Do you want to build shoulder muscles correctly and quickly? Fed up with your plank body shape? Then here are gym hacks for big and attractive shoulder muscles that can take your training level to an advanced level.
Shoulder muscles may be the secret to the appearance of bodybuilders with an attractive athletic appearance, because they give the body or the muscles of the upper part of the body that shape that resembles the letter V, you may go to the gym again and again and do everything in your power to appear in that shape, but to no avail.
Training the shoulder muscles is not like training any other muscle in the body, it is about doing the right thing and not doing things in random ways that may do a lot and get poor results and you may do some smart tricks in healthy ways and get satisfactory results.
That’s why I dedicated this post to get to know 7 gym tricks to get big and strong shoulder muscles, follow me to find out together.
How do shoulder muscles actually work with the exercises ?
Shoulder exercises are not like any other type of exercise in that most of the exercises work in two directions, the movement of the hand may be up or down, but the shoulder exercises work on a three-dimensional movement because we target three lumpy muscles in the same place and perform the same functions (front delt, middle delt, rear delt).
Front delt: We target the front delt while raising two arms straight in front of us (front raise exercises), so that the muscle fibers are under the pressure of the weight of the dumbbell or anything we raise forward with a straight arm and this makes the front delt in a movement from top to bottom and forward and this activity is what Stimulates her activity and growth.
Middle delt: we target the middle deltoid during lateral raise exercises with a straight arm so that the muscle fibers are under the pressure of the weight of the dumbbell or anything you lift to the sides with straight arms, this makes the middle deltoid contract when we send the arms to the sides and expand when lowering the arms, this activity is what stimulates the muscle activity and growth.
Rear deltoids: We target the rear deltoids during exercises in which the arms are moving outward and backward, the rear deltoids contract by the movement of the arms while pulling the weight to the sides and squeezing the back shoulder muscles such as the pec deck exercises, and this is the only way to target this muscle.
So, the shoulder muscles require doing three types of exercises to fully target them, exercises in which the movement of the arms is sideways, the front and the back, and this means that each muscle needs special care while training it regularly.
7 Gym hacks for gaining broad shoulders
The gym hacks for gaining broad shoulders that you are about to look at are aimed first at safety during training, because the shoulder muscles are the secret behind building the upper section of the body so that the shoulder muscles merge almost with all the exercises of the upper body, whether we want to build the chest, traps, back, or even abdominal muscles, we must We integrate the arms and shoulder muscles.
So these hacks protect you from shoulder injuries so that you don’t ruin your upper body exercises completely.
2 Hacks to hit your front delts safely
We have already mentioned that the front deltoids are mainly targeted while performing the front raise exercises, but not any front raise that may operate the delts with the effectiveness we desire, you may now wonder how that is?
The grips also play an effective role in isolating the target muscles and squeeze them in the way we want, and some studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of the grips in targeting the anterior deltoid.
1- Hack A : Gym Hacks for gaining broad shoulders (Front Delt) :
Many people rely on the hammer grip during the front lift with a straight arm. Through studies, it was found that the hammer grip tends to operate the traps and press them closely with the front deltoid, and this means that the front deltoid does not get enough pressure and is not isolated in particular.
While the supine grip was more isolating and compressing the front deltoid than the Hammer and Prone grip, the hack is to always rely on the supine grip during front-raise exercises.
2- Hack B : Gym Hacks for gaining broad shoulders (Front Delt) :
During the front raise exercises, the first goal is to keep the front deltoid engaged throughout the exercise, but many people put the muscle in a comfort zone with each repetition, and this means that the quality of the exercise decreases and the muscle does not benefit from it well.
The hack is, while raising the arms straight, keep your movement in the middle, that is, raise your arms straight in front of the shoulders and slightly upward, and when lowering your arms, stop when your arms are in the middle between the lower chest muscles and the abdominal muscles.
This keeps the front deltoids engaged throughout the exercise and kept as tense as possible.
2 Hacks to hit your middle delts safely
You need to do things in the right and proper way if you want to target the middle deltoids, and there is no doubt that the lateral raise is the only way to isolate these muscles and operate them well and stimulate them to grow and improve their functions.
3- Hack C: Gym Hack for gaining broad shoulders (Middle Delts) :
How do we make good use of the lateral raise to target the middle deltoid?
According to some studies, showing that standing lateral raise has less impact on the middle deltoid and no significant activity is recorded, while the hack is to do the lateral raise while sitting on the bench.
