Im having a hard time well its always been a difficulty getting my delts sore or feeling like im actually targeting the muscle. DB front raises honestly i feel do nothing for me. Military press is alright but thats about the only exercise that I can honestly think that I hit my delts good.
Espically the side delts I can’t for the love me feel like im activating them.
Need some advice/tips/exercises to try.
Seated behind the neck smith presses do it for me, and barbell or smith high inclines.
Try starting with twitch reps standing lateral raises to get things ‘going’, then do your actual laterals from a stop (resting on a bench!). I guarantee you’ll feel something -lol.
S
Try doing side laterals on a incline bench and then supersetting them with front raises. Doing them on an incline bench will take a significant amount of ‘body english’ out of it so most of the focus is kept on the delts.
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Try starting with twitch reps … [/quote]
Stu, please explain what you mean by this. I know I’ve seen this associated with CT and IBB, but I’d like to read your interpretation.
[quote]SteelyD wrote:
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Try starting with twitch reps … [/quote]
Stu, please explain what you mean by this. I know I’ve seen this associated with CT and IBB, but I’d like to read your interpretation.
[/quote]
x2
Also, OP: I get sore delts from isometric holds at the end of a lateral raise set.
Two points I took from training with Christian are that you can drastically overload a muscle by making it work against a dead-stopped weight (ie. bench from pins), or` by focusing on quickly reversing its direction (quick turnaround). During a conversation last October, Tim Patterson mentioned in passing how he had done an all twitch rep shoulder workout, and that it had left him incredibly sore the next day.
Typically, I would make use of non-stop laterals (being a TUT sorta guy), focusing a bit on a slower eccentric portion, so I decided to try a few twitches at the beginning of my workout, primarily as an activation technique.
Basically, you’re taking a much lighter weight than you typically would use, staying within the middle 1/3 ROM, and quickly moving up and down, so that you have a series of successive quick-turnaround points, all in the stronger ROM of the exercise.
While my shoulders have never typically be sore the day after a workout,… THESE I felt -lol.
S
[quote]optheta wrote:
Im having a hard time well its always been a difficulty getting my delts sore or feeling like im actually targeting the muscle. DB front raises honestly i feel do nothing for me. Military press is alright but thats about the only exercise that I can honestly think that I hit my delts good.
Espically the side delts I can’t for the love me feel like im activating them.
Need some advice/tips/exercises to try. [/quote]
Light weight that you can control for 15-20 reps (hold the top for 1-2 sec) in a dumbbell lateral raise. Do like 20+ sets and pump the shit out of them.
When they are sore the next day, try doing regular shoulder movements and focus on squeezing them, it will be easier to focus on them with the DOMS.
I would also incorporate Leaning Lat Raises, which seem to hitem really good, also as a finisher a Javeline Press with a barbell, really hits my anterior delts.
I have the same problem with my shoulders. I usually fix this by doing 2 things.
I start off by normally doing my normal shoulder work out.
Then at the end of my workout I grab a pair of dumbells and do tricets.
Grab dumbells and do lateral raises X 10
Then use the same dumbells to do Upright rows x 10
Then use the same dumbells to do standing shoulder press X 10.
These all should be done back to back. I do 3 sets of these.
The first set is a set of 10, then 12, then 15.
If I still don’t feel like I got a good enough work out, grab a barbell and do sets of 8-10 of upright rows but hold the weight at the top of each rep for 5 seconds.
I do these as burnouts so I don’t bother ramping for the upright rows.
To target the medial delt the humerus MUST be pronated. Internal rotation of the upper arm is essential for someone whose front delts are dominant.
Using a lateral raise machine can help this becuase it allows you to concentrate on targeting the muscle. Behind the back ‘lean away’ cable raises are good also. Puts the medial delt in a stretched position and allows for greater ROM.
Side lateral raises with DB in front of the body are the last thing I’d recommend for someone who hasn’t developed the mind muscle connection in the medial delt.
Grab a real light weight, because this is a killer, and Im talking 20-30lb dumbbell depending on how strong you are. Sit on an incline bench so that your side is against the back of the bench. Now do 1 armed lateral raises. Fantastic lateral head exercise.
[edit] I actually stole this movement from Kai. found a link to it just incase my explanation seems as vague to you as it did to me when i reread it lol. The exercise is performed at 4:25 in
Cable Lateral Raises FTW. Personally, I do them with the cable behind my back, but either way is great.
In general I think shoulders respond better to lighter weights and higher reps, when you are dealing with raising movements. I generally stick to 10-15 reps when I’m doing raises, with a burn out set or a fast twitch set with lighter weights at the end.
My delts have never been sore. They are also one of my better body parts. Being sore does not mean you did enough to make it grow.
