So Im trying to figure out what are some good Delt exercises but ones that don’t include Dumbbells. Whenever im doing a DB lateral raise or front raise I get this pain in my rotator cuff I can do a couple of reps but it gets more painful as I go on with the set.
At the moment im doing Barbell press, DB press and Machine Press. What else can I do for delts? Im mainly concerned that I cant hit the front and side part of my delts without the use of DB’s seeing as it seems to be a staple in building them.
What exercises do you guys feel hit the delts the best?
as for your shoulder pain, have you tried the YTW whatever the fuck they’re called shoulder warmup things? maybe try doing some rotator cuff work to address the issue instead of training around it.
Wide grip upright row will target the side delts, or even regular upright rows. You can also do front raises with a barbell…Benching probably contributes to a lot of front delt mass anyways and rowing for rear delts.
look up shoulder health by dante… its on a forum somewhere and I think it was posted here too… its a simple exercise using a broomstick which has worked wonders for many people with poor shoulder health… it wouldnt hurt to try it out for a week or two…
I just cant imagine living without using lat/ant/post raises if your goal is bodybuilding… unless youre blessed with good delts that respond to anything (unlike me)
Do machine lateral raises hurt also? I’ve found this to be the most valuable machine in the gym. Dumbells are now last on my list for building lateral deltoids.
Fixing your shoulder problem should be high on your priority list.
If you are pressing heavy, your front delts are unlikely to be in danger of being underdeveloped. What kind of poundage are you moving in your BB pressing movements.
You DO need a lateral raise movement for the side delts,though. Very few exceptions to this rule.
However, if thats contraindicated for whatever reason, you want to increase side-delt involvement in BB shoulder press using a wider grip. If you have access to a HS shoulder press, that would be better for this purpose. Also use a wide neutral grip on your seated rows.
[quote]optheta wrote:
So Im trying to figure out what are some good Delt exercises but ones that don’t include Dumbbells. Whenever im doing a DB lateral raise or front raise I get this pain in my rotator cuff I can do a couple of reps but it gets more painful as I go on with the set.
At the moment im doing Barbell press, DB press and Machine Press. What else can I do for delts? Im mainly concerned that I cant hit the front and side part of my delts without the use of DB’s seeing as it seems to be a staple in building them.
What exercises do you guys feel hit the delts the best? [/quote]
[quote]Mahnager wrote:
look up shoulder health by dante… its on a forum somewhere and I think it was posted here too… its a simple exercise using a broomstick which has worked wonders for many people with poor shoulder health… it wouldnt hurt to try it out for a week or two…[/quote]
Beat me to it, Mahn!
Great advice. I use a rolled up towel in place of the broomstick, tough. Easier on my wrists. I’ve had chronic shoulder problems for many years until I started doing these. Now my shoulders are quite healthy with very little pain.
Anyway, in order to avoid posting a link which may be deleted by the mods, I’ve copied the text for that specific exercise Dante recommends:
How to cure shoulder problems
by Dante aka Doggcrapp
With a large towel or broomstick I want you to hold it with straight arms for the entire time of what i describe in the following movement–a large “rolled up like a rope” beach towel works good but honestly a longer broomstick (without the bristles) works best in my opinion. Start out with it with a really wide grip (with straight arms) in front of you (on your quads) and with straight arms bring it up and overhead and then down and back to the middle of your back–STRAIGHT ARMS ALL THE WAY–this is going to be very difficult and hard the first couple times out and then will be “old hat” with time----and its going to be painful in a stretching pump kind of way—i want 50 reps each time you do this–one repetition is from in front of your face (all with straight arms) to up overhead and back, and then down all the way to the middle of your back and then back up overhead to in front of your face again (again all with straight arms)–the important part of the movement is the area overhead that is really tight–do all of this carefully/slowly—dont just whip it over and back—if your hand is slipping off the broomstick even with the widest grip, or you cant bring your arms over straight and the start bending on you, you have some serious shoulder inflexibility and need to work this hard and get up to speed (or you could just need a longer broomstick too)–again do all of these revolutions controlled and carefully–push into the stretch as you go along toward the 50 revolutions, your chest will be pushing outward and your shoulders rolling back–your shoulders are going to blow up with so much blood its going to be incredibly painfull pumpwise–Do this once a day at nite as many times a week as you can—sometimes I have people do it every single day—but every time you do it try to move your grip inward (thats the key)----its going to be very hard to do but try your best to move your grip inward for the next 2-4 weeks and your range of motion with shoulders will increase dramatically and any impingement and the majority of other problems should be gone in 2 weeks–also try to move your grip in as you are doing the 50 revolutions–start off with a stretching but relatively easy 10 to warm up some, then try to move your grip in even by a centimeter if you can for the next 20 revolutions and then at 30 try to move the grip in another centimeter–really try to push what you can do stretchwise once your warmed up here–trust me this sounds easy but your going to be muttering “fuck you dante” after you get to your 25th revolution–Ive cured too many shoulder problems with this simple movement now its pretty ridiculous, and this and a menthol rub applied liberally daily and before sleep has cured alot of shoulder/bicepital tendonitis in trainees.
