You Need to Know to Build Bigger Shoulders

The workouts, exercises and knowledge you need to carve the coveted V-shape

Few men relish shoulder day, but neglect it at your peril. Broadening out up top will slim your waist and carve out that shoulder day,. Also, you'll be pleased to know, if you've never properly tested them, gains will come quicker than anywhere else on your body.

TRAIN YOUR PECS LIKE AN ANIMAL

Train outside like they do on the ''inside'' with Roman Fritz! This chest workout will set your gains free!

I created this Animal chest workout to match the simplicity of the equipment at The Yard, the old-school dumbbells and barbells at Gary Kamil's Fitness City. The workout is harder than hell, and when we shot the video the weather was hotter than hell—112 degrees in the exercise area outside the main gym in Matawan, New Jersey.

When training chest, I never focus on the weight; I envision isolating the contraction of the target muscle. I apply this strict approach to every rep of every set of every exercise I perform during all of my training sessions.

YARD WORK CHEST WORKOUT

I set up my chest routines to alternate or superset between a movement that emphasizes contraction and one that focuses on stretching. The presses, both flat-bench incline, are contraction movements, so I pair them with the dumbbell pullover, a stretching movement to expand the ribcage.

The dips and cable crossovers take aim at the lower pecs. Get a good stretch on the dips and a crazy contraction on the cable crossovers. Think as if you're doing a most-muscular pose, to get those striations at the bottom of the pecs. Dip it 'til you can't go no more!

1

 BARBELL BENCH PRESS

BARBELL BENCH PRESS

At the bottom, stop the movement just above your chest to eliminate all momentum involved in pushing the weight back up. Move the bar by contracting your pecs, with as little involvement of surrounding muscle groups as possible.

2

 DUMBBELL PULL-OVER

DUMBBELL PULL-OVER

Lie crosswise on the bench, with your head hanging over one side and your hips positioned down below bench level on the other side. With your arms extended, lower the dumbbell toward the ground behind your head, taking in a deep breath to ensure maximum expansion of the ribcage. I feel a deep stretching sensation down my whole frontal torso.

From the bottom position, bring the weight back up just above eye level to make sure the tension stays constant on the chest instead of shifting to your triceps.

3

 INCLINE DUMBBELL PRESS

INCLINE DUMBBELL PRESS

The same principles apply here. After a focused, intense contraction, push the dumbbells above your face. Moving the weights together in an arch-type motion toward the top allows for an even greater contraction than the flat barbell press allows.

4

 BODYWEIGHT DIP

BODYWEIGHT DIP

Shorten the range of motion on this move to emphasize the eccentric aspect of the exercise. Lower yourself as deep down between the parallel bars as possible, but then only allow yourself to rise three-quarters of the way up. This keeps constant tension on the pecs and allows you to focus all of your effort and intensity into the target muscle group.

5

 CABLE CROSS-OVER

CABLE CROSS-OVER

Bring the handles together only until they touch. This ensures that the tension remains in the chest instead of switching to the front deltoids.

TWO REST/PAUSE OPTIONS

Before a given exercise, I set a goal for repetitions and sets—such as 5 sets of 12 reps or 10 sets of 10 reps. I must reach those goals no matter what it takes. I intentionally choose a weight that won't allow me to get through all the sets without hitting muscular failure. The rest/pause technique allows me to reach that rep goal.

EXAMPLE

Set 1: 12 reps
Set 2: 12 reps
Set 3: 9 + 3 reps rest/pause
Set 4: 8 + 4 rest/pause
Set 5: 6 + 6 rest/pause

There are two different ways to incorporate the rest/pause principle: You can either rerack—totally let go of—the weight, or you can hold on to the weight in a position that only puts minimal tension on the target muscle group. This choice depends on the exercise and which is more practical.

I use the second option for dumbbell pullovers in the video. As soon as I feel like I can't perform another rep, I hold the dumbbell above my chest and shift the load onto my triceps and front delts. This gives my pecs a little time to recover—no more than 10 seconds—until I can grind out another couple reps. During some very heavy sets, I might have to take several pauses until I reach the target number of reps.

Reracking the weight would not be practical with pullovers. It wouldn't make sense to let go of the dumbbells, get up from the bench, pick the weights back up, move back into position, and start all over again.

ANIMAL YARD WORKOUT

Don't let the simplicity fool you! This is 30 sets of chest! Let the intensity guide you; use rest/pause, breathing, and concentration. Rest 30-45 seconds between supersets.

• Set 1: 12 reps
• Set 2: 12 reps
• Set 3: 9 + 3 reps rest/pause
• Set 4: 8 + 4 rest/pause
• Set 5: 6 + 6 rest/pause

What is the Best Exercise Order: Maximizing the Mind-Muscle Connection

The order of exercises in your workouts is crucial for stimulating muscles to the fullest. You must establish a mind-muscle connection from the onset of your workout and maintain it throughout. Each repetition must be performed with your mind focused on the contraction of the primary muscle being used.

So, when doing a compound movement such as the bench press, your mind must be focused on the contraction of your chest, or more specifically, the sternal head of the pectoralis major. By sensing the muscle working, you will keep most of the emphasis on it. Otherwise, the assisting muscles, such as the anterior deltoids, and the triceps brachii, will become too involved in the movement, therefore reducing stimulation of the pectoralis major.

Compound Exercises First

To achieve a sufficient mind-muscle connection, you must perform exercises in a certain order. When pairing muscle groups, you should train the larger muscles first, followed by the smaller muscles. Before training each major muscle, you must first perform two warm-up sets of the first exercise for that muscle. The exercise must be a compound movement for larger muscles, and an isolation movement for smaller muscles. The purpose of the warm-up is to increase blood flow to the primary muscle and to establish a certain level of focus.

The first warm-up set should be done with lighter weights to allow for 20 repetitions. For the second warm-up set, slightly heavier weights should be used to decrease the reps to 15. Again, your mind must be focused on feeling the target muscle being worked.

Following the two warm-up sets, you can begin performing the working sets of the first compound exercise. By this point, blood should be accumulating in the target muscle. As long as you maintain a mind-muscle connection during each set, themuscle “pump” should increase in the primary muscle that you are targeting.

The reason for starting your workouts with compound exercises, when training larger muscles, is because you will be able to use heavier weights, as a result of more muscles being involved. Lifting heavier weights will result in more muscle fibers being recruited. However, your goal shouldn’t just be lifting the heaviest weight possible. You must use proper form and focus the workload on the primary muscle being used. This is why you must establish a mind-muscle connection from the get-go, or else the assisting muscles will take away the workload from the prime mover.

Transition to Isolation Exercises

As you progress through your workout for the larger muscle, you should shift away from compound exercises, and on to isolation exercises. If you’re pairing the larger muscle with a smaller muscle, then you would perform isolation movements for the smaller muscle once you’ve completed all the movements for the larger muscle. So, for example, say you were training your pectoralis major (larger muscle group) and triceps brachii (smaller muscle group). Once you’ve performed all the pectoralis major compound and isolation exercises, you would then start to perform isolation exercises for your triceps. The reason why you should only do isolation movements at this point is because you want to keep the focus on the smaller muscle. Most compound exercises would shift the workload away 
from the smaller muscle and towards the large muscle.