The #1 Workout That BLEW UP My Shoulders (3 Exercises)

today I want to share the one workout that blew up my shoulders my Filipino genetics blessed me with a one to1 shoulder to waist ratio and narrow clavicles that made me look frail and weak but I refused to let my genetics Define me this past year my shoulders blew up they're wider broader and Fuller than they've ever been I didn't use any of this either I followed a simple science-based workout that's worked better than anything I've tried in the past there's only three exercises but proper form is crucial so pay attention first up the side

delts this is the part of the shoulders that broadens your frame and is where I put most of my effort now in the past I'd always just do your typical dumbbell lateral raises but there's an exciting new area of research called long muscle length training that suggests this may not be ideal for growth This research has shown muscles tend to grow better if they're challenged in the stretch position for example one study published just this year found that preacher curls which challenge the biceps the most right around here when they're almost fully stretched grew the

the biceps 150% more than inclin dumbbell curls which are instead hardest right around here when the biceps aren't stretched as much similar finds have been shown in the triceps hamstrings and quads as well so although the shoulders have yet to be tested it seems probable they'd also benefit from this but the thing about dumbbell lateral raises is they're easiest at the bottom when the Delta is fully stretched and hardest at the top when the Delta is fully contracted the opposite of what we want so my main exercise was instead behind the body cable lateral raises

where I stand in front and to the side so my side Delta is now stretched behind me but simply stretching your delt isn't enough you need to make sure the cable is at the right height so it challenges your delt the most when it's stretched if the cable set at the very bottom the exercise will challenge your delts closer to the end whereas if you bump it up by two or three notches the exercise will now challenge your delts more at the beginning when they're stretched now if you don't have access to cables dumbbell lateral

raises are still a great option and are probably complimentary to this exercise and you can implement the stretch research with them by first doing as many full reps as you can and then finishing off your set with partials at the bottom to work your delts more in that stretch position that said there is one more tip I applied to my side Del training that made all the difference it has to do with how much weight I used usually whenever I do lateral raises and tried to increase the weight my form would get floppy and I'd

start feeling it all in my traps but a recent 2022 study helped provide a solution to this one of our buillt with science researchers Daniel plin actually ran the study so I'll let him share the results we took trained individuals and we wanted to answer the question of if you increase in reps or you increase in load will there be differences in muscle size so one group the load group each time they trained they tried to increase in the amount of weight while the Reps group stayed at the same weight each session but tried to

to increasing reps so at the start of the study the Reps group was doing 10 reps per set and by the end of the study after the 8 weeks they were doing between 16 and 20 reps what we found was from measuring multiple thigh and cap muscles is that this might be surprising but there was virtually no differences between groups so it seems like there's a good amount of flexibility and what you can choose for your progression so it could be reps and it could be load so applied This research by sticking to the same

weight every week and trying to do just a couple more reps than last time I'd start around 10 reps per set and only once I was able to do at least 15 to 20 Reps for set with good form did I increase the weight so the side delts create width but the rear delt helped balance out the shoulder and give it that 3D look but it's by far the most underdeveloped part of most people's shoulders and that was no exception my rear delts have always been trashed I'd spam them with dumbbell reverse splies in the

reverse PC deck and couldn't figure out why they just wouldn't grow well here's what so we know that muscles are best grown if the arm path of the exercise matches the direction of the muscle fibers in the case of the rear delts they run at about a 45° angle this is why some people can end up building massive rear delts without even trying they perform any of their rows with this 45° arm angle and end up growing their rear delts instead of other parts of their back but this was never the case for me so

I needed an exercise that isolated my rear delts really well what I found the most success with was using this 45° arm angle during the reverse cable flat but with a few steps back from the cable to make it more difficult near the beginning of the exercise when the rear delts are more stretched but you can apply this to the reverse pec deck as well move the seat up high and instead of sitting right up against the pad scoot your butt back and lean your chest into the pth this way your arm angle will now

line up better with the rear delts and if you don't have access to cable or machines you can do an incline dumbbell row with your arms kept in that 45° angle in all these exercises though to prevent your midback muscles from taking over don't squeeze your shoulder blades together push your arms forward to open up your shoulder blades and keep them that way as you pull your elbows back now I'm going to share the sets and Reps for each exercise at the end of the video but for now let's move on to the last exercise

lastly the front belts so this is usually the most developed part of people's shoulders because it's already worked into directly in many other exercises in fact in studies researchers would count one set of bench press as one set for the chest but also one set for the front delts but it's still a good idea to do at least one exercise to work this area especially since the exercise will show you can help indirectly grow the other parts of your shoulders as well now unfortunately there's no studies that have compared how well different exercises grow the

front delts but remember how we said muscles are best grown if the arm path of the exercise matches the direction of the muscles fibers well for the front delts the arm path looks something like this which matches quite well with overhead shoulder presses now in the past I'd always do standing barbell overhead presses but over time they just really started beating up my joints and it was always a struggle to stay balanced so I switched this exercise out for more stable and smoother exercise on my joints the seated dumbbell shoulder press but not the way

most people do it let me explain bring your arms up directly to your side with your elbow at a nice ° angle then without arching your back rotate your hand back as far as you can how far could you go a 2020 study with over 2400 participants found that on average they could only get to about 60° but take a look at the dumbbell shoulder press with the bench straight up you need to be able to comfortably get to 90° otherwise you'll end up pressing the weight forwards and using other muscles or you just may

end up aggravating your shoulder so try to bring the bench back about one to two notches and as you can see now it'll require far less shoulder Mobility once you're set up line up your arm with a front delt fibers by driving your elbows inward slightly with your paws facing it then press the weight over your shoulders and return back to the starting position after each rep so here's the three exercises with the Reps sets Alternatives and how often to perform them you could do this on a workout on its own but i' recommend splitting

these exercises up into two to three of your workouts throughout the week now that said research is always evolving I may end up being wrong about all of this in a few years time but I will do my best in keeping you guys updated with the latest science so far though the research is promising and it seems like it's working if you guys want a step-by-step plan that takes care of all the science and guesswork for you so you can build muscle and lose fat as efficiently as possible just take our quiz at builtwith size.com

to find the best plan for you and your body I highly recommend giving this video watch next which dives into all the exercises that are known to provide better muscle growth because of the stretch research we talked about earlier thank you so much for watching and I'll see you next time