises such as high barbell rows and alternating dumbbell front-up raises.

The deltoid muscles perform very diverse functions, allowing your arm to perform a complete circular motion, which means that you can train them from different angles for full body shape and development.

The training program for the competition includes several additional exercises, such as abduction of the arm from behind the back on a block simulator and abduction of a straight arm with a dumbbell, lying on an incline bench. The time frame is noticeably reduced: each exercise is performed as part of a super series or triset. Such intensive work is very effective for the formation of relief and clarity of the deltoid muscles: it brings all the ligaments to the surface and creates excellent isolation of the bundles of muscle fibers.

When training for a competition, you must pay close attention to detail. Each muscle head must be developed not only in proportion to the others, but also in complete isolation from the rest. In addition, the structure of the deltoid muscle must be isolated from the biceps and triceps, as well as from the trapezius muscle and other muscles of the upper back. The anterior deltoid muscles should clearly protrude and separate from the curve of the pectoral muscles.

And finally, in addition to all of the above, you need striation and cross-banding of muscle fiber bundles, giving the muscles that special quality that allows you to compete with other bodybuilders at the highest level. Of course, all this is not easy. You can't just take any shoulder procedure and hope for champion deltoid development. You need to constantly increase the intensity with the help of supersets and trisets, use the dropping method and variations of the "shocking principle". If, despite your efforts, you still have weak areas in the development of the deltoid muscles, the only solution is intensive training; you should carefully study the section on training for weaknesses (see later in this chapter) and reorganize your training in such a way way to solve the problems.

AT 1971 году, когда я тренировался с Franco Colombo, мы выполняли жимы гантелей по методу сбрасывания, начиная со 100 фунтов, затем немедленно переходили к разведению рук с гантелями в наклоне и пытали свои дельтовидные мышцы до тех пор, пока не могли поднять руки. Sometimes we did trisets: first exercises for the anterior deltoid muscles, then for the lateral muscles, and finally for the posterior ones. Believe me, after a couple of such exercises, your muscles begin to burn like fire, and every fiber begs for mercy.

TRAPEZIUS TRAINING

The trapezius muscles are important in both front and back poses. For example, see how they help create a cohesive impression when showing biceps from the back.

Flex Wheeler

The trapezius muscles are the visual center of the upper back; their trapezoid-shaped structure links together the muscles of the neck, the deltoid muscles and the latissimus dorsi. The trapezius muscles play an important role in posing both front and back. In poses like the biceps back show, the trapezius muscles help make a fantastic impression as the muscles bulge from shoulder to shoulder. When showing the latissimus dorsi, the trapezius muscles form a clear triangle in the center of the back, emphasizing the outward curve with narrowing towards the waist. Good trapezius muscle development also helps separate the posterior heads of the deltoids from the upper back. In most frontal poses, the line of the trapezius muscles from the neck to the deltoid muscles is extremely important, especially if you want to impress in the "most muscular" pose.

But the trapezius muscles need to be developed in proportion to everything else. If they bulge excessively and their buttocks are too tight, your deltoid muscles will appear too small.

The trapezius muscles perform the opposite function of the lowering function of the latissimus dorsi: they raise the entire shoulder girdle. I included exercises such as wide grip high barbell rows in the main workout program so that the trapezius muscles build strength and massiveness from the very beginning. Of great benefit to the trapezius muscles is the bench press with lifting from the floor and deadlift with a maximum weight - these exercises are also included in the main training program.

By the way, you will achieve some development of the trapezius muscles when spreading your arms with dumbbells in a standing position, if you start the movement from the hips, and not with your arms lowered, as in a sitting position.

I included dumbbell shoulder raises in my intensive training program specifically to train the trapezius muscles. In the competition training program, you will also find a number of exercises that are useful for the trapezius muscles, although not designed specifically for their development. For example, when pulling a dumbbell with one hand in an incline or when pressing from the shoulders with a barbell or dumbbells, the trapezius muscles work along with others.

TRAINING WEAK AREAS

If the shoulder girdle is a weak point in your physique, make changes to your training program to perform more series and exercises for the shoulders. Use a variety of intensity methods to give your shoulder girdle a jolt from time to time.

In shoulder exercises, I like to use the drop method. When working with dumbbells, you start with a very heavy weight and gradually reduce it; when pulling on a block device, you simply move the pin one notch and reduce the degree of load.

Another way to accelerate the development of the deltoid muscles is to compose a superset of presses and lifts: for example, a barbell press is accompanied by alternating dumbbell raises (or high barbell rows) to completely “bomb out” the anterior deltoid muscles. If you want to make your workout even more intense, try a triset: presses, alternating dumbbell raises, and high barbell rows. But be prepared to endure pain after a workout.

To get the best results with dumbbell raises or high barbell rows, keep two things in mind:

1. Keep your hands palms down throughout your range of motion, or better still, rotate your wrist slightly so that your little finger is above your thumb (as if you were pouring water from a pitcher). This helps isolate the deltoid muscles and causes them to fully contract during movement.

2. Perform exercises with maximum clarity. Raise the weight without "cheating" and lower it under full control. The