[quote]tribunal-dude wrote:
If you are pressing heavy, your front delts are unlikely to be in danger of being underdeveloped. What kind of poundage are you moving in your BB pressing movements.
You DO need a lateral raise movement for the side delts,though. Very few exceptions to this rule.
However, if thats contraindicated for whatever reason, you want to increase side-delt involvement in BB shoulder press using a wider grip. If you have access to a HS shoulder press, that would be better for this purpose. Also use a wide neutral grip on your seated rows.
optheta wrote:
So Im trying to figure out what are some good Delt exercises but ones that don’t include Dumbbells. Whenever im doing a DB lateral raise or front raise I get this pain in my rotator cuff I can do a couple of reps but it gets more painful as I go on with the set.
At the moment im doing Barbell press, DB press and Machine Press. What else can I do for delts? Im mainly concerned that I cant hit the front and side part of my delts without the use of DB’s seeing as it seems to be a staple in building them.
What exercises do you guys feel hit the delts the best?
[/quote]
I press with 135lbs and I do full barbell press like bringing the weight down to the clavicle area. I get no pain when I do it in that form so i figure might as well do it like that.
For individuals with shoulder issues, I’m a huge fan of overhead push presses. Not only does it get the weight past the part that usually causes pain, at the bottom of the lift, but you can go really heavy on it if you need to.
Plus, if you’re cutting, the push part of it helps for a bit of extra burn, especially if you’re doing them on the same day as your squats. Win-win!
So today at the Gym i tried some of the other exercises mentioned in here to see if they hurt and stuff. Upright rows no dice hurts, Machine lat raise I can do them only if I do them first if i do it after Barbell press shoulder starts to hurt when doing the machine raise.
So since it seems like im hitting front delts decently with incline bench my main concern I guess is getting side delts. Tribunal dude you mentioned wide-grip neutral seated rows, is that the bar attachment that is long and has the 2 D’s on the side of it? looks like this D-------D
[quote]Iron Dwarf wrote:
Mahnager wrote:
look up shoulder health by dante… its on a forum somewhere and I think it was posted here too… its a simple exercise using a broomstick which has worked wonders for many people with poor shoulder health… it wouldnt hurt to try it out for a week or two…
Beat me to it, Mahn!
Great advice. I use a rolled up towel in place of the broomstick, tough. Easier on my wrists. I’ve had chronic shoulder problems for many years until I started doing these. Now my shoulders are quite healthy with very little pain.
Anyway, in order to avoid posting a link which may be deleted by the mods, I’ve copied the text for that specific exercise Dante recommends:
How to cure shoulder problems
by Dante aka Doggcrapp
With a large towel or broomstick I want you to hold it with straight arms for the entire time of what i describe in the following movement–a large “rolled up like a rope” beach towel works good but honestly a longer broomstick (without the bristles) works best in my opinion. Start out with it with a really wide grip (with straight arms) in front of you (on your quads) and with straight arms bring it up and overhead and then down and back to the middle of your back–STRAIGHT ARMS ALL THE WAY–this is going to be very difficult and hard the first couple times out and then will be “old hat” with time----and its going to be painful in a stretching pump kind of way—i want 50 reps each time you do this–one repetition is from in front of your face (all with straight arms) to up overhead and back, and then down all the way to the middle of your back and then back up overhead to in front of your face again (again all with straight arms)–the important part of the movement is the area overhead that is really tight–do all of this carefully/slowly—dont just whip it over and back—if your hand is slipping off the broomstick even with the widest grip, or you cant bring your arms over straight and the start bending on you, you have some serious shoulder inflexibility and need to work this hard and get up to speed (or you could just need a longer broomstick too)–again do all of these revolutions controlled and carefully–push into the stretch as you go along toward the 50 revolutions, your chest will be pushing outward and your shoulders rolling back–your shoulders are going to blow up with so much blood its going to be incredibly painfull pumpwise–Do this once a day at nite as many times a week as you can—sometimes I have people do it every single day—but every time you do it try to move your grip inward (thats the key)----its going to be very hard to do but try your best to move your grip inward for the next 2-4 weeks and your range of motion with shoulders will increase dramatically and any impingement and the majority of other problems should be gone in 2 weeks–also try to move your grip in as you are doing the 50 revolutions–start off with a stretching but relatively easy 10 to warm up some, then try to move your grip in even by a centimeter if you can for the next 20 revolutions and then at 30 try to move the grip in another centimeter–really try to push what you can do stretchwise once your warmed up here–trust me this sounds easy but your going to be muttering “fuck you dante” after you get to your 25th revolution–Ive cured too many shoulder problems with this simple movement now its pretty ridiculous, and this and a menthol rub applied liberally daily and before sleep has cured alot of shoulder/bicepital tendonitis in trainees.
