How I Built My Ginormous Delts - Arnold Schwarzenegger

 

Ginormous, no less! 

BLT? No sirree . . . 

DELT:

deli meat, fried egg, lettuce and tomato on a bun. 

The Bodybuilders Cookbook -> Here

                                                             Later, slightly off-center version: 

         https://www.scribd.com/document/850990848/Bodybuilders-Cookbook

                                                             

Should we go with Arnold "Stang" or "Strong" . . . 

BOTH! 

  

                                                            Okay, okay, let's center on the article.  . . 

V-taper, strong man's appearance, look strong-be strong, stretching and spreading the clavicles (wide grip stretching chins, pulldowns, rows) and adding lateral delt size (side delt exercises) to achieve greater width, etc. Let's skip the usual preamble and move straight to the working out. 

 . . . Even a total BEGINNER should do two exercises for the delts and traps. A beginner needs to stick to basic compound movements, so I recommend either the front military press or the behind-the-neck press for 3 sets, plus another 3 sets of upright rows. This routine will give good stimulation to the front and side heads of the delts, as well as the traps. 

The INTERMEDIATE should do 3 or 4 exercises for the delts and traps. I suggest seated behind-the-neck presses, standing DB laterals for the side head, bentover laterals for the rear head, and upright rows for the delts and traps. 3 sets of 6-10 reps of each exercise would make for 12 sets. 

More ADVANCED bodybuilders probably need 5 or 6 exercises to properly work the entire deltoid-trap complex - at least 4 deltoid exercises and 2 trap exercises. Do 4 sets of each. A good routine for an advanced bodybuilder would include the following 6 exercises: seated PBN, DB laterals, lying side laterals or one-arm cable laterals, bentover laterals, upright rows and shrugs.

Advanced bodybuilders must design and follow workout routines that improve their weak points, and that creative balance, proportion and symmetry, in addition to size and mass. Any bodybuilder who is especially narrow-shouldered should do lots of wide-grip chins and pulldowns during lat workouts to stretch and spread the clavicles and scapulae. The narrow-shouldered need to follow a delt-trap routine that specializes on development of development of the side deltoid head. 

Such a routine might include 6-8 of the following exercises: seated PBN (wide grip), standing DB side laterals, lying side DB laterals, standing one-arm cable laterals, bentover DB or cable laterals, upright rows, and shrugs or high pulls.

I recommend 4 sets of each exercise, and possibly as many as 5 of the side-head exercises, for a minimum of 24 sets, and as many as 35 in total. That's a lot of sets. I suggest following a split routine that allows an entire workout devoted just to training delts and traps. This way your energy and concentration do not have to be divided among several bodyparts. You can give everything you have to just damn-blasting those blasted damn delts-n-traps. 

Like all experienced bodybuilders, over the years I have experimented with every deltoid and trap exercise in the book. Not everyone responds well to every exercise. I am no different. Through trial and error I discovered the deltoid exercises that worked best for me. Yes, certainly try my favorite delt and trap exercises, but do not be afraid to experiment with others. 

When you find an exercise that works especially well, keep it in your routine nearly all the time. Since dozens of variations are possible for each delt exercise (and those minor variations CAN make a difference), you should in time be able to come up with a list of 6-8 effective core exercises. Find exercises that you always get a good pump from and in which you have total confidence that they best let you isolate the muscle and work it hard. You do not have to use all these exercises in each workout You might respond best to just 4 or 5 of them per workout, depending on your schedule. You keep your favorite core exercises in your routine most of the time and do other movements occasionally to keep from going stale or getting bored, or to shock the muscle. 

Just remember to design a program that will bring up your weak points. Your goal should be to create symmetry, proportion and balance in addition to mass and size. 

Over the years I managed to pare down my list of most effective deltoid exercises to these nine: 

1) Rotating "Arnold presses"

2) Standing DB lateral raise

3) One-arm cable laterals

4) Lying one-arm side laterals

5) Seated PBN

6) Seated DB press

7) Seated military or Smith machine press

8) Standing alternate DB raise

9) Bentover laterals

For my traps I generally would do one of the three following exercises: 

1) High pulls

2) Upright rows

3) Shrugs 

When in a pre-contest training phase I would do 9 of the 12 movements each workout to bring out cuts, detail, separation and definition. Usually I stick to straight sets but occasionally I would do some supersets for extra pump and intensity. 

Sometimes for down-the-rack drop sets of DB presses I'd do a cycle of 6 drops in weight, starting with 90-pound dumbbells and working down the rack to the 40's. I repeated this sequence 3 times for a total of 18 sets.  

