Boulder Shoulders

December 19, 2003
By Adam Silver

Any model needs to have good upper body posture, and it helps to have beautiful, round shoulders. There are two muscle groups?the deltoids and the trapezius--involved in upper body posture, but I?m only going to focus on the deltoids for this article. The deltoids are referred to as the shoulders. The trapezius are not ?shoulders? as some people refer to them. One more thing?Don?t call the trapezius, ?trapezoids.? That drives me crazy.

First, here is just a little anatomy about the shoulder muscles. The deltoids are broken up into three muscles: the anterior deltoid (front), the medial deltoid (side) and the posterior deltoid (rear). They can be worked together or isolated to some degree.

During any workout, I generally recommend working from general to specific exercises. General exercises hit several muscle groups at one time. General exercises are also called compound exercises because they work an entire muscle group at one time as well as move more than just one joint. Compound exercises work well with heavy weight because more muscle mass is involved. A specific exercise hits one or two muscles from a particular muscle group and use lighter weights.

A great compound exercise is the barbell shoulder press. This works mostly the anterior and medial deltoids. It also works your triceps as a secondary muscle group. There are several ways to perform the exercise. You can do it either seated or standing, but if you do it standing up, you need to have a strong lower back, and I recommend using a weight belt.

Many people perform the barbell shoulder press by lowering the bar behind the neck. I don?t recommend this because it puts a lot of stress on the shoulder joint itself as well as smaller muscles called rotator cuff muscles that help stabilize the shoulder. Lower the bar in front of you neck. Try for 8-10 reps per set.

Another compound exercise that I recommend is the dumbbell shoulder press. It can also be performed seated or standing, but the dumbbells are harder to control when standing up. The most common way to perform the exercise is to start with the dumbbell at shoulder level with the front of your wrists facing out (towards the mirror if you?re standing in front of one). Press the dumbbell over your head and stop just before locking out your elbows. Again, try for 8-10 reps per set.

The next three exercises hit each of the three deltoid muscles. All are performed with dumbbells. These exercises are generally performed with weights that you can comfortably hit 8-15 reps.

The front lateral raise works the anterior deltoid. You can perform it seated or standing. Simply start with the dumbbell by your side and raise it in front of you with your arm nearly straight until you get to shoulder level. Then slowly lower it back to your side.

Next, work the medial deltoid with side lateral raises. Start the dumbbell by your side and lift them up and away from your sides until you get to shoulder level. Then lower the dumbbell slowly back to the starting position.

The last exercise is the rear deltoid fly. From a seated position, bend your upper body forward so that your stomach is touching your thighs. Start with the dumbbells under the seat and lift them to the side until you hit shoulder level. Keep your arm nearly straight (slight bend at the elbow). This is a tough exercise, and you?ll find that you can?t use a lot of weight. The rear deltoid is the smallest of the three deltoids.

Now that we know how to perform the exercises, here is a good starter workout that you can follow.

Warmup

Pickup a pair of 5lb dumbbells and hit a set of 20 front lateral raises and 20 side lateral raises.

Workout

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Barbell shoulder press	4	8-10
Front lateral raises	3	8-12
Side lateral raises	3	8-12
Rear deltoid fly	3	8-12

Do this workout once a week. Your shoulders are relatively small muscles and need a lot of recovery time.

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