tl;dr proven path to get broad shoulder over 3-5 years
In about 2 years time my mate, who was rather lanky (and used to faint in summer sun), has developed 2:1 kind of physique; like shoulders looking almost twice as broad as waist.
Inspired/jealous, I also want to really broaden my shoulder (not 2:1 but still visibly broader than my fat 36" waist), but I don’t want to take any illegal chemicals.
I am looking at a 5 year time frame. I have started diet + swimming to tame my waist but I don’t know about upper body workouts.
Can you suggest some routines proven to really broaden the shoulders?
Pull Ups, overall Shoulder and Lat work, Pullovers… This relies entirely on the muscles though - you’re not going to change your bone structure with exercises (at least not to any significant degree).
Do you only want more broad shoulders, or are you trying to be more muscularly developed everywhere?
Overall muscular development is a secondary target - but I guess it’ll come eventually as I have set aside time for gym 4 days a week.
My friend seems to have gotten more than just muscular development, and I know he invested a lot in supplements and stuff (they’re quite easily available in his home city) - do steroids aid skeletal growth too? If yes, what class / category of steroids do that?
Get your overhead press to the point where you can do 135lbs for 5 sets of 10. If you’re not there in 5 years, you’ll still be way closer to where you want to be.
Smarter answer: Don’t compare yourself to your friend, find a good program, educate yourself on nutrition and just work on yourself making small steps forward over a long period of time.
Okay, then cool it with the steroid talk - there is a time and place when it is more reasonable to consider, and you are at least a decade away from that point.
You’ve had a gym membership for 3 days now, how many of those days have you trained?