How to make your shoulders wider with exercises

How to build broad shoulders: effective exercises for men

Broad and sculpted shoulders and an inverted triangle figure are a source of pride for any man. But how to make your shoulders wider? Is it possible to pump up the muscles of the shoulder girdle at home? These are the top questions guys ask when trying to increase shoulder width. It is believed that the easiest time to expand the shoulder girdle is only until the age of 20. At this age, the skeleton is actively forming and bone compaction occurs. However, you can make your shoulders visually wider even at a more mature age. It is necessary to follow a training regimen and include basic exercises to pump up the deltoid muscles and thereby make your shoulders wider. This set of exercises is designed for men with an average level of difficulty. The workout can be done both in the gym and at home. Required equipment: dumbbells and barbell.

Before you start

Regardless of where exactly - outdoors, in the gym or at home - you work out and what kind of equipment - on the horizontal bar, with dumbbells or a barbell - you use, it is important to follow several fundamental rules:

Gradually increase the weight of the apparatus or the number of pull-ups. Strive for better results;
when doing bench presses, do not extend your elbows all the way: this will strain your muscles even more;
be sure to achieve a burning sensation in the muscles. Don't feel sorry for yourself;
when pulling up, rise smoothly, using your own muscle force, not inertial force. The descent should last as long as the ascent;
exhale with effort, inhale when returning to the original position: this way you will provide the muscles with oxygen;
Rest as little as possible between sets. The shoulders form a small number of muscles that are easy to relax. Don't be afraid to overwork them!

The exercises proposed below are simple in technique. Meanwhile, they allow you to achieve amazing results in just a few weeks of training. Go for it!

How to make your shoulders wider: tricks and exercises

The most attractive figure for women is considered to be a male figure shaped like an inverted triangle. A distinctive feature of this body type is broad shoulders and a narrow waist. You can already create a waist with the help of a sports diet and aerobic exercise. But to pump up voluminous deltoids, strength training is needed. We propose to analyze the most effective exercises for increasing shoulder width.

Understand the anatomy of your shoulders

Remember, brothers, a driver must know by heart the structure of a motor, a gynecologist - you know what, and a bodybuilder - muscles. In this sense, shoulder pumping begins with an anatomical atlas. So what do we see? The deltas consist of three bundles: anterior, middle and posterior. The rear one is naturally the largest. Now we need you to understand 3 main points:

Each bunch requires special exercises.
The rear beam needs to be given more attention.
The deltoids rest on one of the most complex (and therefore fragile) joints in the body. This means that you cannot train them with extreme weights!

The greatest return will be given by a complex made up of exercises for all beams with special emphasis on the back one.

Tricks for visually widening your shoulders

A narrow waist visually widens the shoulders. If you have a beer belly, do some cardio and adjust your diet. This way you can give a V-silhouette to your figure.

Choose pants and shirts (jeans and T-shirts) in a “slim” style. In other words, clothes should be tailored, fitted and slightly tapered, but not too tight.

A couple more tricks when choosing clothes: horizontal patterns (especially in the chest and shoulders), as well as white color, visually expand the upper body.

Causes of fat in this area

Among the main factors, the following can be identified:

Eating high-calorie foods. Causes excess calories to be stored as fat in various parts of the body, including the shoulders and arms. A balanced diet and exercise are the key to solving the problem.
Hereditary factors. An inherited body type, when the favorite places for fat deposition are, first of all, the areas of the shoulders and arms. Changing family eating habits and a set of exercises are ideal for getting rid of fat in the problem area.
Poorly developed muscles. When the proportion of muscle mass is small, and the proportion of adipose tissue is quite significant. In order to reduce body fat, you need to pump up your muscles.

