Greetings, friends! For a long time we did not understand the training programs. Today I decided to consider everything related to the question: “How to pump up deltas?”, As well as many other related issues. In short, if you are interested in how to make your shoulders (deltas) stronger and more voluminous, then this article is for you.

We talked about the anatomy of the deltoid muscles (shoulders) in a small article. Therefore, I will not consider it here. If interested, read. That article will not take you more than 2 minutes.

Pumped up shoulders are very beautiful, but not many people understand why. The fact is that the wider and larger your shoulders, the more impressive your silhouette looks. Ideally, you should have a very narrow waist and very broad shoulders. This is what EVERY bodybuilder strives for.

So, let's not talk too much. It's time to specifically consider how to pump up the deltas.

How to train?

There is a constant debate about what is more effective in growing deltas: swings or bench presses. I must say right away that I am a supporter of the mandatory performance of traction and bench presses for the growth of your shoulders and, in my opinion, this is more than logical. Now I will explain why.

Presses and deadlifts are basic exercises that involve several joints and muscle groups, so we can work with much heavier weights than dumbbell swings, which means we will follow the main rule for muscle growth - load progression!

Dumbbell swings are isolation exercises that “bomb” your deltas more precisely, but, despite this, they have a number of disadvantages. Ready? Let's go.

First, because swings are isolating exercises, then, by and large, only deltas work without the inclusion of other muscle groups in the work, which means that we will not be able to regularly increase the working weight and violate the rule of load progression.

Secondly, deltas are very delicate muscles, because. can perform both pulling and pressing movements. And the more complex the device, the easier it breaks.

The shoulders have incredible mobility due to their articulated design. By the way, the shoulder is the MOST MOBILE JOINT in our body, so it is injured much more often than all the others.

The same is true with the shoulder muscles - deltas. You can hear about a delta injury much more often than, for example, an injury to the quadriceps femoris muscle (quadriceps).

Therefore, it will be much more logical to do various presses and thrusts, which are less traumatic on the one hand, and will load your deltas well before the isolating load - swings.

In short, first heavy presses and pulls, and then “finishing” already tired deltas with various swings.

How to pump up deltas. Best Exercises

So. Now I will list the best, in my opinion, exercises for the growth of your deltas, which have proven their effectiveness more than once.

Bench press standing / sitting (military bench press)

A great basic exercise that grows the shoulder girdle awesome, but there are a few caveats.

The bench press while standing or sitting should be performed in front of you (from the chest), and not from behind the head. I begin to understand what the herd instinct is when I see how people in the gym, one after another, begin to perform this exercise, winding the bar of the bar, simply copying each other by the head. They also often perform a similar exercise in the Smith machine.

With such a position of the shoulders (when the neck starts behind the head), the shoulders take an extremely uncomfortable position and the risk of injury greatly increases. Especially when people lower the bar too low, and even perform the exercise in full amplitude. Up, down, up, down... Fuck! Injury!

It is better to perform this exercise by lowering the barbell in front of you. It is more physiological and safer.

Another problem is that such an exercise can cause unpleasant sensations in the lower back, especially for beginners, whose muscles in the lower back region are very weak.

An alternative to the bench press while standing may be the following exercise.

Seated Dumbbell Press

This is a great alternative to the previous exercise for several reasons.

1. First, when you press with a barbell, your hands have nowhere to go, and they can be in a very uncomfortable position for them. When you press with dumbbells, your hands will turn on their own into a more comfortable position for them, which will reduce the risk of injury.
2. Secondly, during dumbbell presses, many stabilizer muscles are included in the work, which fix the dumbbells in the hands relative to each other.
3. Thirdly, due to the lack of a neck, the middle (hybrid) bundles of the deltoid muscles are worked out much more strongly.
4. Fourth, because you are sitting, there is practically no axial load on the spine, so this exercise is suitable even for those who experience problems with the lower back.

Barbell pull to chin

Great basic exercise! The trouble is that very rarely such an exercise is performed correctly. Yes, what to say. Almost never!

What is the problem? It's just that traditionally the upward movement, when we pull the barbell to the chin, begins for most with lifting the shoulders. This is extremely unphysiological! Thus, the entire load falls on the shoulder joint.

It is GOOD when only the deltas contract during this exercise, but BAD when the entire load falls on the shoulder joint, as when lifting the shoulders up.

What to do? You will have to strongly, almost completely change the technique of this exercise, that in fact it will no longer be a barbell pull to the chin.

You need to pull TO THE CHEST, first. And do not raise your shoulders, secondly. You need to force yourself to keep your shoulders in place, but at the same time pull the bar up, and not to the chin, but to the chest. To the chest, because this way your elbows will be lower than your shoulders. This is one of the basic rules.

