Yesterday, I shit-canned a few exercises for the middle-delt head, including standing or seated lateral raises, overhead presses, and, for the most part, upright rows.
The ideal exercise, with the most mass punch for the side head, is the one-arm cable lateral with pulley set at just below waist height. However…
You also saw a quote from respected hypertrophy researcher Chris Beardsley who said the shoulder is more like seven divisions, not just three heads…
And that “a high degree of exercise variety is key to maximizing deltoid development.” I agree—but it doesn’t take too much…
I mentioned that the front and rear heads get lots of stimulation from training other muscles with presses, rows, pulldowns, etc. It’s the middle head that needs a few new angles. Three, in fact. I’ve mentioned the one-arm cable lateral, the ideal…
A few months ago I mentioned an exercise I call the one-arm cable high pull. That’s number two…
Keep in mind that you keep a slight constant bend at your elbow as you raise your arm. This is not a press or a rotator-cuff rotation move, although it no doubt benefits those support muscles…
This exercise provides the peak-contracted position of an overhead press without downward impingement pressure. You want to pull up but also to the side and back….
It’s a great finisher for the weak contracted position, and I think it’s a necessary add-on at most shoulder workouts. In the Old Man, Young Muscle workout, I used one-arm lateral raises with dumbbells for middle-head contracted work. The cable is better…
As Beardsley said: “The middle deltoid is the best shoulder abductor at ALL shoulder elevation angles.” That would include the high-pull position above.
So one-arm cable laterals and one-arm high pulls. What’s number three? Well, this photo of Alex Eubank on Instagram (@alex_eubank15) got me thinking…
A one-arm cable lateral from behind the back should be included, as it’s a key angle for unique stretch on multiple middle fiber bundles. Alex’s side-triceps pose confirms.
I’ll have some performance tips and a full boulder-shoulder routine in the next training newsletter. Stay tuned.
Note: For a chart of stretch-position exercises for each muscle, as well as the IDEAL and contracted-position moves, see pages 42 and 43 of Old Man, Young Muscle.
Sculpt your perfect physique: Get the ideal exercise for each muscle, the best stretch and contracted add-on moves for ultimate mass, complete 35-minute workouts, exercise start/finish photos, and details on building muscle fast and efficiently in Old Man, Young Muscle.
And you still get The Muscle-On, Belly-Gone “Diet” ebook FREE for a limited time when you add Old Man, Young Muscle to your mass-building library. Go HERE.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
www.X-Rep.com
Recommended
NO MORE SHOULDER PAIN
Shoulder pain can affect your workouts forever. That’s not good!
That’s why we’re recommending advice from injury specialist Rick Kaselj, MS. His tips can help make your shoulders nearly bullet-proof.
Here are a few general tips from Rick (he goes into more detail in his program)…
Top 5 Tips To Bullet-Proof Your Shoulders
- Build Tension in Your Lats. When doing shoulder exercises, activate your lats and keep your shoulders happy.
- Prime Up Your Muscles. Most people do a warm-up that just lubricates the joint, but you need to activate and turn on all the muscles in your upper body.
- Technique, Technique, Technique. This is the number one reason why people injure their shoulders. You can’t go to the gym every day and work on your max lift.
- Watch Out for Fatigue. Cooking your smaller muscles in your shoulder complex, and that increases the risk of shoulder injury and pain.
- Work on Your Shoulder Blade Muscles. Many strength coaches will say you’re wasting your time on this, but if you want to have bullet-proof shoulders, you need to work on them.
Get all of Rick’s tips and tricks for pain-free workouts below: