Any type of movement requiring the upper body uses the shoulders for movement and control. When you bench press the shoulders take on a big part of the movement. When you work your back with rowing movements the shoulders also come into play in order for you to contract your shoulder blades. Then its the rotator cuff which holds your shoulder socket in place and is a common point of injury. Strong deltoid muscles also provide strong protection against injuries.

Below I am going to outline a some special intensity enhancement techniques to really blast your delts.

1. On the shoulder pressing movements, you want to keep the tension on your deltoid muscles. The way you do this is not to lock your arms out at the top of the pressing movement.. By not pressing the weight until your elbows lock you keep constant tension on the shoulders and away from the triceps. This allows you to overload your muscles without your triceps failing first.

2. When performing side lateral raises don’t stop at the end of the set as you normally would. Keep your elbows just slightly bent and the dumbbells by your sides, stand straight up with your chest forward and shoulders back. Raise the weights straight out from your sides completing a half of a regular rep. Do about 6 reps. This hits your side lateral deltoids directly and you will certainly feel it!

3. After your shoulder workout keep your shoulders strong and flexible by performing this shoulder static stretch. The goal is to be able to touch the fingertips together behind the back by reaching over the shoulder and under the elbow.To stretch each shoulder, reach with the right hand over the right shoulder and down the back as if to pull up a zipper or scratch between the shoulder blades. Hold for 10-15 seconds and repeat the other side.

Try these little tricks the next time you train and you will be busting out of your shirts in no time!

What’s your favorite shoulder exercises? Let me know and post a comment below!