How To Get Bigger Shoulders

how to get bigger shoulders

To get bigger shoulders you need to do exercises to build up the front, side & back parts of your shoulders so…

To build up the front of your shoulders…

You can do any type of overhead pressing exercise like military presses, push press, or seated overhead presses plus you can do any type of bench press (especially incline bench press) and Dips to build up the front of your shoulders so…
If you're already doing chest workouts where you're doing bench presses and/or dips then you really don't need to do any extra overhead presses for the front of your shoulders unless you really want to focus more on building up the front part of your shoulders and…
The quickest way to build up the front of your shoulders is to do 4-to-6 sets of any overhead press, bench press or dip using heavy weights that only allow you to do 4-to-12 reps per set.

Click on photos to see how to do exercise

To build up the side/middle of your shoulders…

The various types of Lateral raise exercises are really the only things you can do to build up the side of your shoulders and since the lateral raise is an Isolation exercise…
You're going to have to use lighter weights while doing a high number of reps (usually 8-to-20 reps per set) to see any results so…
Focus more on increasing the number of reps you can do instead of trying to use heavier weights when doing lateral raises because using poor from and swinging up a heavy weight won't help build up the middle of your shoulders because you want to work the muscle & not the weights so…
The best way to do lateral raises is to start off with a light-to-moderate weight you can only do for 8-to-12 reps and once you can do about 12-to-20 reps with that weight… You can then use a heavier weight that once again only allows you to do 8-to-12 reps.
Although overhead presses may also help build up the side of your shoulders just a little bit… You'll never be able to make your shoulders wider unless you build up the side/middle of your shoulders with lateral raises…

Click on photos to see how to do exercise

To build up the back of your shoulders…

You can do almost any type of back exercise except for shrugs so if you're already doing a back workout that includes Rows, Pull-ups & Chin-ups then you're doing enough to buildup the back of your shoulders but…
You can focus more on building up the back of your shoulders by doing rear raises and just like lateral raises…
You'll need to start off using light-to-moderate weights for 8-to-12 reps working up to a heavier weight once you can do 12-to-20 reps with the weight you started with But the quickest way to build up the back of your shoulders is to…
First pre-exhaust the back of your shoulders with 2-to-6 sets of rear raises doing 8-to-20 reps per set using light-to-moderate weights and then doing 4-to-6 more sets of rows, pull-ups or chin-ups to really get a good workout & feel it in the back of your shoulders.
You'll never develop the roundness of your shoulders unless you spend time working on the back of your shoulders.

Click on photos to see how to do exercise

Do this 4 part workout 1-to-2 days per week To Get Bigger Shoulders…

Part 1: Do 4-to-6 sets of 8-to-20 reps of JUST one exercise from GROUP A to build up the middle of your shoulders and then…
Part 2: Do 2-to-6 sets of 8-to-20 reps of JUST one exercise from GROUP B and then…
Part 3: Do 4-to-6 sets of 4-to-12 reps of JUST one exercise from GROUP C to build up the back of your shoulders (you can skip part 3 if your current back workout includes rows, pull-ups & chins) and then…
Part 4: Do 2-to-6 sets of 4-to-12 reps of JUST one exercise from GROUP D (Do 4-to-6 sets if you are not currently doing any chest workouts that contain bench presses and dips.

GROUP A
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GROUP B
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GROUP C
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GROUP D
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Always work the middle of your shoulders 1st in any shoulder workout

It really does not matter in which order you work your front, middle or the back of your shoulders but…

The middle of your shoulders is probably the biggest most visually appealing part of your shoulders and due to you doing lots of chest and back exercises…

The middle of your shoulders become underdeveloped and out of proportion with the front and back of your shoulders so if you begin your shoulder workout by working the middle of your shoulders with lateral raises…

You'll be pre-exhausting the middle of your shoulders so by the time you start working on the front of your shoulders with overhead presses…
You're going to get a much better middle shoulder workout than usual since you began your shoulder workout with lateral raises.

Big shoulders + Bigger back = Smaller looking waist

Building up your shoulders (especially the middle of your shoulders for that wide look) along with getting a bigger back will help you get that V-shape body that'll make your waistline look smaller and of course…

If you do fat burning exercises along with a healthy diet you can shrink your waistline even more.

Make your shoulders get stronger every workout so…

Keep a training log and try to make your shoulders stronger each workout by using more weight, doing more reps and/or sets each workout you do so basically…

You want to do better each workout or beat your last workout each time you workout because a stronger shoulder is a bigger shoulder and shoulders can't get bigger and stronger by getting weaker every workout or by you using the same amount of weight, reps and sets each workout and you don't have to wait until the next workout to get stronger…

You can get stronger within the workout you are doing by lifting more weights or doing more reps as you do each set. - For example…

Let's say in one workout you do 5 sets of 6 reps using 150 pounds for the push press then the next time you workout you want to…

Do at least 6 sets and/or…
Do at least 7 reps per set and/or…
Use more than 150 pounds

How often should you workout your shoulders?

You can do the FULL shoulder workout on this page 1-to-2 days per week taking at least 1 day off (preferably 2-to-3 days off) but like I said…

If you're already working out your chest and back muscles with bench press, dips, rows, pull-ups & chin-ups then you really don't have to do much for the front and back of your shoulders and in that case…
You can skip parts 2-thru-4 of the shoulder workout or you can do part 2-thru-4 Just once every 2 weeks but…
You can do part 1 of the shoulder workout where you build up the middle of your shoulders 2-to-3 times per week taking just one day off between workouts.

Proper nutrition for bigger shoulders

See how many calories you need to eat to build muscle mass along with how much protein you need in your diet to get bigger shoulders.

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