Training Recommendations for Broad Shoulders

In order for a man to make his shoulders wider, he needs to adhere to the basic principles of deltoids training. Let's look at all these points:

The basis of the training should be basic exercises that promote muscle growth. In addition, we recommend “finishing off” the shoulders with insulating elements.
Strength exercises to broaden the shoulders should be done once a week to avoid overtraining. It is permissible to combine such activities with leg or back training.
In order for the deltoids to grow and expand, it is necessary to do 3-4 sets of 8-12 repetitions in each basic exercise , and 3-4 sets of 12-15 repetitions in isolating exercises.
It is difficult to pump up broad shoulders at home. But you can still achieve good results with pull-ups, push-ups, or parallel bars. Read more about shoulder training on the horizontal bar and parallel bars.

How to tailor shoulder training to your body type?

Lean ectomorphs with a fast metabolism need to concentrate more on basic exercises. One workout should last no more than 45 minutes, and for each muscle group it is better to do many approaches with a small number of repetitions. It is advisable to take additional swimming lessons.

The luckiest ones are mesomorphs with developed muscles, broad chests and shoulders. They can safely perform isolation exercises and train on a three-day split program. Their strength increases faster than other athletes, and high-quality lean muscle mass is built up without chemicals.

Endomorphs easily gain excess weight, so they should pay more attention to their diet. You can train on a three-day split program in just over an hour. Shoulder training should be based on heavy compound exercises. It is advisable to keep rest between approaches to a minimum.

Best Shoulder Width Exercises

It is generally accepted that the middle bundles of deltoid muscles are responsible for the width of the shoulders. In fact, without developed anterior deltoids, the deltoids will look thin. The shoulder width exercises proposed below are designed to focus on the front and middle beams.

Smith machine overhead press

The exercise can also be performed with a free barbell. But in this case, when using large weight loads, the risk of injury increases. Therefore, we suggest doing presses in Smith.

Place a chair or bench between the racks of the machine and sit down.
The sliding bar should be positioned clearly above the top of the head.
Take a wide grip (forearms perpendicular to the bar).
Lower the projectile to the back of your head, then squeeze it out.
Correct breathing: lowering with inhalation, pressing with exhalation.

Recommendations:

Keep your back straight.
At the top point, do not straighten your arms completely.
Perform both phases of the exercise smoothly, without jerking or “throwing”.
When carrying heavy weights, be sure to use your partner’s insurance.

Army press

The exercise is suitable for trained athletes. For beginners, any overhead presses are best done in Smith.

Straighten up and place one leg slightly forward for balance.
Throw the barbell over your upper chest.
The position of the palms is wider than the shoulders (the forearms should be perpendicular to the bar).
Squeeze the projectile, slightly moving it behind your head.
Then lower it to the original position.
Correct breathing: press with an exhalation, lowering with an inhale.

Recommendations:

While lifting the barbell, do not lean your body back.
When lowering, control the movement of the projectile, do not “throw” it down.
When using a heavy barbell, be sure to wear a powerlifting belt.

Barbell row to the chin

The exercise is performed with free weight. Beginners and girls can pull in a Smith machine or in a crossover. In fact, in this version of the deadlift, the projectile does not rise to the chin, but only to the chest.

Stand up straight, hold the bar with straight arms near your groin.
The position of the palms is wide (when lifting, the forearms should be perpendicular to the bar).
Without lifting your shoulder joints, pull your elbows up, driving the barbell up to your pectoral muscles.
Then lower the apparatus to its original position near the groin.
Correct breathing: pull with exhalation, lower with inhale.

Recommendations:

Do not move the barbell far away from you, raise and lower it along the line of your body.
Both phases of the exercise should be performed smoothly, without jerking or “throwing”.

Crossover swings to the middle delta

Thanks to the constant tension of the cable at the top and bottom points of movement, the middle bundle of deltas receives a high-quality load.

Stand with your left side half a meter away from the weight rack.
Attach the D-handle to the lower cable and hold it in your right palm.
Straighten up, bend your right arm slightly.
With a swinging motion, move your arm high to the side (the handle should rise to the level of your head).
Lower your hand to the original position.
Correct breathing: swing with exhalation, lower with inhalation.

Recommendations: Select the weight so that you can lift and lower it smoothly, without jerking movements.

