1. Build Your Traps With Shrugs
Professional athletes from contact sports have many traits in common--and one of them is broad shoulders. American football players lower their shoulders to deliver bone-crushing hits, while hockey players lower their shoulders to punish opponents with brain-rattling checks. The key upper-body muscle for contact is the traps. You don't have to be a professional athlete, though, to intimidate with developed, flared traps; you just have build your traps with shrugs.
Shrugs must be performed with perfect form in order to avoid injury and ensure effective repetitions. Start with your feet shoulder-width apart and your knees slightly bent. Hold dumbbells at your sides and keep them straight ahead, not slanted or tilted. Maintain perfect posture, and be sure to keep your head facing straight and the traps even with your ears. Pull the weight straight up as if you are attempting to touch your ears with your shoulders. Do not tilt the head up or down as this movement will quickly recruit secondary muscles and put the neck and shoulder at a greater risk of injury. When you have developed a general physical preparedness, use a heavy weight with a repetition range under 12. The upper traps are quick-twitch muscles, so they respond well to heavy weights.
2. Use Overhead Presses to Work Deltoids
While the traps provide an intimidating physique, a well-developed deltoid muscle gives definition between the shoulders and arms as well as the appearance of extra width. The deltoid muscle wraps around the shoulder joint and has heads in the front, side and rear of the body. Front, side and rear arm raises are popular exercises that can help muscular definition but will not provide size. Overhead presses, though, will grow the deltoid muscle.
Perform overhead presses standing instead of sitting because while standing, the stress is dispersed evenly throughout the joints. Use dumbbells, which prohibit dangerous behind-the-neck pressing, because a barbell inhibits proper posture. Hold the dumbbells in line with your ears and press the weight straight up and down. The weight of the dumbbells is not an issue as the deltoids respond well with high and low repetition ranges.
3. Prevent Should Injuries With "Prehab" Exercises
It's impossible to get broad shoulders if you have an injury. "Prehab" exercises teach exercise enthusiasts to worry about injuries before they occur, rather than waiting until it is too late. Stretch the shoulders daily, and work on stability and joint strength on off days or after workouts. Hold a push-up position with your hands on a Swiss ball to increase joint stabilization. Hold very light dumbbells and lift the arms in multiple directions and perform arm raises to the front, side and overhead. Another popular way to do "prehab" is to move the arms in the likeness of letters of the alphabet. Shoot for repetitions between 25 and 50. Arm raises will make the tendons and ligaments stronger, keeping the shoulders healthy.
Professional athletes from contact sports have many traits in common--and one of them is broad shoulders. American football players lower their shoulders to deliver bone-crushing hits, while hockey players lower their shoulders to punish opponents with brain-rattling checks. The key upper-body muscle for contact is the traps. You don't have to be a professional athlete, though, to intimidate with developed, flared traps; you just have build your traps with shrugs.
Shrugs must be performed with perfect form in order to avoid injury and ensure effective repetitions. Start with your feet shoulder-width apart and your knees slightly bent. Hold dumbbells at your sides and keep them straight ahead, not slanted or tilted. Maintain perfect posture, and be sure to keep your head facing straight and the traps even with your ears. Pull the weight straight up as if you are attempting to touch your ears with your shoulders. Do not tilt the head up or down as this movement will quickly recruit secondary muscles and put the neck and shoulder at a greater risk of injury. When you have developed a general physical preparedness, use a heavy weight with a repetition range under 12. The upper traps are quick-twitch muscles, so they respond well to heavy weights.
2. Use Overhead Presses to Work Deltoids
While the traps provide an intimidating physique, a well-developed deltoid muscle gives definition between the shoulders and arms as well as the appearance of extra width. The deltoid muscle wraps around the shoulder joint and has heads in the front, side and rear of the body. Front, side and rear arm raises are popular exercises that can help muscular definition but will not provide size. Overhead presses, though, will grow the deltoid muscle.
Perform overhead presses standing instead of sitting because while standing, the stress is dispersed evenly throughout the joints. Use dumbbells, which prohibit dangerous behind-the-neck pressing, because a barbell inhibits proper posture. Hold the dumbbells in line with your ears and press the weight straight up and down. The weight of the dumbbells is not an issue as the deltoids respond well with high and low repetition ranges.
3. Prevent Should Injuries With "Prehab" Exercises
It's impossible to get broad shoulders if you have an injury. "Prehab" exercises teach exercise enthusiasts to worry about injuries before they occur, rather than waiting until it is too late. Stretch the shoulders daily, and work on stability and joint strength on off days or after workouts. Hold a push-up position with your hands on a Swiss ball to increase joint stabilization. Hold very light dumbbells and lift the arms in multiple directions and perform arm raises to the front, side and overhead. Another popular way to do "prehab" is to move the arms in the likeness of letters of the alphabet. Shoot for repetitions between 25 and 50. Arm raises will make the tendons and ligaments stronger, keeping the shoulders healthy.