[/quote]
Okay so i was able to find a diagram of how to do them,thank god i did a couple of reps to see how they felt and wow its one of those things were it hurts so much/so good you laugh lol. I just want to be sure that through out the whole movement there is supposed to be tightness correct?
Also I don’t understand it when he is talking about bringing it down the the middle of the back? Am i supposed to stop there when i reach that point? Because i can go further bringing the towel to my lower back but when i do that there is some loss of tightness due to it being kind of a resting position.
Start with the towel/broomstick resting on your quads and slowly rotate all the way back around and touch the glutes/lower back, then reverse the motion.
That counts as one rep.
The article can be found at intensemuslce.com, it is a sticky in one of the forums.
[quote]optheta wrote:
Iron Dwarf wrote:
Mahnager wrote:
look up shoulder health by dante… its on a forum somewhere and I think it was posted here too… its a simple exercise using a broomstick which has worked wonders for many people with poor shoulder health… it wouldnt hurt to try it out for a week or two…
Beat me to it, Mahn!
Great advice. I use a rolled up towel in place of the broomstick, tough. Easier on my wrists. I’ve had chronic shoulder problems for many years until I started doing these. Now my shoulders are quite healthy with very little pain.
Anyway, in order to avoid posting a link which may be deleted by the mods, I’ve copied the text for that specific exercise Dante recommends:
How to cure shoulder problems
by Dante aka Doggcrapp
With a large towel or broomstick I want you to hold it with straight arms for the entire time of what i describe in the following movement–a large “rolled up like a rope” beach towel works good but honestly a longer broomstick (without the bristles) works best in my opinion. Start out with it with a really wide grip (with straight arms) in front of you (on your quads) and with straight arms bring it up and overhead and then down and back to the middle of your back–STRAIGHT ARMS ALL THE WAY–this is going to be very difficult and hard the first couple times out and then will be “old hat” with time----and its going to be painful in a stretching pump kind of way—i want 50 reps each time you do this–one repetition is from in front of your face (all with straight arms) to up overhead and back, and then down all the way to the middle of your back and then back up overhead to in front of your face again (again all with straight arms)–the important part of the movement is the area overhead that is really tight–do all of this carefully/slowly—dont just whip it over and back—if your hand is slipping off the broomstick even with the widest grip, or you cant bring your arms over straight and the start bending on you, you have some serious shoulder inflexibility and need to work this hard and get up to speed (or you could just need a longer broomstick too)–again do all of these revolutions controlled and carefully–push into the stretch as you go along toward the 50 revolutions, your chest will be pushing outward and your shoulders rolling back–your shoulders are going to blow up with so much blood its going to be incredibly painfull pumpwise–Do this once a day at nite as many times a week as you can—sometimes I have people do it every single day—but every time you do it try to move your grip inward (thats the key)----its going to be very hard to do but try your best to move your grip inward for the next 2-4 weeks and your range of motion with shoulders will increase dramatically and any impingement and the majority of other problems should be gone in 2 weeks–also try to move your grip in as you are doing the 50 revolutions–start off with a stretching but relatively easy 10 to warm up some, then try to move your grip in even by a centimeter if you can for the next 20 revolutions and then at 30 try to move the grip in another centimeter–really try to push what you can do stretchwise once your warmed up here–trust me this sounds easy but your going to be muttering “fuck you dante” after you get to your 25th revolution–Ive cured too many shoulder problems with this simple movement now its pretty ridiculous, and this and a menthol rub applied liberally daily and before sleep has cured alot of shoulder/bicepital tendonitis in trainees.
Okay so i was able to find a diagram of how to do them,thank god i did a couple of reps to see how they felt and wow its one of those things were it hurts so much/so good you laugh lol. I just want to be sure that through out the whole movement there is supposed to be tightness correct?
Also I don’t understand it when he is talking about bringing it down the the middle of the back? Am i supposed to stop there when i reach that point? Because i can go further bringing the towel to my lower back but when i do that there is some loss of tightness due to it being kind of a resting position.
[/quote]
Here’s a decent video explaining the exercise (and a variation):
I like face-pulls, knuckles facing each other, pull it all the way back till you hit yourself in the face. This will hit your medial delts and your traps. Focus on pulling w/ your elbows to get a good burn in the medial delts. It also hits external rotators, which is always good.
I also like upright rows w/ dumbells. That allows your wrists to go whereever they want (i.e., turn inward) instead of being forced to stay w/ the bar.
For rear delts, do a rear delt row.
For all of these, you have to focus on the muscle, not the movement. There are plenty of assistors that can take over if you let them.
edit: If you can’t tell, I strongly prefer constant tension exercises over things like lateral raises, where its easy to cheat it up to the top either by bending your elbow or getting some leg into it. The high face-pulls, there really isn’t much of a way to cheat it.
definitely work your rotator cuffs on all upper body days. press less. row more. any overhead movements will do fine with delt development. u can do wide grip upright rows, go up to around the nipple area, you dont have to go up all the way up to ur chin. you should feel a pump in ur lateral delts