[quote]WestCoast7 wrote:
Cable Lateral Raises FTW. Personally, I do them with the cable behind my back, but either way is great.
In general I think shoulders respond better to lighter weights and higher reps, when you are dealing with raising movements. I generally stick to 10-15 reps when I’m doing raises, with a burn out set or a fast twitch set with lighter weights at the end.[/quote]
I disagree. My lateral delts get hit with a lot of weight. This has led to them standing out more than most who think heavy weight isn’t needed. I use a machine now for lateral raises, but I usually do the whole stack plus an added 2 45lbs plates hanging off.
Cable lateral raises actually restrict the weight used (as do dumbbells in some instances) because of your forearm,elbow taking much of the load.
I will say that I did dumbbells exclusively until I could do 55lbs for lateral raises but have seen way more growth since I moved to that lateral raise machine that allows your forearms to rest on the pads taking them largely out of the equation.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
[quote]WestCoast7 wrote:
Cable Lateral Raises FTW. Personally, I do them with the cable behind my back, but either way is great.
In general I think shoulders respond better to lighter weights and higher reps, when you are dealing with raising movements. I generally stick to 10-15 reps when I’m doing raises, with a burn out set or a fast twitch set with lighter weights at the end.[/quote]
I disagree. My lateral delts get hit with a lot of weight. This has led to them standing out more than most who think heavy weight isn’t needed. I use a machine now for lateral raises, but I usually do the whole stack plus an added 2 45lbs plates hanging off.
Cable lateral raises actually restrict the weight used (as do dumbbells in some instances) because of your forearm,elbow taking much of the load.
I will say that I did dumbbells exclusively until I could do 55lbs for lateral raises but have seen way more growth since I moved to that lateral raise machine that allows your forearms to rest on the pads taking them largely out of the equation.[/quote]
I like that machine also, and have started using it consistently these last few weeks…hopefully it’ll help cap off my sad lateral delts.
[quote]hungry4more wrote:
[quote]Professor X wrote:
[quote]WestCoast7 wrote:
Cable Lateral Raises FTW. Personally, I do them with the cable behind my back, but either way is great.
In general I think shoulders respond better to lighter weights and higher reps, when you are dealing with raising movements. I generally stick to 10-15 reps when I’m doing raises, with a burn out set or a fast twitch set with lighter weights at the end.[/quote]
I disagree. My lateral delts get hit with a lot of weight. This has led to them standing out more than most who think heavy weight isn’t needed. I use a machine now for lateral raises, but I usually do the whole stack plus an added 2 45lbs plates hanging off.
Cable lateral raises actually restrict the weight used (as do dumbbells in some instances) because of your forearm,elbow taking much of the load.
I will say that I did dumbbells exclusively until I could do 55lbs for lateral raises but have seen way more growth since I moved to that lateral raise machine that allows your forearms to rest on the pads taking them largely out of the equation.[/quote]
I like that machine also, and have started using it consistently these last few weeks…hopefully it’ll help cap off my sad lateral delts. [/quote]
I think I need to make this clearer.
I STUCK WITH DUMBBELLS UNTIL I HAD BIG DELTS.
I use that machine now because of the weight I am moving and usingthat much weight was making my forearms so sore that I was recovering VER slowly for biceps and back work…which all stress the same area.
That machine lets me use more weight than I ever see anyone else using (I get an audience some times when lifting on that machine and have never seen anyone add weight to the stack).
I would not recommend someone who is having a hard time with growth start using that machine exclusively as it is VERY doubftul you are using enough weight to stimulate growth at this point better than dumbbells would.
This is also the point people need to understand when they see me talk about Hammer Strength machines and how I use them mostly for chest now. I am not recommending that to anyone but people at my stage of development.
[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:
To target the medial delt the humerus MUST be pronated. Internal rotation of the upper arm is essential for someone whose front delts are dominant.
Using a lateral raise machine can help this becuase it allows you to concentrate on targeting the muscle. Behind the back ‘lean away’ cable raises are good also. Puts the medial delt in a stretched position and allows for greater ROM.
Side lateral raises with DB in front of the body are the last thing I’d recommend for someone who hasn’t developed the mind muscle connection in the medial delt. [/quote]
Can you elaborate on these “behind the back “lean away” lateral raises”? Are they essentially the cable equivalent of what Akuma said?
I’ve probably had my best growth from seated dumbbell presses, more recently been mixing in a lot of barbell overhead work.
I also like static holds on lateral raises.
CC has wrote that machines are the only thing that made him really feel his side delts work.
For me personally, BB/DB upright rows, side laterals, etc etc, don’t do shit. I think the deadstop position for seated DB laterals is a great idea though. I recently started doing Deadstart Tricep Dips and they are working great.