Delts - What works best for you?

[Palifter]

Do u feel more pump and volume work better then low volume, heavy longer rest? I feel like forcing as much blood flow is more effective for delts

For me personally, for delts, yes.

 

[alfresco]

When I backed off of heavy shoulder pressing movements and put an emphasis on side lateral movements my delts really took off. I also like side lateral partials popularized by John Meadows I believe.

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Nice shoulders.

 

[A50#]

 

[A50#]

When I backed off of heavy shoulder pressing movements and put an emphasis on side lateral movements my delts really took off. I also like side lateral partials popularized by John Meadows I believe.

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Sick delts brother!

 

[fisther69]

Sick delts brother!

That’s no shit!

 

[slayer37]

When I backed off of heavy shoulder pressing movements and put an emphasis on side lateral movements my delts really took off. I also like side lateral partials popularized by John Meadows I believe.

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Those Meadows partial laterals are awesome!

 

[bbxtreme]

What "style" of training do you prefer. How much weight, volume and sets do your perform. Which movements work best for you and why? Does it target or exhaust the specific muscle best or are your preferred movements just what's most comfortable perhaps post injury etc?

There's been some good posts on a thread qbkilla created and I was hoping we could expand further in regards to training the delts.

First to be clear I do not follow any one specific form of training. I try different things and I implement and adjust to what suites me best. This is what I've found works best to add size and dimension to my delts:


*Posterior Delts:
High rep range for rear delts: 22 to 30 or more reps for bent over dumbbell Flys. I bend over and place my chest on an incline bench so that I can't sway at all as I perform the strictest form possible.
I start my routine this way for 3 working sets.
(I get that this might seem nonsensical but this is what's worked for me)

*Medial Delts: lateral raises with medium average rep range of 16 reps.
[I prefer and prioritize Y raises over side laterals]

Side Delts: 2 variations - 4 sets each exercise.


First exercise I will aim for 18 to 20 reps each set
Second exercise I will aim for 15-16 reps

Smith Machine Overhead Presses alternated with upright rows on occasion for less chance of shoulder pain - impingement etc. These are the only "heavy" movements I perform. 3 sets aiming for 12 reps on the first set. (1st set maybe 12 reps then 10 and 8 reps for the final set)

O.H Presses never did much for my delts, certainly not giving them that capped look so these aren't really necessary but I do enjoy performing them. I do not consider O.H presses to be all over delt movement. For me these target medial delts and do a subpar job of incorporating the anterior deltiod muscle. The late great John Meadows speaks to this in some of his videos.

*Anterior Delts:
I will perform 1 excercise for front delt.
Front raises 3 - 4 sets 15 reps each

Then back to rear delts for final 2 exercises.
Cable one armed rear fly: these are performed quite slowly with strict form to ensure the anterior delt is doing the work.
3-4 sets 15 reps each

Rear Flys from the Pec-Deck pushing everything left in the tank.
2 - 3 sets shooting for 30 reps each

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Far from the biggest guy on this forum but the routine I outlined finally allowed me to develop better dimension to my delts for which really got little to nothing from Dorian Yates like H.I.T nor D.C style training.
When it comes to training delts if there's one person that I've gotten the most from, that person would be Eugene Teo.

John Meadows approach on shoulders has always been my go-to approach. Short rest sets and high volume.

I start with a base of some form of press movement. Heavy weight with controlling the movement. Slow on the negative and explosive on the way up. But the rest of the workout is 60 second rest sets with burning the shoulders out. Very effective.

I also will hit rear delts and prioritize them sooner in my workout. If you want to make your delts pop on quarter turns- focus on the rear delts. A lot of guys just throw them in at the end.

The biggest thing I haven’t seen on here posted yet is remove the momentum and control the weight. So many guys on shoulders want to swing the weight up on side and front lat raises. It’s not about much weight you move, but how you move the weight with delts IMO.

 

[Tomgrass]

I have a decent shoulders and for me it was always moderate weights 8-12 reps.

 

[Onynx5]

As much volume as possible, all rep ranges during training, touch up thru out the week helps, like after chest n bi workouts, I'll throw in hi rep laterals and machine over head press, and I'll throw in laterals and rear delts on another day. On top of a just shoulders and triceps day

 

[qbkilla]

As much volume as possible, all rep ranges during training, touch up thru out the week helps, like after chest n bi workouts, I'll throw in hi rep laterals and machine over head press, and I'll throw in laterals and rear delts on another day. On top of a just shoulders and triceps day

This. I love going down the rack. Grab a pair, lat raise it till failure, then upright row them to failure. Then 5 lbs less. Also liking some of the stuff dlb does

 

[qbkilla]

The trx straps in the beginning really hit the rear

 

[marssel]

When I backed off of heavy shoulder pressing movements and put an emphasis on side lateral movements my delts really took off. I also like side lateral partials popularized by John Meadows I believe.

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So you got that cap from high volume side laterals for the most part?

 

[Palifter]

So you got that cap from high volume side laterals for the most part?

Primarily, yes. I’m all about the pump.

 

[marssel]

Primarily, yes. I’m all about the pump.

Yea I’m a pump chasing motherfucker but I usually only do 3-5 sets of laterals.

 

[Brock456]

Primarily, yes. I’m all about the pump.

Your delts are massive.

What’s high volume for you?

3-4 sets of DB laterals for 16-20? With partials?

 

[Palifter]

Your delts are massive.

What’s high volume for you?

3-4 sets of DB laterals for 16-20? With partials?

4 sets of 8-15rep traditional db laterals early into the workout then at the tail end, 4 sets of 15-20rep db partial laterals.

 

[Brock456]

4 sets of 8-15rep traditional db laterals early into the workout then at the tail end, 4 sets of 15-20rep db partial laterals.

You said you stopped doing heavy presses. Do you still do presses at all?

 

[qbkilla]

4 sets of 8-15rep traditional db laterals early into the workout then at the tail end, 4 sets of 15-20rep db partial laterals.

Is this once a week?

 

[Palifter]

You said you stopped doing heavy presses. Do you still do presses at all?

Is this once a week?

I still do a heavy pressing motion and yes, I hit shoulders once a week. A typical shoulder day looks something like this:

Rear delt movement
Heavy machine press
DB lateral raise
Cable high pull
Shrug variation
DB partial laterals

4 sets for all. Rep range varies 8-20 reps.

 

[A50#]

When I backed off of heavy shoulder pressing movements and put an emphasis on side lateral movements my delts really took off. I also like side lateral partials popularized by John Meadows I believe.

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I started doing partial side laterals(John Meadows style)when I read this and noticed a dramatic difference within just a few weeks.