Remember, in the thrust of the bar to the chin: ELBOWS ALWAYS ARE BELOW THE SHOULDERS.

Pulling is done like this: take the barbell with a grip slightly wider than shoulders, lean forward a little and, WITHOUT LIFTING YOUR SHOULDERS, raise the barbell to chest level (until the elbows are parallel to the shoulder joints). The narrower your grip, the more the trapezoid and the greater the range of motion are included in the work. And vice versa. Wider grip - more deltas work and a smaller amplitude.

The pull of the bar to the chin mainly engages the middle beam of our deltas, which most of all visually makes the torso wider, therefore it is most noticeable for the jocks.

In general, the front bundle of deltas works with all types of bench presses, so for most they are highly hypertrophied, and the middle and rear deltoids are underdeveloped. Therefore, many pitching seem stooped.

Solution: be sure to do traction for the development of the middle and rear bundle of our shoulders, because this is their main function.

Mahi dumbbells

Dumbbell swings are isolation exercises, i.e. exercises that involve only one joint (in this case, the shoulder). I must say that in the first year of training for a beginner, there is no point in doing swings at all, because. the muscles will have enough load from the presses and pulls.

Mahi are needed, as a rule, in two cases:

• if you want to “finish off” your deltas with an aimed load, after the main workout;
• if you want to pre-warm up and pump blood into the deltas before the main workout;

There are different types of swings, but all of them can be divided into three main groups:

• front;
• medium (to the sides);
• rear (tilted);

If you lift the dumbbells in front of you, then this will load your front deltas. As a rule, there is no need for this, because. the front bundles of deltas are heavily loaded in various other presses (bench press, etc.). If you still think that you need to do "front swings", use a large number of repetitions with light dumbbells, or take one heavy dumbbell and raise it in front of you.

To properly load the middle bundles of the deltoid muscles, you need to use dumbbell swings to the sides (through the sides).

You need to perform them like this: lean forward slightly, lower your shoulders down to turn off the trapezoid from work, try to raise the dumbbells so that your elbows are slightly higher than your wrists.

There is one feature. To understand how to swing through the sides, you need to imagine that you are holding a cup in your hands and pouring water out of them. Then your wrists will turn out correctly (little finger up and thumb down). This will work great for the middle bundles of your deltas.

The back beams, as a rule, are the most stubborn, but this is most likely due to the fact that the exercise technique is lame. In fact, there is nothing complicated. Just lean forward a little more (almost to a horizontal position). The technique for performing like two drops of water is similar to the technique for medium beams.

The posterior bundles are traction muscles. Therefore, they grow well when performing barbell rows to the chin with a much stronger forward tilt of the body (almost 90 degrees). In the same position, swings are performed.

Another alternative is Lee Haney's back row. It was invented, as you understand, by the cool bodybuilder Lee Haney, who won Olympia 8 times, but that's not the point.

Usually, it is performed either with a barbell behind the back or in Smith, but there is a problem here. Ass bothers! Not very comfortable.

Pulling Lee Haney behind his back is similar to shrugs (shrugs), but only here the elbow joint is bent at the top point. Alternatively, you can do dumbbell rows instead of barbells. Raise them alternately to stabilize the body and concentrate on the back beam of our deltas.

If I were specifically asked: “How to build deltas?”, Then I would describe a POWERFUL training program for the shoulders in this way:

1. Seated Dumbbell Press: 2 sizes + 3-4 x 6-12.
2. Barbell pull to the chin: 1 size + 3-4 x 6-12.

If you have been training for a long time, then you can add dumbbell swings at the end to “finish off” your deltas:

1. Mahi dumbbells: 1 size + 3-4 x 8-12.

If you, like most people, are lagging behind the back bundle of your deltas, then make the forward lean a little stronger, replacing the usual swings with dumbbell swings in the slope:

1. Mahi dumbbells in an incline: 1 size + 3-4 x 8-12.

findings

1. Deltas perform two types of movements: presses and deadlifts.
2. Deltas are very “tender” muscles due to the incredible mobility of the shoulder joint, so it is easy to injure.
3. Various bench presses and barbell rows to the chin are best for growing deltas.
4. Mahi can only be used to warm up the deltas (with small weights) or for “finishing off” at the end of a workout. Mahi - play a secondary role.
5. Presses develop mainly the front bundle of deltas, traction - the back.

This is the end of this post, my friends. I hope that you have learned something new for yourself on how to pump up deltas. All the best.

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With respect and best wishes, !

P.P.S. If you are just starting out in bodybuilding, then it is too early for you to purposefully train your shoulders. You need . It will give you a POWERFUL start.