Doing side raises while sitting on the bench creates more stability in the lower part of the body, and one of the benefits of sitting on the bench is that you will put an end to the swing and you can add weight as well.
4- Hack D: Gym Hack for gaining broad shoulders (Middle Delts) :
Since we rely on the lateral raise to target the middle deltoid, we must make some improvements to the movement of the arms because a random lateral raise may not get you good results and can expose you to injury sometimes.
While sitting on the bench, raise your arms and bend your elbows slightly about 30 to 45 degrees so that the forearms are slightly forward and not straight to the sides, and instead of taking the dumbbells out to the side focus on bringing the elbows up.
The hack is to raise the elbow and you don’t have to engage your fists to help lift the weight, the more weight goes to the top of the arms the better the exercise, and also try to roll your pinky a little through the top of the movement (as if you’re trying to pour tea).
For this movement to be carried out safely, try to keep the arm raised to a maximum at the height of the shoulders.
2 Hacks to heat your rear delts safely
Pulling exercises to the chest or to the sides of the body are often one of the effective ways to squeeze the rear delts and work on improving its functions and stimulating it to grow and gain flexibility, but how can we get a good training of the posterior deltoid muscles?
5- Hack E: Gym Hacks for gaining broad shoulders (Rear Delts) :
Many people make a mistake when training the posterior deltoid, as they rely on one exercise mainly to train the posterior deltoid, there are those who rely on the seated rear lateral raise, battle ropes, or a bent arm lateral raise or one of the other exercises that press the back muscles, while some studies have found All of these exercises may not be effective in targeting the posterior deltoid in the way you imagine and do not record more activity with it.
While the trick is to rely on a set of exercises that target the posterior deltoid, according to the same studies, this is beneficial for the muscles and stimulates them to activity and growth.
6- Hack F: Gym Hacks for gaining broad shoulders (Rear Delts) :
The rear delts are especially important to create a balance with your frontal deltoid, and it is the last touch that makes your shoulders prominent and seem to be in a 3D shape and more toned.
We need an exercise that isolates this muscle well and there is no doubt that the DB fly exercise is the most effective for this purpose.
While you will take a mixture of exercises to target the back delts well, focus mainly on the db fly to isolate this muscle and pressure it.
Bend your knees a little, bend your back straight and almost parallel to the ground and make the Dumbbell fly to the sides. It is necessary to improve your movement well to take advantage of the exercise, always drive with your elbows in order to hit the rear delts directly.
In order to hit the rear delts, allow the elbows to exceed the shoulders to the back with this exercise, because this will increase the muscle pressure back and contract them well, and in order to add a magic hack, instead of adding heavy weights, try adding more repetitions.
Amendment to people who suffer from the lower back pain:
If you suffer from lower back pain, this exercise may not suit you in the position of standing because you will rise every time and you will feel the bottom of your back burning, but you can bleed the exercise on the bench.
Sitting on the bench will help you protect the bottom of your back, so that you will create more stability at the lower back, which allows you to connect more between the mind and the rear delts muscles.
Also using an inclined bench can have the same effectiveness.
Final hack to hit all shoulder delts safely
Well, all coaches and bodybuilders agree that isolation exercises are not the ideal solution to target muscles and motivate them to grow, and this does not mean that they are not effective or do not help the muscles to the growth, but the opposite, but they only do not help the muscles to grow perfectly.
7- Hack G : Gym Hacks for gaining broad shoulders
Depending on compound exercises, such as the shoulder press exercise, is one of the strongest options that help you target the middle and front delts in the same time, when we do an exercise that targets a group of muscles, this means that we make more efforts and the more we are used to doing so, the more the targeted muscles benefit.
So the hack is to train the shoulder muscles from 2 to 3 times a week and rely on at least one compound exercise for the shoulder muscles during each training session for the upper body muscles.
And you can do isolation exercises at the end of training and pressure on the muscles that you want to target more.
You must always leave isolation exercises to the end of the sessions because it does not require a great muscle effort and does not need a large energy stock, unlike compound exercises that require that the body be at full capacity and energy, so you must do it first in order to achieve the greatest benefit.
Useful Links
These links will help you to know more exercises that target the shoulder muscles, and you can also learn how to do them properly and safely, and you will also get trainers’ advice to improve your performance and get excellent results.
The most powerful exercises you need for 3D delts
Full shoulder press guide for broad shoulders