After that my Deli-meat/Egg/Lettuce/Tomato sandwiches would be so pumped I could hardly lift my lunchbox overhead while posing for a photo shoot of Franco and I "at work."

In the off-season I generally picked 6 of the movements - 5 for deltoids and 1 for traps - and did 5 sets of each exercise. I kept to straight sets, moderate reps and heavy weights to add more muscle. 

Pressing Exercises

When you get right down to it, deltoid work is mostly raises for the individual delt heads (leverage exercises), and variations of pressing exercises for overall shoulder mass and strength. 

I used 4 types of pressing exercises for overall deltoid development and strength: 

 - Front barbell or Smith machine military press

 - PBN or Smith machine PBN

 - Front or regular DB press

 - Rotating DB press (Arnold press)

They can be performed either seated or standing, but I generally preferred seated pressing because it was stricter and allowed me to isolate my deltoids better. Doing presses seated also puts less strain on the lower back, a factor that must be considered in relation to how it can affect your squatting and pulling movements on other days. 

I normally selected 2 of the 4 pressing exercises each time I trained delts. Actually, I nearly always did Arnold presses and I rotated the other three exercises. One workout would be rotating DB presses and seated PBNs. The next deltoid workout might have been rotating DB presses and seated military presses using the Smith machine, and so on. By doing 4 pressing exercises alternately in my deltoid workouts instead of just one, I got better all-round development. I never got stale or bored because I was always changing my exercises. 

Rotating exercises and using various appropriate-for-the-goal set/rep combinations can increase interest as well as results. 

I liked to do 5 sets of 6-12 reps; start light and pyramid up in weight each set so that my final set would be my heaviest. 

 

Most bodybuilders are not aware that there are two distinct pressing styles. Which one you use has a tremendous influence on how much deltoid development you get. Just as there is "pectoral bench pressing" and "front deltoid/triceps bench pressing" there is what I call "deltoid overhead pressing" and "triceps overhead pressing." 

One is a bodybuilding exercise and one is a weightlifting lift. All the pressing movements in my delt routine were deltoid presses. The type of pressing done by Olympic lifters in the past was mostly triceps pressing. Any press in which the arms completely straighten and lock out is primarily triceps pressing. 

Deltoid pressing requires the use of a wide grip on a barbell or Smith machine bar, whether you're doing front military presses or behind-the-neck presses. I recommend gripping the bar 4-6 inches outside the shoulders. Why such a wide grip? 

Because a wide grip prevents you from locking out your arms at the top of the press. A wide grip also promotes a position in which the elbows are flared wide and pulled back in line with the shoulders for better isolation and involvement of the side deltoids.  

Triceps pressing with a narrower grip encourages an elbows-forward position which affects mostly triceps and front delts. 

One of the biggest mistakes I see beginners and intermediates make all the time is locking out their arms when doing presses. Once you lock out your arms, you take the tension off the deltoid muscle and transfer it to the triceps.

When I pressed a weight up, there was always some bend in my elbows, even in the top position. That style kept constant tension on my deltoids. If you can straighten your arms completely and lock out your elbows, you know your grip is too narrow (shoulder width or less). If your elbows are in front of your body as you press, and not pulled back in line with your shoulders, you can work only front delts and triceps. 

The farther you pull the elbows and hands back, the better you isolate and activate both the front and side deltoid heads. If you keep the elbows flared wide and pulled back in such a fashion, straightening the arms will be physically impossible. With this style of deltoid barbell pressing, there will always be constant tension on the deltoids. If you allow the elbows to move forward of the shoulder line, however, you'll be able to lock out your arms; then you're back to working more triceps again. 

Another tip for effective deltoid pressing with dumbbells is to turn your wrists and tilt the dumbbells so that your little fingers are higher than your thumbs in the top position. This turning of the wrists and tilting of the dumbbells occurs naturally when you point the elbows directly out to the sides and keep them in line with the shoulders. This is an important detail. 

The tips of the elbows must point directly sideways, not downward. With the elbows flared wide and pointing to the sides, straightening the arms once again becomes impossible. The elbows remain bent at the top, keeping constant tension on the deltoids. 

The effect of lifting the dumbbells (so that the little fingers are higher than the thumbs) and keeping the elbows flared, wide and pulled back as far as possible is to increase activation and involvement of the side delt head. You work much more of the overall deltoid structure for better mass and shape. Regular pressing is mostly front head. I always did deltoid presses - for which grip width, elbow and hand positions are crucial.

Lateral Exercises

Now, on to the isolation lateral movements I used in my routines to directly work the front, side and rear heads of the deltoids. Lateral raises are by definition isolation movements. They are meant to be done strictly so as to allow isolation of the particular deltoid head you are trying to work. 

