[0:00] What's up guys? Jeff Cavalere,
[0:01] athletics.com. So, if bigger, wider
[0:03] delts are what you're after, the good
[0:04] news is you can do it with just
[0:06] dumbbells. As a matter of fact, I'm
[0:07] going to prove it to you today by giving
[0:08] you a full workout at the end of this
[0:10] video to make sure that it happens.
[0:12] Because if I were to take out this
[0:13] circle and diminish the size of the
[0:14] front and rear delts, well, look what
[0:16] just happened to the roundedness of the
[0:18] middle delt. It gets flattened out. But
[0:20] when you're really starting to think
[0:21] about building big shoulders, you really
[0:22] have to start thinking beyond just
[0:24] shoulders or push day. As a matter of
[0:26] fact, there's plenty of opportunity to
[0:27] work them again on back or pull day. And
[0:30] when you're looking to build those wider
[0:31] shoulders, the volume is going to add up
[0:33] to help you to get them. So, of course,
[0:35] on a push day, those non-direct shoulder
[0:36] exercises like bench press, push-ups,
[0:40] and divs that you're doing for your
[0:41] chest are going to have a heavy overlap
[0:43] in terms of helping that front delt of
[0:45] yours to grow. So, some of the onus for
[0:47] that direct front delt work is removed,
[0:49] however, not completely, which is why
[0:50] you're going to still want to make sure
[0:51] you include it when you're training your
[0:52] shoulders directly. But it's here that
[0:54] we have the greatest opportunity to
[0:55] increase the size of our shoulders by
[0:57] not overlooking that second chance to
[0:59] increase the volume of the most
[1:01] underdeveloped two heads of your
[1:02] shoulders right now, the middle and rear
[1:04] delts. So exercises like the chest
[1:06] supported row that allow for the elbows
[1:08] to be flared out to the sides to work
[1:10] more of the upper back or in this case
[1:12] heavily load the rear delts is something
[1:14] you're not going to want to miss. The
[1:15] high pull is one of the best ways to
[1:17] safely overload the middle delts and
[1:19] again sneak it in under the guise of
[1:21] being a generic pull exercise. but again
[1:23] with heavy focus on building up those
[1:25] middle and rear delts. And of course,
[1:26] one of the most powerful rear delt
[1:28] exercises of all time, the seated cable
[1:30] row is one that you have a great
[1:32] opportunity to make sure you're
[1:33] including in your back or pull day
[1:35] workouts. And just like there's no
[1:36] skipping leg day, there's no skipping
[1:38] face pulls on leg day as yet another
[1:40] great opportunity to bring up that rear
[1:42] delta view of yours to make sure that
[1:44] you're looking round no matter where
[1:45] someone looks at you from. But it's on
[1:48] the dedicated shoulder day that the real
[1:49] gains are possible because if you're not
[1:51] devoting at least some portion of your
[1:53] effort to be focused on developing all
[1:55] three heads of the delts, you're not
[1:56] going to develop them fully. So, we like
[1:58] to kick this off with a dumbbell
[1:59] standing overhead press. Now, if you're
[2:01] doing a push day, then you already got
[2:03] this covered on that day. But, if you
[2:05] have shoulders split apart on their own,
[2:06] then I recommend starting with a basic
[2:08] dumbbell standing press. The reason why
[2:10] I like the standing variation here is
[2:11] because it's the safest for your
[2:13] shoulders. It's uninterrupted by the
[2:15] back of the bench in terms of normal
[2:17] shoulder biomechanics. The bottom line
[2:18] is it's a good way to kick off your
[2:20] workout. We just do two to three sets
[2:22] with a weight that will cause you to
[2:23] fail in the 8 to 10 rep range. Next, I
[2:26] want you to move right into that focused
[2:27] front delt work. Well, here we can make
[2:29] that happen by doing a dumbbell iso
[2:31] alternating front raise. And there's a
[2:33] couple key points here. If you just
[2:35] isolate the front delt to do that
[2:37] initial lift, you can then power the
[2:39] dumbbell up the rest of the way. but
[2:41] you're guaranteeing that you're engaging
[2:43] and recruiting the front delt to the
[2:44] task. That's a good way to start the
[2:46] exercise and a good way to ensure that
[2:47] you're getting the maximum development
[2:48] of that front delt and the roundness.
[2:50] And all we need is one to two really
[2:52] good hard sets with a weight that will
[2:54] cause failure in the 10 to 12 rep range.