Seated dumbbell press

We recommend using a high-back chair for this exercise.

Adjust the angle of the chair back to 90° and sit down.
Spread your legs wide, press your shoulder blades and the back of your head firmly into the seat.
Take dumbbells and lift them towards your shoulders (forearms perpendicular to the floor).
Squeeze the projectiles, bringing them above your head (the trajectory of the arms is an arc).
Smoothly lower the dumbbells to your shoulders.
Correct breathing: press with an exhalation, lowering with an inhale.

Recommendations:

Elbows and dumbbells should move in the same plane.
Perform the exercise without pauses at the lower and upper points of the amplitude.

One-arm abductions to the side

Due to the tilt of the body when performing such leads, the load on the middle delta increases.

Stand with your left side close to the power rack, take a dumbbell in your right palm.
Bring your feet together, grab the counter with your left hand and, straightening it, lean to the side.
Lower your right hand freely down.
Keeping your body tilted, raise your right arm to the level of your head.
Then lower the dumbbell to its original position.
Correct breathing: rise with exhalation, lower with inhalation.

Recommendations: Perform smooth lifting and lowering, avoid jerking and “throwing”.

Top 4 methods for reducing deltas

Only an integrated approach will not only help make your shoulders narrower, but will also allow the girl to maintain the achieved result. We have selected the 4 most effective methods for reducing the problem area.

Eat right

Start by adopting the right diet. Use in your menu those products and those nutritional rules that will help you cope with excess weight and get rid of broad shoulders.

Include a wide variety of foods in your diet every day. Our body takes all the beneficial substances from the foods we consume. If some nutrients are not enough, all systems of our body suffer. In addition, this is reflected in appearance.
The basis of a proper menu should be: boiled or baked chicken and fish, a small amount of grain bread or crispbread, low-fat fermented milk products. Also, do not forget about raw vegetables - all types of cabbage, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, radishes and radishes. While you are losing weight, try to eat side dishes less often - potatoes, cereals and other starchy foods. Once a week is quite enough.
You cannot constantly try different diets on yourself - this is a big test for the body, leading to metabolic disorders and obesity.
You need to give up confectionery, fried foods, chips, nuts and other high-calorie foods.
Replacing the method of heat treatment of products. We replace all fried foods with boiled, baked and stewed (without adding oil!) foods. With this technique we can reduce the calorie content of our daily diet by almost half.

We also recommend watching the video:

Important! You need to eat several times a day (about five times!) in small portions. Then the feeling of hunger will not accumulate and you will not overeat.

Choose your cardio

Such workouts provide increased load, work out muscles well and help women fight fat deposits, and, therefore, allow them to reduce the volume of their shoulders and the size of their arms in general. Make your choice in favor of the option you like:

Treadmill. One of the most popular and widespread types of simulators. Classes help you quickly get into good physical shape by working out the main muscle groups.
Exercise bike. It burns calories perfectly and helps gain muscle volume. Cycling enthusiasts can do this at home too.
Ellipsoid. Many people choose this type of training, as it provides a harmonious load on the muscles, joints and ligaments. If you have problems with the knee joints, it is better to prefer an ellipsoid, as it gives a softer load on this part.
Stepper. This simulator has a huge number of admirers and users. The number one remedy in the fight against a sedentary lifestyle. Perfectly replaces running or walking.
Exercises with a skipping rope. A simple jump rope will help you lose excess weight, work out all muscle groups and give you a workout until you sweat.
Dancing. Dancing needs to be done regularly. This will help you lose excess weight, acquire royal posture and graceful shoulder line.
Swimming. Beneficial for everyone, regardless of age and physical fitness. If you want to have a slim figure and beautiful shoulders, pay attention to swimming. It is enough to study two to three times a week for one hour.
Nordic walking. It has become very popular lately, and for good reason! Reliance on sticks makes it possible to use it during rehabilitation after injuries. Gently loads the main muscle groups, helps burn calories, and helps stabilize weight loss results. Full hands are not for you!