Capping delts - training routine suggestions

[Roonytunes]

I know this is really hard for a lot of women to do, but I was wondering if anyone can provide a good routine suggestion to get there? This is assuming the right diet/cardio are in place.

I can see obvious striations when I do my lat raises now, so I want to know what I need to do to push myself to get there. If some one can provide a sample routine with sets/reps as well as frequency to repeat, that would be much appreciated. THANKS!

 

[scorpiogirl]

Lateral Raises work the best for me (I hate them though!). Upright rows help too. I think you do both of these, don't you? If you do....increase your weight some.

 

[superqt4u2nv]

Miltary press and arnold press.

 

[caligirl]

dont know what you're doing now but, you could try a bunch of things.
1. go heavier
2. rest more between shoulder days.
3. dedicate a day to shoulders, train them independant of other body parts, never before a heavy chest or back day and never the day after.
4. work on your biceps a bit more, this aids in shoulder developement and creating an illusion of nicely defined side delts, especially the hammer curls. Contrary to popular belief, the biceps are the fastest recovering bodypart, not abs. you can work them a bit more.
5. throw rear delts in with your back day, the most underdeveloped part of the shoulder especially on women. then you really get them responding.
6. train your shoulders 2x per week, one heavy day one moderate day, it is okay to include them WITH chest for the second day.
here is an example:
M: shoulders
T: legs
W: back
T: abs/cardio
F: chest /shoulders
S: arms
S: Rest
something like that, you get the idea.

7. partial reps work great for shocking efffect once a week
8. periodization is alway a standby
Theres more but I'm starting to ramble. Shoulders are my fav, I have tons of shoulder programs...
example 2 shoulder mass builder 2 minutes rest between sets.
I'll give you the weights I use ONLY as example, you have to figure out your own.
I start with: a serious warm up, a series of 6 shoulder specific exercises with 2.5 weights, takes about 10 minutes. then: first pushing.
seated overhead BB press 5 sets including w/u of 10 bar only then 8,6,5,5
8/65lb, 6/75lbs, 5/80lbs, 5/80lbs
then to a pulling exercise
upright rows
same sets and reps
45lbs 55lbs 65lbs 65lbs
reverse flys (only machine I ever use for shoulders)
50,60,65, 70lbs
front lateral raises
12.5, 15, 20, 22.5lbs
side lateral raises
10,12.5,15, 17.5
this is only an example....
11. eat more
12. rest more for growth...
I change my shoulder program EVERY week. I vary reps, sets but keep the days consistent. and keep the weights consistant for whatever goal I have at the time.
I have found for building (for me) I have to go heavy and use free weight, no machines. I do use cables a few times a month for a change. dont forget your traps and do shrugs sometimes too.... arnold presses really helped to develope my delts too.... anyway, like i said i dont know what you're doing now, I'm done rattling on... hope that helped in some way or another..!

 

[buffalogal]

Wow caligirl - great tips. Thanks for the info.

 

[Sassy69]

That's some solid info! A lot of girls don't have a lot of size in their shoulders anyway so the presses, lat pulls, shrugs really help to get the mass. I use a lot of front, side and rear delt light weight or cable work in super sets, higher reps (15-20/set) to get the detail.

 

[scorpiogirl]

dont know what you're doing now but, you could try a bunch of things.
1. go heavier
2. rest more between shoulder days.
3. dedicate a day to shoulders, train them independant of other body parts, never before a heavy chest or back day and never the day after.
4. work on your biceps a bit more, this aids in shoulder developement and creating an illusion of nicely defined side delts, especially the hammer curls. Contrary to popular belief, the biceps are the fastest recovering bodypart, not abs. you can work them a bit more.
5. throw rear delts in with your back day, the most underdeveloped part of the shoulder especially on women. then you really get them responding.
6. train your shoulders 2x per week, one heavy day one moderate day, it is okay to include them WITH chest for the second day.
here is an example:
M: shoulders
T: legs
W: back
T: abs/cardio
F: chest /shoulders
S: arms
S: Rest
something like that, you get the idea.

7. partial reps work great for shocking efffect once a week
8. periodization is alway a standby

Great info!

 

[caligirl]

That's some solid info! A lot of girls don't have a lot of size in their shoulders anyway so the presses, lat pulls, shrugs really help to get the mass. I use a lot of front, side and rear delt light weight or cable work in super sets, higher reps (15-20/set) to get the detail.

once I get my size I use high reps to get cut too. That superduper warm up I have for shoulders is really great for cutting. I throw it in at the end and increase to 4 or even 5 sets. depending on how I feel. it's a burner. Cables are good too, I have to take off the handle and use the clip to hold, because sometimes on side delts, the weight (plates) is/are too much (heavy) even 1 pound makes a difference for me on shoulders, especially when I'm doing high reps.
Isometric exercises can increase mass too.... but thats a whole nother issue... I don't want to get started on that one, I'll be here forever!

 

[Sassy69]

At the moment Im' doing a lot of high rep / low weight supersetting w/ cables for shoulders (front, side raises, etc.) and THEN move to the standard mass buildign stuff like bar presses to fill out after working on pulling out the detail - this is sort of a new approach I'm trying w/ the new trainer. Mass is not my goal, but pullign out the detail and then creating depth to define the detail is what I'm trying to do.

 

[bignate73]

whoa...ok.

an independent day might not be the way to go, but more likely more frequently training them. the one bodypart per day thing is phasing out fast as people realize that quite frankly they don't work that specific bodypart that hard to warrant 7 days off, nor is it productive when you can train a bodypart in one fashion and then train it a few days later in another fashion and still make gains. some of the most productive routines are ones centered on lower volume and higher frequency. some of the most ineffective ones(one muscle a day) are spread around the bodybuilding world like ebola, with no vaccination in sight. supercompensation (the goal of most seeking hypertrophy) does not take 7 days, more like 2-3.

a note on detail, as caligirl mentioned. you can have specific areas you are interested in working/bringing, for shoulders it may be your rear delts or ant. delts. do your main work, then either finish with the SPECIFIC area you need (all 3 heads is not detail, thats construction) or save it for another day where you have that muscle involved but not isolated (rear delts get it when you do rows/front delts after chest presses etc.) so you get 2 days of focus per week on that bodypart. This is the point that WSB uses for their xtra workouts. its to bring up lagging bodyparts (primarily used for strength but has its merits for hypertrophy too). again the principle is an extra workout of specificity to address weak points.

3rd point: high rep stuff..does not pull out definition. it may physically burn, but specifically this is like doing endless crunches to bring out the abs. detail is created with well built muscle, low bodyfat. putting on some mass in an area may be just what the doctor ordered to save yourself from endless lateral/front/rear raises at low intensity (1rm %) that slowly bring up what you could have had in mass in a short period with the correct exercise intensity.

just some ideas...