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There is no need to go into detail about how important shoulder development (specifically deltoids) is to a complete physique.  Deltoid development, possibly more than any other body part, can change the look of a bodybuilder from simply average, to imposing.  It is no wonder that in a typical gym environment, the masses are spending as much, or even more effort, training these muscles as they do legs, abs, back and even arms.

On the other hand, as training methodologies and techniques acquire more popularity and praise, more oversights tend to be made.   Recognizing the faults of mainstream delt training protocols and shifting your perspective might be what you need to take your shoulders to the next level.

Anatomy

The deltoids are a fan shaped muscle originating from the lateral 1/3 of the spine of the scapula (posterior), the acromion (middle) and the lateral portion of the clavicle (anterior).  These 3 continuous origins converge roughly halfway down the lateral humerus.  Because the fibers of each section are identical in as as far as where they attach on the upper arm, the muscular actions actually overlap considerably.  For this reason, it would be best to consider the deltoids as a singular fan-shaped muscle, rather than the traditional three separated ‘heads’.

The deltoid muscle will act in tandem with the rotator cuff muscles, as well as others, which not all only produce rotation of the glenohumeral joint in different arm positions, but will also act as ‘stabilizers’ of sorts by creating compression forces back into the joint.  Care should also be taken while training shoulders as to not create overdue stress which may negatively influence these tissues.

There are several ways of reducing risk and wear to shoulder joints, while simultaneously increasing the benefits of deltoid/shoulder strength and hypertrophy – most of which will fly in the face of tradition.

1) Train by ‘Function’, not ‘geography’

All too often, we try to separate body parts into their own workouts.  Chest, back, quads, arms, legs etc.  This strategy makes sense – we want to stimulate our muscle groups individually so we can have them rest and recuperate as we train another muscle group in the following training sessions.  The problem with most body part split protocols is that they do not take into account function, but instead merely rely on a muscles differing location relative to another.  In short – we should be thinking about function and not geography.

The front delts for instance, which cross anterior to the transverse plane axis of the glenohumeral joint, share common function with the pecs to horizontally abduct – as in pressing and ‘flye’ motions – and are especially accentuated during ‘inclines’.  These motions, if performed improperly (usually during reps under fatigue), often result in excessive and unnecessary protraction of the scapula which dramatically decreases pec involvement and allows the front delts to handle the burden of the resistance.  After an intense ‘chest’ workout, where typically a substantial amount of volume is performed, it should be noted that nearly half your delt fibres (anterior to the frontal plane) have also been taxed, usually far more than you might think.  The same might be said for biceps day, in which the front delts are required – at the very least – to maintain a neutral position in the sagittal plane during variations of the arm curl.  Just like typical pec movements, common mistakes in form during arm curl exercises an result in the front delts becoming exceedingly burdened.

Eliminating these redundancies by grouping muscle groups associated with function, will allow for more time for deltoid recovery while eliminating overtraining.  One strategy would be to train both the front and middle delts on chest day and posterior delts on back day.  This will allow a more adequate period of time for recovery before stimulation.  Some may consider a “push day” (chest, delts, triceps) and a pull day (back, rear delts, biceps) in order to enhance recovery.  Many people who have switched using this logic have noticed a dramatic increase in strength, especially in chest exercises and lateral/front raise movements as the body can adapt and recover much easier.

2) Use Resistance Variation more often

The tools of choice for bodybuilders, especially for delt training, are barbells and dumbbells.  It is easy sometimes to fall prey to habit and convention.  Even though someone can be changing their exercises regularly, the variations often incorporate the same resistance characteristics.  For example, you could switch between dumbbells and barbells for pressing, or interchange types of dumbbell front raises and lateral dumbbell raises.  They are all different exercises, but share common resistance characteristics of free weights.  Strategically changing where the resistance is in the range of motion (resistance profile) is just as, or even more important, than changing the movements themselves.  Incorporating different tools such as cables, bands and machines that offer diverse resistance challenges can create unique stimulation to the muscle tissues that enhance size and strength.

