Tips on building massive shoulders. Also, learn the importance of probiotics and the power of super-green foods.
Q: I want bigger shoulders. I train them one day a week with my chest, triceps and biceps. I do seated military barbell presses, seated dumbbell lateral raises and rear-delt dumbbell flyes, but I just can’t get my delts to grow. Any suggestions?
A: There can be a few reasons you’re not getting the most out of your shoulder training. While your routine sounds solid, sometimes just lifting weights isn’t enough. I’d suggest instinctive training.
What do I mean by “instinctive” training? It means understanding exactly what you are feeling when you train, developing a complete mind-muscle connection, which stimulates growth while initiating a great muscle pump with each workout. Using instinctive training when you lift is extremely important when trying to bring up delts or any other lagging body part.
Unfortunately, there is not a large selection of deltoid exercises, but there are many different ways to switch up your program. For instance, try training your delts on their own day to prioritize and hit the three delt heads from every angle with maximum intensity.
Another thing to do is to apply different techniques to each delt workout, using principles like drop sets, supersets, pyramid sets or even negative reps. Also, free weights aren’t your only option in gaining thicker shoulder development. Use a variety of selectorized machines and cable movements from time to time in your program.
Variety can be key in goading muscle growth, especially in smaller body parts like the delts. And because delts are smaller muscle units, they normally need a bit more volume training to stimulate a good pump to grow. Look above to see one of many great training routines for developing impressive shoulders.
Week 1
(incorporate drop sets or pyramid sets or a mix of both)
Machine press ›› 3 sets
Dumbbell front raise (two hands) ›› 3 sets
Single-arm side cable flye ›› 3 sets
Machine-seated rear-delt flye ›› 3 sets
Week 2
(incorporate pyramid sets and giant sets)
Machine side delt flye ›› 3 sets
Giant sets (3) with ››
Side lateral dumbbell flye
Cable front-delt raise (high cable)
Lying rear-delt flye
Week 3
(incorporate straight sets with some negatives)
Smith-machine press ›› 3 sets
Single-dumbbell side lateral raise ›› 3 sets
Low-cable front lateral raise ›› 3 sets
Seated dumbbell rear-delt flye ›› 4 sets
Q: I’m 21 and want to gain mass. I’m eating steak, chicken, eggs, tuna, shakes, pasta, rice and cereal. I seem to be making some gains, but I’m also starting to gain some fat. I eat about 2 g of protein per pound of body weight. I don’t have room for fruits or vegetables and I really don’t like eating them, either.
A: For muscle building, I think it’s essential that you ingest an average of 1–1.5 g of protein per pound of lean body weight daily.
So, how do you find which end of the 1–1.5 g of protein-per-pound range you need?
First of all, determine your body type. If you’re an ectomorph (skinny hardgainer), you would take the full amount of 1.5 g. A mesomorph (naturally muscular) would ingest about 1.25 g. An endomorph (large, holding excessive body fat) is better off with around 1 g.
To find your most accurate protein numbers per meal, calculate your lean body weight by subtracting the pounds represented by your current percentage of body fat. For example, if you’re an ectomorph who weighs 200 lb with 10% body fat, the formula you’d use is: 200 lb – 10% (20 lb) = 180 lb. Then multiply 180 by 1.5 g of protein = 270 g per day. Divided into six meals (which is the amount you should try to eat each day), the average protein per feeding would be 45 g.
I also suggest you follow a similar calculation for carbs and fats. Most hardgainers take in an average of 1.5–3.5 g of carbs per pound of lean body weight and keep their fat intake at about 20% of their diet. But finding the right number of carbs needed for energy and gains is tricky, as you have to see how your results pan out week by week. I believe both your protein and carbs may be too high.
Many bodybuilders say, “It’s not how much you eat, but what your body actually utilizes that really counts.” This is where digestive enzymes like Aminogen, Carbogen, pepsin, papain and papaya, to name a few, help you to break down your food and shuttle those nutrients into your cells to create cleaner, pure muscle energy.
Aminogen, specifically, is a great digestive enzyme that can be found in many protein products. This patented protein digestive enzyme has extensive clinical data demonstrating how it helps the body break down food protein, improving the absorption of amino acids and enhancing nitrogen retention. Studies show Aminogen increases free-amino-acid levels by 100%, branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) by 250% and nitrogen by 32%. This is how it helps build more muscle, improve recovery and ensure that you’re utilizing all that great protein.
As for fruits and veggies, these are essential to your overall good health and healing. Eating green foods is vital for optimum muscle growth. It can be difficult for many of us to fit in five or six servings of green veggies and fruits a day due to the large quantities of high-protein foods and low-glycemic carbs we need to eat.
Many of these green foods are commonly termed “superfoods” due to their explosive content of phytonutrients, consisting of micro-algae, cereal grasses, land plants, fruits, vegetables and seaweed. A couple of servings a day provides you with many key vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids, carotenoids, antioxidants, essential fatty acids and phytonutrients you need to help support and control your metabolism for weight loss and muscle gain. They support digestion of high proteins and carbs, while purifying your blood, cleaning the colon and detoxifying the liver, working as a full-body antioxidant.
Eating whole-food sources of greens is great, but it’s rarely enough to give you sufficient nutrients. Supercharge your diet by adding concentrated green-food supplements on a regular basis. When you take them over time, you’ll begin to feel and see them working.
Q: I’m getting ready for a women’s figure show. My diet is 40% protein, 40% carbs and 20% fat. Should I include carbs with my post-workout protein drink?
A: You are following one of the most ideal nutritional ratios for precontest prep. Too many competitors go to extremes and radically limit carbs and/or fats, which actually inhibits muscle development. Some carbs and good fats are needed to support fat burning and lean muscle energy.
Having post-workout carbs is probably your most important carb intake of the day. Good carbs ingested immediately after an intense workout keeps your metabolism in high gear for a few extra hours. That supports additional fat and calorie burning, while replenishing key muscle-building nutrients.
David Hawk, a former Mr. USA and Mr. World, is a consultant, personal trainer and adviser to NFL, NHL, WWE and NASCAR athletes.
