Want Huge Shoulders, Drop The Presses - Hit The Raises!!!

[bignate73]

Man clean and jerks and over head presses rock. My two favorites. The've done wonders for developing my shoulders. My rear heads get all the work they need from seated rows and bent rows. I don't do any isolation movements for my rear head and they seem to be the most developed area on my shoulder. All from compound movements. Interesting....

Scaggs

agreed.

ive been on both sides of the fence, have used both raises and compound movements. though my shoulders naturally blow up (pumpwise), growth tends to occur with progressive overload via pressing or upright rows. as a gymnast in high school, alot of my early shoulder development came from handstand pushups and holding my body in positions similar to an overhead press. a gymnast's body is a direct representation of the stresses he places on it. IMO, laterals just dont cut it. too light of a weight to maintain some semblance of control, not very fast twitch (due to the light weight) vs. the amount of load i can place on my shoulders with a compound movement. but it is a good auxilliary exercise.

i think many people mistake the amount of blood they can force in a muscle for false size gains. its like, a few sets of heavy bench vs many sets of cable crossovers. one you may not even get much of a pump, vs being pumped til your skin splits....but which one actually stimulates growth more

A: the one that overloads the muscles capacity.

so to each their own. isolated muscular development with the bulk of the stress on one joint or overall strength/stability and hypertrophy through your frame via a shoulder exercise (military presses, cleans, high pulls) will allow for a much easier way to progressively overload the muscle and not put such direct stress on a single joint. its a matter of what your goal is.

 

[Thaibox]

IF YOU'RE NOT DOING OVERHEADS, YOU ARE CHEATING YOURSELF OUT OF SHOULDER SIZE

For me, and everyone else I know with big strong shoulders, overheads is what has built them. Laterals have been good secondary lifts for them, and thats it.

 

[Vortexx]

what if your delts are primary made up by slow twitch fibers...? than i guess strict front and lateral raises will do more than heavy presses....

Overhead presses are ideal for someone with fast twitch, naturally broad clavicles and relatively short arms to provide a good leverage on the overheads.....

I think that people should try to go heavy on the presses first and if it doesn't do the job do raises with a slightly higher amount of reps

 

[punch]

I can only speak from personal experience. When I stopped doing heavy overhead presses and started w/ heavy laterals my shoulders became rounder, thicker and better balanced. That being said, I did have a considerable base to work from that evolved from years of heavy presses. Ever see someone w/ huge traps. It makes there shoulders look imense even though they may be underdeveloped. Its an illusion, perception. I also know plenty of guys who cant overhead press for shit, yet have fantastic shoulder developement.

One thing is for sure. Many of my friends have developed great shoulder symmetry and fullness w/out incorporating overhead pressing movements. I dont know of many who have done the same w/out incorporating laterals.

 

[bignate73]

what if your delts are primary made up by slow twitch fibers...?

dont expect much shoulder size either way then.....