One example of this might be doing lateral raises with low-cables in a cross-ways fashion.  This cable lateral variation (cross cable, cable lateral raises) offers far more resistance at the bottom of the motion and relatively less at the top, compared to the resistance of gravity that acts on dumbbells (which only exerts a force straight down).  Setting up cable stations in the low-cable variation to be a greater distance apart, will exaggerate this phenomenon.  Standing back from the cables and doing lateral raises, front raises or rear delt flyes (depending on the goal) and executing from different angles should also be explored.

The same can be done with military pressing – using tubing/bands or angled cables will increase resistance near the top of the motion to create new stimulation and sensation.  Being able to change the directions of resistance in between workouts, or even in between sets, creates infinite possibilities and therefore endless ways to challenge the delts.

Many believe free weights are somehow superior to their machine/cable counterparts, but if you are looking for maximal variation and stimulation – look to abandon the free weights every so often!

3) Stay Away from Exercises that are Higher Risk

Unfortunately, there are some commonly performed deltoid exercises that can increase the risk of wear and injury to the shoulder that, over time ,will hamper your progress.

• Upright Rows: This exercise is simply shoulder abduction (like a lateral raise) usually combined with excessive passive internal rotation of the arm.  Many are partial to this movement based on increased activation of the biceps and trapezius – which is precisely why this exercise is so risky.  Abducting one’s arm while having it internally rotated not only introduces added scapular motion too early (by restricting glenohumeral motion), but loads the biceps in this position – which can irritate the biceps tendon.  The excessive ulnar deviation can also create havoc on the wrists.
• Behind the Head Pressing or Frontal Plane Barbell Press: In the frontal plane (to the side), dumbbells allow motion directly beside the head.  Barbell Presses often incur risk to the anterior joint capsule when performed behind the head and often head/trunk position has to be altered during the exercise to allow for motion.  Using a high incline (especially if you don’t possess 180 degrees of active shoulder flexion) instead of a vertically-aligned bench, will significantly decrease risk and is no less effective.
• Heavy DB Lateral Raises: One of the most common deltoid exercises is often done with dumbbells that are too heavy – using a swing at the bottom of the motion to break the inertia of the weight (where there is absolutely no moment of resistance!) in order to generate the velocity necessary to get to the top of the motion.  In the meantime, external rotation of the humerus occurs against the resistance, which not only increases stress on the joint capsule, but also takes emphasis off middle delt fibres. Such careless execution of this exercise is customary among heavy-lifters and can negatively influence joint function over time.  A better substitute for heavy dumbbells is the use of cables with a direction that creates more resistance at the bottom, along with a pulley system which reduces the inertial affects of acceleration (such as a Free MotionTM cable unit)
• Dips: widely considered to be a chest or triceps exercise, in actuality with traditional methods, resists the anterior deltoid the most.  Allowing too much passive shoulder extension during a vertical posture can irritate the joint capsule and places excessive stress on the anterior deltoid (in a lengthened position) relative to elbow extension (triceps) challenge.  Dips can be made safer for the shoulder and more effective for the triceps by manipulating the body so it more horizontally oriented (parallel to the dip bars).

4) Executing more motion in shortened ranges

This may go without saying for exercises such as front/lateral raises where many will perform only partial repetitions because of using too heavy weights.  However, less obvious to most, is the incomplete motion used during rowing exercises or row/reverse-flye variations for rear deltoids.  Because of the anatomical location of the rear deltoid, it increases its role dramatically during humeral extension (as in a row) nearing the shortened-end of the motion.  Rowing and rear delt exercises are too frequently performed haphazardly (usually with too much load) therefore not incorporating the rear delts to the fullest extent.  This is likely the main reason why the rear deltoids seem to be noticeably less developed in the majority of bodybuilders.  Ensuring that these exercises are completed consistently with the fully shortened range in mind will develop the rear deltoids far more than using partial or incomplete reps.

Conclusion:

Simply choosing your exercises more appropriately, strategically and with greater variation (using different resistance tools) can radically improve the gains of your deltoids.  Properly structuring your workout schedule to accommodate for exercises that stress your delts in other workouts (eliminating redundancy) can also increase your rate of recovery, reduce overtraining and allow for greater deltoid strength/performance when it comes time to train them.