I N T R O D U C T I O N

Shoulders are a SHOW bodypart. When you see someone with big delts, they automatically look BIG...even if their chest or arms are small. Everyone wants a solid, built pair of shoulders. I have grown my delts greatly over the years and I contribute it to specific techniques and strategies I have used.

In this ebook, You will be educated on the anatomy of the shoulder muscle, what training methods I use to grow my delts, and this ebook will also provide a few sample workouts for you to try. I know this will ebook will help you improve your own physique and build boulder shoulders!

WWW.LUKASDUNCAN.COM T H E F U N C T I O N S O F T H E S H O U L D E R

The shoulder has many different functions for the body. It’s actually a very complex structure within the arm and contains many different parts. This makes it a very versatile joint. When you look at the shoulder, you can see that it can move in pretty much any direction. The shoulder rotates around the single joint like a ball-in-socket. This allows the shoulder to lift the arms up, swing them forward, swing them backwards, pull, and press.

Many other parts of the body such as the chest, biceps, and back all connect at some point to the shoulder as well. Thus, making this joint integral to a lot of other movements. The shoulders will also play a huge role in your posture. When the shoulders are fully functioning, you are pretty much pulled into place. Over time, if proper posture isn’t strengthened and the shoulder becomes unbalanced, your posture may suffer. T H E D I F F E R E N T M U S C L E H E A D S

As stated earlier, the shoulder has a lot of parts. In addition to the various tendons and bones, there are many different muscle heads. If you were to look at the shoulder on just the muscular level, you would notice that it isn’t just one big muscle.

There are about eight different muscles that attach to the shoulder, either at the scapula, humerus, or clavicle. Not only are these muscles here to help with movement, but they help to keep the shoulder stable and safe.

The main muscles that you may be familiar with are the various deltoids. These are what give the shoulders that rounded off look that everyone is searching to create. We’re going to put most of the focus here. To put it simply, there is a frontal deltoid, lateral deltoid, and rear deltoid. Obviously, the frontal deltoid resides on the front of the shoulder. You hit this muscle quite often when you are bench pressing and pressing overhead.

The lateral deltoid is what makes you WIDE. When you see the broad shoulders on certain individuals, they have often worked hard to develop these.

They help lift the arms up, you guessed it, laterally! Lastly, you have the rear deltoid, which is primarily part of the back. Having this part of the shoulder developed really creates a well-rounded shoulder, and even sets up a “shelf” of sorts on the back. Any type of pulling movements that you may do will activate these muscles pretty well.

A N A T O M Y O F T H E S H O U L D E R

The shoulder is essentially a massive joint that fits a ball into a socket. Surrounding that structure are many different tendons, muscles, and bones that helps support the joint staying intact. The joint fits perfectly so that it can smoothly glide around within this socket. This is all formed where the humerus, or upper arm, connect to the shoulder blade. In addition, you have the acromion (or AC joint in unison with the shoulder) helping to hold things together.

Within that structure you have the rotator cuff, which is made of multiple different muscles. The rotator cuff has the job of keeping the shoulder in place or in the socket. Without it, the shoulder would flop around or be dislocated. Outside of that, you have the supporting muscle groups such as the chest, back, and arm to help secure everything where it should be. W A R M I N G U P T H E S H O U L D E R S

As we just explained, the shoulder is made up of MANY different parts. This means that there are multiple sections that have to work well in unison to avoid injury. One way to make sure this goes well, is to warm up properly. If you are going to warm up something, make sure that it is your shoulders. All of those tiny muscles need to be ready to roll, so you can’t only warm up the larger ones. This means that you need to spend time with some light weights or even some bands, getting into the details.

One great way to do this is with a plain exercise band. Take the band and place your hands about shoulder width apart on it. Pinch the shoulder blades together and attempt to pull the band apart. This will help to warm up all of those small stabilizer muscles. Secondly, you should spend some time of the rotator cuff through some intentional rotations. Hold a light plate in one hand and bend your arm into a 90-degree angle. Hold your arm so that the palm is facing down, with the plate in hand. Rotate the shoulder until your fingers are pointing at the ceiling. Slowly allow the arm to rotate back to the start position and repeat. On top of those light exercises, you can take the normal pressing and raising movements that you normally do and use light weights. This will help get the muscles warm as well. W H Y T R A I N S H O U L D E R S L I G H T E R T H A N O T H E R M O V E M E N T S

As we just explained, the shoulder is made up of MANY different parts. This means that there are multiple sections that have to work well in unison to avoid injury. One way to make sure this goes well, is to warm up properly. If you are going to warm up something, make sure that it is your shoulders. All of those tiny muscles need to be ready to roll, so you can’t only warm up the larger ones. This means that you need to spend time with some light weights or even some bands, getting into the details. In addition, this is also safe for the shoulders. Shoulders are one of the easiest to injure muscle groups, so you want to be careful. If you can stay away from injuries, this will prologue your training. Longer training will lead to more and more gains.

