Part I of the Shoulder Muscles Workout series covered the anterior deltoid shoulder muscles, and offered some great tips and exercises to help you achieve wide, broad shoulders. In Part II, I will be discussing another shoulder muscle that is most responsible for wide shoulders. This muscle is known as the medial deltoid.
The medial deltoid is the shoulder muscle that is on the “outside” of your shoulder (as opposed to the front-side or back-side of the shoulder). Working out and training this muscle will obviously be most effective in increasing your shoulder width, and help you achieve that V-shape every guy wants.
The medial deltoid isn’t natually used as often as the anterior deltoid, and the medial deltoid has a limited number of weight training exercises to specifically target it. Being said, it takes a good amount of focus at the gym in a shoulder muscles workout to really pump the shoulders up and see results. No need to worry though, I’m going to offer you a few exercises you can do to really target the medial deltoid in your shoulder muscles workout.
Side Dumbell Raises :
This is definitely the most effective weight training exercise to isolate your medial deltoids and really get the shoulder muscles pumped.To begin this exercise, grab two light weight dumbells and hold them at your sides with your palms facing inward. Slowly lift your right arm out to your side until it is close to a 90-degree angle to your body (ie: parallel to the floor). Once at the top of your range of motion, slightly rotate the front of the dumbell downward to really blast your medial deltoids. Slowly lower the dumbell back to your side. You feel that? Your shoulder are probably getting wider already! Repeat with the left arm, and alternate arms. Try to do around 8-10 reps with each arm per set for maximum benefit.
Incline Dumbell Raises :
This is one of my favorite exercises in my shoulder muscles workout, mainly because you almost instantly feel the burn and I don’t feel like I’m wasting reps to get to the point of pumping my muscles. This exercise will primarily target the medial deltoids, with secondary emphasis on both the anterior deltoids and trapezius (top of the shoulders).To begin, find a weight bench and set it to around a 45-degree angle. Lie on your side on the incline, putting your torso at a 45-degree angle to the floor. Grab a light dumbell and begin with your arm hanging vertical to the floor in front of you. Slowly raise your arm to the side (in an arch-type motion), and stopping just short of having your arm straight in the air. In the same arching motion, slowly lower your arm, this time lowering it behind your body. Slowly raise your arm back up almost straight in the air, and slowly lower it to the starting position of in front of your body. This is one rep, do about 6-8 of these and I guarantee your shoulder muscles will be burning! After you’re done with one shoulder, turn around on the bench and hit the other shoulder.
After doing both of these extremely targeted, your muscles may be so exhausted that it’s hard to even lift your arms! Don’t worry, this is a good indication that the exercises are effectively working your muscles and you’re going to see results very quickly. Adding these to your shoulder muscles workout will definitely help super-charge your growth and get you those wide, broad shoulders you want in no time. Give them a shot at the gym today!
Be sure to check back for Part III of this article, in which I’ll be addressing the posterior deltoids (back-side of shoulders). You don’t want to miss it!