Although I did three variations of laterals to target the side or medial head of the deltoid, the major performance points of all three are similar. 

First, I always used strict form and a full range of motion. I focused on doing the exercise in such a way as to isolate and work the side head. I kept my palms and the undersides of my forearms down, even in the fully contracted top position. As with deltoid pressing I tried to keep my elbows pulled back in line with my shoulders. 

Elbow position is more critical than hand position in laterals. My elbows were higher than my wrists except for the final few inches at the top when my hands caught up and finished at the same level (or sometimes slightly higher). This point is important because having the wrists higher than the elbows usually means you are involving too much front deltoid. 

Elbows by Dandurand

A training thought I often used on laterals was to think of lifting the rear of my deltoids higher than the front. This idea let me isolate the side head and work the rear head hard too.  

As in dumbbell pressing, I concentrated on keeping my little fingers higher than my thumbs in the top position. This position occurs naturally if you keep your palms and undersides of your forearms facing downward. If the thumb is higher than the little finger it greatly reduces the effectiveness of the exercise. 

When doing laterals always keep a little bend in the elbows. Do not lock your arms out or you limit the amount of weight that can be used effectively, resulting in less mass. Most of all, concentrate on feeling the stress in the target head. If you are working your side head and you feel the burn and pump in the front head, you know your form is wrong. If you are doing bentover laterals for the rear head and you feel your traps or your triceps, but not your rear delts, reevaluate your form. Don't just keep doing the exercise the same way. Experiment with different angles and arcs until you find the groove that lets you totally isolate the rear head.     

That's good advice whether you're doing front raises for the front head, side raises for the side head, or bentover raises for the rear head. Discover the methods that best permit you to work the muscle hard. Only through experimentation can you personalize each of the movements of your routine. Your body will tell you what it needs if you listen to it. 

Traps

Three basic exercises work the traps:

 - Shrugs

 - High pulls/power cleans

 - Upright rows

Depending on your needs, I suggest picking 2 movements and doing 4 sets of each.    

Note: Before I forget, here's a 5-exercise trap/yoke specialization workout add-on sort of thing type-a deal:

1) High Pull

2) Clean Pull

3) Shrug Pull

4) Deadlift

5) Neck Harness

The traps respond best to heavy weights, but always try to use full reps. Too often I see bodybuilders using super-heavy weights on shrugs and doing tiny bouncing reps in which their shoulders and traps hardly move at all. This type of training is good for the ego, but it does not give the traps a good workout. 

I preferred to do DB shrugs because I got a greater range. I would raise my traps and shoulders as high as I could. Pausing at the top to squeeze and tense my traps gave me a peak contraction effect. Then I slowly released back to the starting position.

Whether you are doing power cleans, high pulls, upright rows, or a variation of shrugs, try to think the action into the traps. Use deep concentration and do each rep deliberately. Don't just go through the motions. Motions mean nothing. It's muscle action you're after - a burn and pump in the muscle - not motion.        

Final Thoughts

Deltoid training looks deceptively simple to the eye at first, but it is much more difficult than it appears. This fact applies especially to laterals and dumbbell presses. Pay attention to the details concerning positions of the hand, wrist, elbow, palm, thumb and little finger. Always use as much weight as you can handle in good form. Train progressively and constantly strive for more resistance, never at the expense of good exercise form.  

Do each exercise with a full range of motion. Half-reps will only build half-muscles. Concentrate fully on each exercise, each rep, each contraction and each stretch. Don't jerk around or spend time lying to your asshole friends between sets; sit on a fucking bench and shut up. Oops. You get out of your workouts only what you put into them.  

Be consistent in your training. Missed workouts slow or stop progress. The only time you should miss a workout is no, not to attend your brother and/or father's funeral, but hey, with an asshat like that for a dad why bother even tossing mud on his rot-box. 

Constantly evaluate your progress. If you feel tired and over-trained, cut some sets from your workout. Pay attention to your diet but don't be a douchebag about it. Make sure you get enough protein and calories to promote growth; not so much that you turn into a turd made of lard. "Eat more" only works to a certain point, then the excess is either toilet-bound or belly-bulge. Eat well, and eat enough; hard workouts achieve little if you follow a shite diet. 

Your delts and traps must be completely pumped before your leave the gym. Failure to get a good growth pump usually results from one of the following causes: 

1) Not training hard enough

2) Resting too long between sets

3) Inadequate diet, eating too much, too little or all the wrong things.

4) Not enough sleep and rest

Big cannonball (I was waiting for it) delts and wide shoulders can be yours. It's all a matter of wanting them badly enough to get to the gym and work for them. 

Enjoy Your Lifting! 

 

First published posthumously in 1873.