[2:57] And we start with something very similar
[2:58] in terms of concept, the upper limit
[3:00] lateral. We sit down on the floor with a
[3:03] lighter pair of dumbbells, much lighter
[3:05] than usual. And all we have to do is
[3:07] start with those dumbbells one inch off
[3:09] the ground and then lift them up out to
[3:11] the sides. Do not let the traps take
[3:13] over. This alone is going to feel unique
[3:14] to a lot of you. When you get to the
[3:16] top, give that little extra squeeze and
[3:18] then lower back down. But don't let the
[3:20] dumbbells touch the floor. This constant
[3:22] tension will light up your middle delts
[3:24] and it will teach you most of all how to
[3:26] engage them. And once you know how to do
[3:28] that, you can grow them. This is a great
[3:30] way to do it. We do it with three sets
[3:32] of a weight that causes failure in about
[3:34] the 12 to 15 range. Again, going a
[3:36] little bit lighter here. What we do
[3:38] light, we can also do heavy. And we can
[3:40] also do explosively. That's why I like
[3:41] to do another lateral raise, but this
[3:43] time the dumbbell cheat lateral raise.
[3:45] And instantly, I can grab a heavier
[3:46] dumbbell here. And I'm not so focused on
[3:49] the isolation because here I know that
[3:51] if I could apply heavier loads and a
[3:53] more overloaded eccentric portion of the
[3:55] exercise, thinking about how you could
[3:57] actually fight or stop the dumbbell on
[3:59] the way down, knowing of course that the
[4:00] heavy weight is not going to allow you
[4:02] to. Then I'm getting a different
[4:03] stimulus for growth. Here you're doing
[4:04] three sets of six to eight to failure on
[4:07] each arm to make sure you get that done.
[4:10] But now we got to complete that 180 and
[4:12] get all the way around to the back to
[4:13] work on those rear delts. And again, if
[4:15] you've listened to my advice already,
[4:17] you figured out a way to work them into
[4:18] the other workouts of the week. But here
[4:20] on dedicated shoulder day, what are we
[4:22] going to do? We start off with one of my
[4:23] favorite. It's the rear delt row. And
[4:25] this variation of a dumbbell raises is
[4:27] actually really effective at hitting
[4:28] that rear delt. And mostly because we're
[4:31] doing it with extension as the main
[4:33] goal. We're looking for just two to
[4:34] three sets here in that 10 to 12 rep
[4:37] range on each arm. And from there, I
[4:40] want you to put that final nail in those
[4:42] rear delts by doing something we call
[4:43] the dumbbell hip hugger. And this is
[4:45] actually a great exercise for tying
[4:48] together the abduction of the middle
[4:50] delt and the extension focus of the rear
[4:53] delt to hit both of these more
[4:54] underserved areas of the delts in one
[4:56] shot. Your elbows would likely drift
[4:58] backwards and your elbows out to the
[4:59] side to give you the effect of what a
[5:01] hip hugger would feel like. If you do
[5:03] this right, you will feel one of the
[5:04] most intense contractions on both the
[5:06] middle and rear delts. perform two to
[5:09] three sets with a weight that will cause
[5:11] failure in a higher 12 to 15 rep range
[5:14] to ensure those gains come. And for the
[5:16] slightly masochistic out there, you do
[5:18] have one extra little option if you're
[5:20] just looking to try a little final
[5:22] finisher. We call it the iron cross
[5:23] finisher. And all you're going to do is
[5:25] take a slightly lighter pair of
[5:27] dumbbells and you're going to alternate
[5:28] between these front raised isometric
[5:31] holes and these lateral raised isometric
[5:33] holes. And the nice thing about it
[5:35] positioned at this point is the
[5:37] isometric strength that you have is
[5:38] going to always exceed your concentric
[5:40] abilities. So if you have anything left
[5:42] at the tank at all at this point, you
[5:43] likely have the ability to perform this.
[5:45] Continue to try to rep this out until
[5:47] you can no longer control a repetition
[5:49] in either direction. I posted myself
[5:51] doing this in my shoulder workout on
[5:52] Instagram. If you haven't already done
[5:54] so, make sure you follow me over there
[5:55] as well. Guys, I can tell you from
[5:57] experience, it's certainly a ball
[5:58] buster, but it's also a ball builder
[6:00] when it comes to building out those
[6:01] rounder delts. Guys, remember, don't
[6:03] just focus on the middle delt when it's
[6:05] the wider shoulders that you want.
[6:07] Remember, it's rounder shoulders are
[6:08] going to hold the key to the gains that
[6:10] you're after. In the meantime, here's a
[6:12] screenshot of the workout I just gave
[6:13] you, exercise by exercise, so you can go
[6:15] and try it out for yourselves to see
[6:17] just how it works for you. In the
[6:19] meantime, if you're looking for a high
[6:20] quality protein to support your hard
[6:21] efforts in the gym, Athleen RX Pro 30G
[6:24] provides a whopping 30 grams of protein
[6:26] per serving at a coste effective cents
[6:28] per gram. You can find it over at
[6:29] athleenrx.com. If you haven't done so,
[6:31] guys, make sure you click subscribe and
[6:32] turn on notifications so you never miss
[6:34] a video when we put one out. There's
[6:35] also a quick dumbbell chest workout you
[6:37] might want to check out as well. You can
[6:38] do that right here. All right, guys.
[6:39] Good luck with this one. I'll see you
[6:40] soon.