T H E P U M P he pump is something that many claim to be chasing. This is really the feeling you get when the muscles become engorged with blood. It’s common for someone with a pump to even look larger! While this looks cool and feels great, it also benefits your muscle growth. The more blood that you can get to the muscles, the faster it will grow. This is why using some lighter weights in greater volumes can be great for the shoulders. G R E A T S H O U L D E R E X E R C I S E S

D B L A T E R A L R A I S E

As stated earlier, you want to hit multiple parts of the shoulder for that well-rounded look. The lateral raise makes the perfect exercise for this. It’s also one that is done wrong quite often. So, here is the best way to do it! You should start with your feet about shoulder width apart and create a soft bend at the knee. Slightly push your hips back and let your chest come over. With two light dumbbells in your hands, raise your arms up laterally. Ensure that you have a slight bend in the elbows, and that your hands are never higher than the elbows. As you are raising the arms, imagine that you are pouring water from a cup. This will make sure that the shoulder joint stays in a safe position. Slowly lower your arms back to start and repeat the process. Make sure that you aren’t swinging the weights with momentum, and that you are controlling every rep. Not only is this safer, but also builds the most muscle. D B S H O U L D E R P R E S S

This movement can be done seated or standing. Either one works great. Regardless, you start this movement with the dumbbells at the shoulder, elbows at about a 45-degree angle in relation to your torso. While squeezing your core and glutes, press the dumbbells straight up. Completely lock out the arms, finishing with your elbows parallel to your ears. Your head should poke through your arms like a window. To return to start, bring your head back behind the arms as you lower them, keeping your body as tight as you can. Once you reach the start position, be sure to initiate the next rep immediately. Otherwise, you’ll lose the tension and some of the strength. So long as the dumbbells stay straight in relation to your spine or the center of your mass, you will be safe.

R E V E R S E P E C K D E C K F L I E S

This exercise is going to be done on the peck deck. Sit in the seat facing the machine. From here, you will need to adjust the handles to be the setting closest to the weights. Grabbing the handles, get a slight bend at the elbows. Pinch the shoulder blades together and imagine you are ripping the handles away from each other. Finish the range of motion once you have just passed behind your shoulders. Slowly lower the weight back to start and go again. This is another movement that you want to control well and avoid any unnecessary momentum. W I D E G R I P U P R I G H T R O W S

This one is going to be done with a barbell. Now, you may be familiar with the regular upright row where your hands are closer together. However, with this one, we are going to widen those hands to right outside of the shoulders. Have your feet about shoulder width apart and slightly push the hips back (just enough to break out of the locked-out position. Initiate the movement by pulling from the elbows. Imagine that there are strings attached to your elbows and are being pulled straight up. Once the barbell has reached the chest, you can slowly lower the weight. Again, we don’t want to use too much momentum on this movement to perform. S A M P L E W O R K O U T S

W O R K O U T # 1 :

Warm up (rotator cuff work and band pull apart) Shoulder Press

3 Warm up sets with lightest weight 5 sets of 8 reps with a moderate weight 6 sets of 15 reps using a light weight

Rev. Peck Deck flies

6 sets of 15 reps using a light weight

DB Shrugs

6 sets of 10 reps with a moderate-heavy weight

Drop Set Wide Grip Upright Rows

6 sets to failure, dropping weight each set to keep going

W O R K O U T # 2 :

Warm up (plate rotations and negative pull-ups or lat-pulldowns) Seated Single Arm Shoulder Press

5 sets of 12 reps each arm with moderate weight Front Raise Plate Holds

5 sets of max time with moderate weight plate

Super Set for 5 sets of 12 reps each movement

DB Lateral Raise DB Bent Over Rear Delt Raise Wide Grip Upright Row