Bodybuilding.com - Demolishing The Delts!

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Jason Bennett was one of our first writers!

If you want boulder shoulders, huge mounds of flesh with thick-ass Paul Dillet veins running through them. Three monstrous heads each with their own personality and sense of humor, then keep reading!

By: Jason Bennett

Who all here has lagging delts? Everyone does, raise your hand! Mine are my worst body part, and its pretty damn frustrating. I want boulder shoulders, huge mounds of flesh with thick-ass Paul Dillet veins running through them. Three monstrous heads each with their own personality and sense of humor. I am now 23 years old and have been training since before I could drive, legally. My delts look like they haven't grown in forever, and it pisses me off.

I have employed the help of one of my closest friends and a top NPC competitor, William Owens to help me blast these three-headed beasts into hell and return with huge muscle cells. There are millions of shoulder routines on this website, and I am not advocating that mine is the best, I firmly believe that just about any program will work as long as you go balls to the wall and leave nothing left. Train hard, eat big, that is what it takes. I write this article to give a routine that I personally do. Lately I have been hitting the delts twice weekly, actually 4 days apart.

One workout is high intensity and killer, the other is a volume workout, filling it up with blood-forcing nutrients in the muscle for gargantuan growth.

Let us get into it! I always start by warming up properly, my whole body. I do two sets of side laterals, two sets of front laterals and two sets of dumbbell presses, all with super light weight and about 25 reps. Nothing hard, just to get the muscle activated and ready for annihilation. I also warm up my arms, chest and back lightly. I always want to avoid injury. My first course of action is to blast the side delts for that much needed width that helps with the V-taper. I do two giant sets with 90 seconds rest.

45 lbs x 12, 40x12, 35x12, 30x12

REST 90 SECONDS

50x12, 45x12, 40x12, 35x12

Then immediately grab the 10lb dumbbell's and crank out as many as I can as fast as I can. I use good form, my arms are bent slightly, abs are in tight, knees bent a little and I keep the rear part of the DB higher than the front. I use my elbows to pull the weight up not my hands. My arms are hardly bent, just enough to avoid joint trouble. I don't bend them 90 degrees like some jackasses with smaller shoulders than me.

At this point I rest for approx 4 minutes and fully recover. I head over to the heavy DB's and get ready for some presses. I grab the 45lb DB and do a set of 15 just to get the motion down and the muscle ready for action. My first set is with the 80's, I blast out 12 easy reps, coming down about an inch from my shoulders, I do not touch them because I don't want any lost tension. I go up 1-2 inches away from lockout. The routine looks like this:

Then back to the 45's for as many as I can. Tell you what, this is a pump of a lifetime. It's all about freaky mass at this point, and that is what it is all about!

After this I want to hit the rear delts. They are SO important in any bodybuilders physique. They complete the back and really make a point to the V-shape. Also, they prevent you from looking like a girl!

The rear delt machine is my choice during this high intensity workout. It is all the way at the other side of the gym, so I take a set of 35lb DB's and run over there. I set the pin and get into the machine, I do 8 heavy grueling reps and immediately get off and grab the DB's. I take the DB's and bent over like I was going to do Bent Rows. I slowly move the DB's in a motion like I would be doing front raises is I was standing up right. So, I am bent 90 degrees at the waste and am performing front raises. Don't laugh, this is hard as shit, but it helps bring out the broadness of the rear delts like no other. A good solid squeeze at the top helps out. I do 12 reps like this. As soon as I am done, William has set the machine to a lower weight and I get back and do 12 reps with that. I rest 90 seconds and do it all over again.

Standing rear delt machine 1x8 superset with Bent Front raises ( for the rear delts) 1x12 superset with Standing rear delt machine 1x12.

REST 90 SECONDS

Same thing.

Now I am done, usually I go over to the ab area and lay down for a while. William grabs my shake and pours it down my throat. I cannot stress how important the post workout shake is. As soon as you set the weight down on your last set, start drinking.

After I recover from this I stretch and flex for about 15 minutes.

My next shoulder workout is about 4-5 days later. For this it is less intense, but higher volume. This is a basic sample:

Standing Front Raises

View Exercise

Barbell Military Press

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Bent Rear Laterals

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Upright Rows

View Exercise

Not get the misconception that this is easy, it isn't. It is still hard as hell. Still going to failure, still making me sick. There just are not any drop sets/supersets, These are all straight up sets, heavy and high repped.

Normally I also do traps before shoulders, but sometimes I hold off until back day. For traps I normally do Barbell shrugs, work my way up to 6 plates for 10 reps. One plate at a time and start at 30 reps. Sometimes if I feel nutty I will finish off with Standing machine shrugs, or DB. Or even grab a pair of 45 pound plates and just shrug until I can't. My gym has those rubber plates with the handles, so its easier.

That about sums up the delt demolishing routine. If your delts are lagging give this a shot. It is sure to slap some mass on!

Did you all order some N-Large², I hope so!

Thanks,

Jason.Bennett@PETERSON.af.mil