#1: Overemphasising Front Delts
All delt heads do not work equally, and the one that
typically carries the heaviest load is the anterior. Your front delts are not
only primary movers during overhead presses, they’re also secondary movers
during chest and triceps workouts, helping during presses and dips. If you’re
doing front raises in addition to a lot of shoulder, chest and tri compound
lifts, you’re likely overworking your front delts.
"This is especially true if you train chest and shoulders in
the same workout or on consecutive days."
Solutions:
- If you hit chest before shoulders in the same workout,
consider how much pressing and dipping you’ve already done before working
delts. If the total is at least eight sets, do no more than four sets total of
shoulder presses and front raises.
- Don’t train chest and shoulders on consecutive days.
Ideally, three days should pass between hitting each, so if you do chest on
Monday, do delts on Thursday.
- Dumbbell presses or presses behind the neck stress the
middle delts more and front delts less, so these are good alternatives to
military presses if you believe that your front delts are overtrained or that
they’re outgrowing the other heads.
- One cardinal rule of bodybuilding is that you can never be
too wide. And so, it’s generally best to emphasize your middle delts more and
front delts less on shoulder day, because the middles (most responsible for
shoulder width) get little stress during other workouts and your fronts may
assist during both your chest and tri sessions.
#2: Underemphasising Rear Delts
Just as anterior delts tend to get too much emphasis,
posterior delts tend to get too little. Rear delts assist during lat exercises,
such as rows and pulldowns; but if you’re targeting your lats correctly, it’s
unlikely that your rear delts are receiving enough work on back or shoulder day
to reach their full potential.
"Most bodybuilders relegate rear laterals to last place in
their shoulder routines, and then go through the paces for four sets of minimal
intensity. It’s no wonder posterior delts are so frequently your shoulders’
weakest links."
Solutions:
- Consider training rear delts on back day, when you can
emphasize them separately from their front and middle brothers. Perform four to
six sets of rear laterals at the end of your back workout.
- If you choose to train posteriors on shoulder day, don’t
always perform them last in your routine.
"Instead, do rear laterals after presses – but before any
side laterals or front raises – or switch up the order from workout to workout."
#3: Too Fast And Furious
Especially when it comes to side laterals and front raises,
trainers tend to go too heavy and use too much momentum. Each delt head is
relatively small, and to isolate them, you need to minimise both momentum and
assistance from other muscles. You may not want to be seen holding 20-pound
dumbbells, but if that’s what it takes to best isolate your medial delts, then
those are the weights you should be grabbing.
Solutions:
- Do shoulder exercises seated instead of standing to remove
your legs from the lifts.
- Choose weights that you can utilize for 8-12 strict reps at
a relatively slow pace (1 second up, 2 seconds down). Pause at the bottom of
reps to begin each rep from a dead stop and eliminate any swinging momentum.
#4: Improper Form
This mistake usually runs in concert with #3. The main
culprit is emphasising the weight and not focusing on muscle stimulation. Thus,
the weight is raised by any means necessary. Other times, trainers simply
develop bad habits; some never learn how to do lifts in the manner that best
stimulates muscle gains.
Solutions:
"Correct form is especially important on shoulder day,
because of the ball-and-socket joints’ vulnerability to injury."
- When doing side laterals, let your elbows lead the way and
raise them until they’re even with your shoulders. In the top position, your
hands should be just below the level of your elbows (arms slightly bent) with
your pinkies up and thumbs down.
- Throughout each set, focus on the deltoid heads you’re
targeting, not on the resistance. Work the muscle, not the weight. After
reaching failure in a shoulder exercise, don’t cheat to eke out extra reps.
Instead, do a drop set, have a partner help with forced, reps or use the
rest-pause technique.
"When doing overhead presses, lower your hands to
approximately chin level (or below) and raise to just short of lockout."
#5: Lack Of Exercise Variety
Shoulders may be the only body part you train with just free
weights. It’s true that barbells and dumbbells are the most effective training
tools, but you can too easily fall into a rut of doing the same three or four
free-weight exercises the same way, workout after workout. Variety is also an
effective tool.
Solutions:
"There are a lot of ways to do overhead presses."
Try including a different pressing exercise each shoulder
workout. Here are three free-weight presses you likely aren’t doing: underhand
presses (press a barbell over-head with a shoulder-width underhand grip);
Arnold presses (press dumbbells from underhand at the bottom to overhand at the
top); and rack military presses (press each rep from a dead stop off of
power-rack supports set at chin level).
- There’s more to training middle delts than just dumbbell
side laterals. On occasion, do side laterals with cables or a machine and,
regardless of equipment, you can go unilateral. Wide-grip upright rows are
another way of targeting your middle delts.
- Likewise, you can perform rear laterals with cables or
machines and go unilateral. You can also do wide-grip bent-over rows to focus
more on your posterior delts. A Smith machine is an effective tool for
wide-grip rows; hold each contraction and flex your rear delts.
Lessons Learnt:
- Work your front delts less and middle delts more
- Train rear delts after back or don’t leave them for last in
your shoulder routine
- Sit down and slow down to remove momentum from lifts
- Use strict form and avoid cheating, even if only to extend a
set beyond failure
- Do a wide variety of shoulder exercises