BodyFitness, Training


	Setting Your Deltoids on Fire For Spectacular Shoulders

By Brian Miles

There are many roads to Rome, which is a way of saying there are many different ways of activating muscle growth.
You have probably been told that you have to be constantly trying to move more weight, but if your joints hurt… don’t do it, there are other ways. And one of the most effective is setting the muscles on fire, which is particularly effective when it comes to the deltoids.
I remember as a teenager I devoured every bodybuilding magazine that fell into my hands, reading every word and piece of advice and taking it all as gospel. Maybe that’s why I made so many mistakes and suffered so many injuries back then.

For decades it was a given that the best exercise for putting meat on the shoulders was the behind-the-neck press, followed closely by the military press, and I don’t think anyone really took seriously the possibility of achieving good development in the area without including these exercises in their routine. So I did, for a while, but I didn’t get the promised results. What I got was joint discomfort and recurrent inflammation of the rotator cuff, which not only prevented me from developing big deltoids but also restricted my chest training, back workouts and even some biceps and triceps exercises for a long time.
Even so, I persisted with my classic routines, because I believed then that heavy barbell presses should be the basis of shoulder training and anything else would be ineffective and little more than a waste of time. I made no progress and the pain and discomfort did not go away, but I still stuck blindly to my supposedly infallible routines.
Today, I can assure you that there are other ways to achieve thick, round and powerful deltoids… you don’t have to be a monster and lift barbaric loads above your head.

Few groups are as impressive as well developed shoulders
Much has been written about the importance of having big arms, or the magic of thick and bulky biceps or a bulging chest, but I think that the shoulders are the most spectacular muscle group and do most to portray a powerful image of virility and physical strength. Round and broad shoulders are the mark of the strong, athletic man, and they also contribute to diminishing the waist and highlighting that V-shape so typical of the more aesthetic bodybuilders.
Moreover, the shoulders are the cornerstones for all upper body strength movements, so that with a shoulder injury or a chronic weakness in that area you can say goodbye to fully working out your chest, back and even arms. So overall torso development will suffer if the shoulders are not strong and injury free… and I’m speaking from experience.
Above all, however, the majestic appearance of bulging, striated deltoids at the ends of the clavicles is simply without parallel.

The fragility of the shoulder joint
The shoulder joint is inherently unstable due to the large size of the humeral head compared to the shallowness of the glenoid cavity.


	The Art of the Repetition



	*By Xavier Fox* With most things in bodybuilding, there is never a straight answer as to how you should go about accomplishing something. Whether it is lifting, eating, or your cardiovascular training, there is usually not one all encompassing rule to accomplish a goal. The answer to what must be done is usually some grey area in between what is normally considered as black and white rules. The grey area is what the bodybuilder normally learns through experience for what particularly works for their genetic make-up and goals. When it comes to using the proper form when performing repetitions the same grey area of the ‘rules’ usually applies. When the subject of how to perform a repetition comes up in the gym, there are normally two schools of belief. The first school is in the belief that all repetitions should be performed with super-controlled form and the weight should be a quantity that enables the lifter to take at least three seconds on each of the positive and negative portions of the rep without breaking form. In addition, the weight should stop for a split second at the point where the muscle is fully contracted between the positive and negative. They preach that light to moderate weights should be used so that it can be completely and perfectly controlled without ever breaking form. ‘Momentum’ is a curse word in their vocabulary, and using any type of extra ‘cheating’ motion to grind out the reps is blasphemy. Then, there are the power generators. These guys lift with big weights, and although their form is not absolutely perfect, it is still decent enough to keep the stress on the muscle being targeted. They are not afraid of using a little swing or momentum so that they can use bigger weights that will allow them to get big gains in size and power. The key to their repetitions is that they can use a little momentum or manipulate their body motion to get the lift but they never get so sloppy that they allow the stress to come off the targeted muscle or risk injury to their back or some other muscle group. They will allow the weight to move a little faster, but it is still under control, and they also will ‘snap’ the weight back up during the transition from the negative to the positive. So, you are probably wondering which one is better. Well, like most things in bodybuilding, they both have their purpose, and the answer is, ‘it depends’. What it will depend on is determined not only from your goals but also the level of experience that you have. Both of these repetition methods can be very useful, but like a superhero’s power in a movie, in the wrong hands they can do more harm than good. Slow and light reps Let’s take a look at the first type of repetition, which is the kind where the repetition takes a few seconds on both the positive and negative portion of the rep along with a pause in the middle. The weight is light to moderate, and absolutely no momentum or body movement is permitted.