Shoulders, king of all bodyparts. Treat them as such!!

[punch]

I hear over and over again how shoulders dont need that much work because of cross over work from ie, chest, back. Thats BS. Shoulders for the very reason that they are involved in all pressing and pulling movements can handle BIG weight.

Ever seen a BB worth anything w/out fully developed shoulders??

Overhead Presses( OF ANY KIND ) I personally do behind the neck barbell presses and dumbell.

Bent over lateral raises
Side lateral raises
Front raises

Especially for all the newbies, its SOOO important to train your muscles in a 3 dimensional matter. Presses alone DO NOT WORK.
Learn this early on in your training to develop good habits.

A strong, powerful shoulder girdle is the " KEY " to developing a truely awesome uper body. They should be done on their own day IMO.

 

[slobberknocker]

I just do military presses. One set's all I need. But yeah, it's cool to have big shoulders.

 

[jeremys]

its also cool to have strong and safe shoulders. heavy presses and rotator cuff work every week

 

[Serea]

I like to treat the three heads separately. Military and forward raise for anterior/lateral. Upright row and lateral raise for lateral. And bent-over lateral raise for posterior.

I was thinking of cutting out posterior though since it gets worked during upper back (barbell and dumbell rows). Your thoughts?

But I love working shoulders. I had to move them to a separate day from chest though, since incline press was killing my military press.

 

[punch]

I have worked my shoulders w/ all different bodyparts at some point over the last 12 years. My conclusion is that I have never had a better workout than when I did shoulders on their own.

Training each segment of the shoulder girdle is IMO the very " Smart" way to train. Heavy compound movements are good, ie presses either dumbell or barbell.

When you see pros that do lots of lateral work is when you start seeing the difference between mediocre delts and massive boulders.

Mon: Chest
Fri: Shoulders

thats what my split needs to be, otherwise Im not fully recovered.

 

[Zoalord]

I use almost all compound work in my routines.

My shoulders get hit well by OHPs, OLY lifts, Powerlifts, etc. No raise can supply more tension.

Again, NO raise can supply more tension than the compound exercises I use, so the addition of isolation work would be a waste of energy.

For nine months of the year, I'll do fifteen sets of OHPs, spread throughout the week. During the period, I'll do three sets of Incline Presses per week, to. Also, Upright Rows or Pull-ups, alternating each day.

For the other three months, I do Push Presses and Power Snatches on one day, rest the next, do Close-grip Bench Presses, rest, and then repeat. 2 sets of each exercise per given day.

I have omitted some of my routine, as it's not too shoulder-intensive (leg work, arm flexor work, non-involved back work).


Lateral Raises and Front Raises would give me nothing that my routines don't already supply me with.

In other routines, they may have a place. However, if I can get larger shoulders, larger tris, and better coordination from a single exercise, I'll do that, rather than do individual parts.

 

[PolishHammer1977]

Shoulders are pivotal to any upper body and some lower body exercises. Build them and make them powerful. The shoulder girdles directly harness the limbs together. You would think that would make sense to train them directly right?
Trial and error for some but the wise create Boulder Shoulders.

 

[Thaibox]

In my opinion, shoulders are the bodypart that seperates lifters from the turds. A pair of bowling balls next to your head wreaks with power and commands attention. I think huge delts are the difference between the powerful, wide-ass old-school lifters, and todays big-armed pretty boys that are so common at every gym.

Every putz can claim a decent bench, but not too many can claim a respectable OH

 

[Lumberg]

Two overlooked exercises that have surprisingly(the first time) made my delts very sore in the past...note they are both static in the way that they affect the delt:

Saxons

Hevy tricep kickbacks (posterior deltoid)

 

[Debaser]

And this is what I believe and reinforces zoa's and slobbers' views as well...

I think huge delts are the difference between the powerful, wide-ass old-school lifters, and todays big-armed pretty boys that are so common at every gym.

Let's look at what old school lifters did for their shoulders, eh?

Barbell press (usually standing) and sometimes with odd objects like sandbags and barrels.

That is all you need for monster delts. Lateral raises are a waste of time. Bring yourself to a 250-300 lb overhead press, then let me know if you think 30 lb dumbell raises will make all the difference.