Broader Shoulders

Hi, I have been wieght training for about two years now and have made vast improvemnets in physique and strength one thing still bother me though. I have pretty narrow shoulders. My traps are big and so are my arms. My traps almsot touch the tip of my shoulders. So it looks like my head rests on a big triangle. I see guys woaling around the gym with extremly wide shoulders and they don’t seem to be doing much different routines than me. How could I get my shoulders more broad? Am I just geneticly screwed? I mean it doesn’t look as bad as I say it is but its still bothers me. Any suggestions and advice would be appreciated.

We need a little more info to help you out. How long have you been training, how old are you, how clean is your diet, what is your split, what does your shoulder routine look like? And anything else you think might be important.

GENETICS.

I kinda have the same problem. In a way though, i don’t mind because narrower shoulders make you look fuller because you’re more compact. but back to your question, I would say if the problem has to do with bone structure, you’re screwed, but doing less chest and back, and working your lats and side heads of your delts, you can appear wider by actually being less thick from chest to back. I dont’ know if that made sense, but I tried.

Bigger shoulders. Here’s a good workout that has produced near miracles for my formerly narrow shoulders.

BNP 3 sets 5 reps.

superset 3 sets 8-15 reps :
Lateral raises.
Lying lateral raises.
bent over lateral raises.

a rotator cuff exercise. 12-15 reps.
Train your shoulders once every 5 days preferably not on the day following your chest workout.
Oh and good luck finding your new wardrobe

another vote for genetics

My shoulders also were pretty pathetic, saw a pic of myself on the beach a year ago, and they were painfully underdeveloped - my traps are too strong(350lbs shrugs!!) and overpower everything. For me, I took some time off training them for a little while, then I priotised them in my training. The routine i found allowed me tax the side delts to hell, and fatigue my traps loads. Cheat side raises with about 20/25% heavier with a ‘pouring the jug’ style, followed by upright rows(CG), then bent-over flyes followed by wide grip behind the neck presses. All done for 3 sets each, of 6/8 for the first two, higher for the other two. Make sure to warm up carefully though, its worth a try, it worked for me and they look pretty good now. good luck!Cheers

Well I’ve been weight training for about 2 years, I’m 18 years old entering as a freshman into Trinity College in Hartford. I’m 6 feet tall and wiegh 190 right now with 8-10% bodyfat. I need to get down to 174 by late october (wrestling) but thats neither here or there. My diet is VERY clean as my caloric intake is minimized due to the need for weight loss. Its still a healthy diet I make sure to eat plenty of protien, try to limit carbs and fat. Anyways, I’m not as familiar with the terminoligies of lifiting routines so if you guys could help me out by not using abreviations and explaining less common exercises that would be appreciated. I’m not stupid and know what bent rows, flys, lateral raises etc… are, but when it comes to less common ones I get confused. Thanks guys for all your help.

Carmi: Some thoughts: 1) Prioritize shoulders in your training. Gotta’ lagging bodypart?..work it hard and FIRST. 2) Ease up (or stop temporarily) your trap training. Overiding traps become VERY strong synergist in the primary movement of the delts: abduction of the humerus (upper arm). 3)Don’t be afraid to use one arm movements. 4) Don’t be afraid of behind-the-neck presses 5)Don’t be afraid to GO HEAVY BUT CONTROLLED! There are plenty of people who don’t go heavy because they look at side delt movements like some type of “hand raise” ,thereby limiting their weight. THE DELTS ABDUCT THE UPPER ARM!6) Don’t believe the crap that you don’t have to do front raise movements “because they get worked plenty when you do bench presses”. DO FRONT RAISES! PRIORITIZE! FEEL THE MOVEMENT! GO HEAVY, BUT CONTROLLED! ISOLATE! DO FRONT RAISE MOVEMENTS! Hope this helps!

Ian Kings shoulder workout is very good, search for it in T-mag. For a chnge of pace use the hang clean and press (BB or DB) in place of regular presses. Good luck outlaw.