Shoulders

Hey Lads,

I have had a lenghy lay-off from weight training (i blame meeting the missus and getting to comfy) but now i want to get my self back in shape, I have been sticking mostly to compound movements with a little isolation, but im struggling with my shoulders i just cant seem to lift much at all.Bench pressing is fine so it cant be my tri's can it? any help would be great.

Hi Jambo

From my own experience shoulders took a fair bit longer to build up than other body parts. I have no idea why, but I found shoulders the hardest for a good year or so and really struggled to lift anything decent. It is ok now, albeit at a bit of a plateau, but I'm sorry to say I can't pinpoint why that was.

Maybe it is just one of those things?

It's an interesting question and I'll be intrigued as to what the others here say.

Thanks for the reply Fists, it may well be one of those things it just really annoys me im benching 75kg at the moment but only shoulder pressing something like 15-20kg

I'm the same as Fisty- I really found it hard to kick start my shoulders. Currently, I've found a little momentum and my should press seems to be improving steadily.

My main tips would be hit dumbbell shoulder press hard- much better than barbell because you're forced to work each side separately. I go for maximum 8 reps, over 4 sets. As soon as I can get the reps out on each set, I go up 2kg each side.
Form is so important when it comes to shoulders. No swinging when you're doing front raises!! You see so many guys doing that, and it's pointless- more of an explosive deadlift or clean than a front raise. If you can, do it against a wall to keep your back straight.
With side raises, I like to hold the weights by my side, with a slight bend in the arm, and focus on raising my elbows to a level height with my head. I find this really works. Once again, no swinging!!

Final tip- don't forget to do the backs of your shoulders. Bent over flies hit them nicely, and are exhausting when combined with front raises. Not many people do the posterior deltoid, but they are what give the nice 'round' shape to the shoulders.

Hope any of this helps, and best of luck to you.

Thanks BluesI think as you have said im just gonna have to stick at it and keep working to get results

Would suggest doing 5x5 standing shoulder press.
Bluesonevedder is correct - do not neglect the posterior head of the deltoid.
Bent over rowing works this as well but bentover lateral raises (often referred to as bent over flyes) isolate them better. However, unless you are advanced I would suggest sticking to the basic compounds and stronglifts 5x5 is good for this.

One of the reasons so many people have shoulder injuries is because they have neglected their rear delts....so there's an imbalance of power.

Also when doing should ...or barbell presses...make sure you go through the full movement...bring them right down to the top of your chest...and make sure your arms are straight at the top.

GeordieFalcon wrote:One of the reasons so many people have shoulder injuries is because they have neglected their rear delts....so there's an imbalance of power.
Also when doing should ...or barbell presses...make sure you go through the full movement...bring them right down to the top of your chest...and make sure your arms are straight at the top.

Absolutely. Rear delts also really help support your rotar cuffs. I tore my RC playing rugby sevens two years ago, and had to stop benching for 9 months while it healed. Since then, I've upped the training of my rear delts and always warm up with rotar cuff exercises. Much better now.