From: Rick Butt Subject: Re: Wide shoulders? Date: Mon, 08 Jul 1996 23:59:25 -0700 Michael Behr wrote: > > In article <4rogg9$hjt@dfw-ixnews10.ix.netcom.com>, > idealyst@ix.netcom.com(Daniel Kirsner) wrote: > > > You need to work the lateral heads of your deltoids. Some movements: > > Dumbell side lateral raises, upright rows, machine laterals, cable > > laterals, leaning dumbell laterals, etc > > Aren't deltoids deltoids? In other words, the exact way you work the > deltoids (which "head" gets stressed) shouldn't really matter. Any > shoulder press should also work at making the delts grow... > -Mike Dan is quite correct. The "wide shoulder look" is typified by the "dent" between the lateral deltoids and the upper arm muscles namely biceps and triceps. There are various heads to the deltoids. The rear head is the most difficult to isolate and the least likely to be worked. The lateral (outside) head is the most rewarding to work. Try standing side dumbell raises as a good start: raise to nose-level, alternating arms, very slow and studied movements, elbows straight, 3 sets and hold in the up position for 2-3 seconds on the last 2 reps of each set. Vary this by bringing the arms slightly forward at an angle (i.e. not side raises and not front raises, but about 45 degrees or somewhere else in between), and also experiment with the rotation of the wrist, for example, thumbs down, palms down, palms up, etc. If you have access to Nautilus equipment, the lateral shoulder raise is one of the most effective for this purpose. You can feel the different heads of your deltoids being worked if you hold a 10-lb. db raised slightly, then, with a constant elevation, arc your arm so it's raised to the side, front, whatever, and also rotate the wrist from thumb-up to thumb-down, and feeling your different deltoid heads tensing. Use the hand opposite to the shoulder being tensed to feel, or get a workout buddy to co-operate and educate each other. If you are still young enough to have bone formation, go easy on the weights and do plenty of swimming; the growing body adapts to the demands being placed on it and it may even encourage your body to develop more bone mass in the shoulder area. Best of luck. Rick. From: lylemcd@edge.edge.net (Lyle McDonald) Subject: Re: correct form of shrugs? Date: 5 Aug 1996 18:44:08 GMT In article <3205d2be.1356549@netnews.worldnet.att.net>, mjis@juno.com wrote: > What is the correct form of doing shrugs? Do you shrug bacward or forward. Do > you keep your head up or down? You shrug upward. Always. If you look at the line of pull of Traps 1 (the upper portion above the shoulders), it pulls basically straight up. Yes, traps II, III and IV pull backwards but it's a moot point. DB, barbell or machines shrugs give a line of resistance straight down only. Rolling your shoulders backwards does nothing but grind down your shoulder girdle. If you want to target Traps II, etc, do cable shrugs. Take a low pulley and simply shrug (retract) your scapulae (shoulder blades) straight backwards with arms straight. You can also do this with a lat pulldown machine shrugging (in this case, depressing your shoulder girdle) down with straight arms. Great lat movement for those who pull with the arms too much. As to head up or down. Head up with concentrate work on Traps I. Nodding the head forward brings Traps II a bit more into play. Lyle McDonald, CSCS ------------------------------ From: TMccull230@aol.com Date: Tue, 26 Nov 1996 Subject: Re: Overhead Press and Kinesiology >Date: Mon, 25 Nov 1996 >From: Keith Hopkins >If the primary function of th anterior deltoid is to raise the arm to the >front, and the primary function of the lateral deltoid is to raise the arm to >the side, and the primary function of the rear deltoid is to pull the arm to >the rear, why are overhead presses considered to be the best >movement for building deltoid mass???? Actually the deltoid muscle is one muscle, it has anterior insertion, where 1/3 of the muscle is attached to the clavical, a lateral insertion, where1/3 of the muscle is attached to the acronium; and a posterior insertion, where 1/3 is attached to the inferior edge of the spine of the scapula. This gives the appearnce of three different muscles. However, the deltoid muscle has several functions: 1. Abduction - moves the arm away from the body (all muscle fibers). 2. Flexion - moves the arm straight up (anterior fibers). 3. Horizontal adduction - moves the arm in a horizontal plane towards the chest (anterior fibers). 4. Internal rotation - rotate the arm toward the chest (anerior fibers). 5. Extension - arm is moved straight posteriorly (posterior fibers). 6. Horizontal abduction - move the arm in a horizontal plane away from the chest (posterior fibers). 7. External rotation - rotate the arm away from the chest (posterior fibers). As you can see, the overhead press would be great for developing the anterior fibers of the deltoid muscle. However, the posterior and the lateral fibers are not being as significantly activated. The concentric (positive) phase overhead press involves flexion of the shoulder joint which activates the anterior fibers of the deltoid in a concentric contraction. The eccentric (negative) phase of the overhead press involves shoulder joint extension. This activates the the anterior fibers in a eccentric contraction. :From the above descriptions { Abduction - moves the arm away from the body (all muscle fibers)}, you can see that any movement that involved abduction of the shoulder joint would be best for overall development. If you could only choose one exercise. My suggestion for over all development is still: * Front raises for the anterior fibers. * Lateral raises for the lateral fibers. * Bent-over raises to rear for the posterior fibers. Tom McCullough Strength and Conditioning/ Sport Nutrition Consultant ------------------------------