Nitty Gritty Shoulders....Best BASIC lifts?

[Prime Rib]

If you had to pick 1-3 BEST basic lifts for building front and rear delts, which would they be? I am not looking for anything fancy and complicated, I am a fan of good ole fashioned lifts that get all the muscles involved. As of right now all i'm doing for shoulders is Hammer press. I have to be careful with all the lateral raises and stuff, my left cuff is still a tad tender from a tear several months back. Thanks guys!


Josh

 

[revexrevex]

Standing Barbell Press
Standing Dumbell Press
Seated Barbell Press

 

[Deleted member 33117]

I like military press, seated dumbell presses, and it sounds bizzare but I seem to get good results from dumbell upright rows. For rear delts I like doing my laterals face down on an incline board. It prevents me from cheating.

 

[SofaGeorge]

You don't have to do a lot for rear delts... 2-3 sets of bent over reverse flies will do it. You jsut have to be consistant and hit them every week.

 

[Imakarum_Mirabilis]

Clean and Presses (I prefer a Power Clean with a Push Press)

Behind the Neck Presses

Snatches (I prefer Power Snatches)

 

[gymtime]

You don't have to do a lot for rear delts... 2-3 sets of bent over reverse flies will do it. You jsut have to be consistant and hit them every week.

Agree for rear delts. Nothing will hit them like bent reverse flies.

For fronts, I'd say pretty much any press, db or bar. Upright rows are also great for that, long as you don't have any rotator or wrist problems.

 

[JollyRogers]

Incline Bench
Deads
Militarys

 

[PancakeFiend]

military, and i feel my rear deltoids the next morning w/ some kind of rowing movement

 

[Debaser]

Agree for rear delts. Nothing will hit them like bent reverse flies.

Yeah. Not even a 700 lb deadlift or 400 lb row would compare to some monster 25 lb flyes.

 

[revexrevex]

The original questions were shoulder exercises.

 

[PancakeFiend]

i thought he said one-three basic lifts for building up front/rear, and not three shoulder exercises for building up front/rear...

 

[JG1]

What works for me:

4 sets of wide grip upwright rows (pinkies on the wrings) 10-12 reps to failure.
4 sets seated d-bell presses 8-10 reps to failure.

 

[Debaser]

The original questions were shoulder exercises.

Actually, he said best basic lifts, and also mentioned rear delts. Rows and deadlifts are the best for rear delts, and they're basic exercises.

 

[casualbb]

Debaser, let me ask you a question: which will cause more growth in a muscle, a stabilization role or a prime mover role?

Just because an exercise allows you to lift more absolute weight doesn't mean that each muscle is experiencing more absolute weight.

 

[gymtime]

Debaser, let me ask you a question: which will cause more growth in a muscle, a stabilization role or a prime mover role?

Just because an exercise allows you to lift more absolute weight doesn't mean that each muscle is experiencing more absolute weight.

Also, how much of even a sablizer role do the rear delts play in a row or DL? My experience has been that stablizer muscles play a larger part in press excercises (for obvious balance purposes) than in pulling excercises, such as rows and deads.

 

[Lee]

military, seated side lateral raises, butterflies. hits all 3 delts, and if u have good form, makes em blow up.

 

[Tiervexx]

front delts are easy to work with presses.

I feel that doing upright(bend over just by a few degrees rows with a shoulder width grip works the side and rear delts just as well as presses work the front.

Use a shoulder width grip because the very close grip that most people use focuses on traps. And you should bend over a little to hit the rear delts a little more.

Trust me on this. my rear and side delts were really lagging until just a while ago. And during that time I did not do any side or rear delt rasises but once i started doing those again they became allot easer. So i know that this exercise works very well if done properly.

 

[Debaser]

Debaser, let me ask you a question: which will cause more growth in a muscle, a stabilization role or a prime mover role?

Heavy compound movements are simply more effective (IMO) for adding mass. I don't know about you, but my rear delts contract pretty hard when I'm pulling a row. They might be considered stabilization in a deadlift type movement, but not in a row (correct me if I'm wrong).

Another reason, and this is pure theory on my part, is the fact that you're making weight increases so rapidly. You might go from a 100 lb row to a 200 lb row in the time it takes you to go from 15 to 20 lb dumbells, for example.

 

[Deleted member 33117]

Debaser, I suspect the reason for growth stimulation from compound movements is more related to hormone relase due to a much larger mass of muscle fibers being recruited during each set.

 

[Deleted member 33117]

... this is not to say that additonal fibers cannot be recruited for further growth in the localized muscle by isolation movements though, its just that you are likely to see faster growth in all the muscles involved in a compound movement than you would by simply doing isolation movements.

 

[The Red Dragon]

So the amount of hormones released is proportional to the amount of muscle fibers recruited? Why are the hormones released anyway I'm quite curious, I know because it speeds up repair for adaptation but any other reasons? Where do the hormones originate? Anterior pituitary/testes?

 

[Deleted member 33117]

Various places. We are talking about alot of different hormones. testosterone, hgh, igf-1, various prostaglandins and growth factors.

 

[casualbb]

Debaser, we're on the same page when it comes to big compound stuff -- I love 'em, and wouldn't do it any other way. I'm just saying, for weak points and stuff, isolation work does put more absolute load on a muscle and takes it through a bigger range.

 

[Debaser]

Debaser, we're on the same page when it comes to big compound stuff -- I love 'em, and wouldn't do it any other way. I'm just saying, for weak points and stuff, isolation work does put more absolute load on a muscle and takes it through a bigger range.

Unacceptable. BEGIN FLAME WAR.

j/k

 

[sinjinsmythe33]

give the barbell presses a try. seated or standing. dont do them after flat benches or inclines. occasionally you may want to superset them with pull ups or chins. two compound, antagonistic (sp?) movements will give you a good pump. compund is the way to go as deaser said. throw in some bent over raises after the presses. doing them one arm at a time will allow for beter concentration and higher poundages.