Front Barbell Raises for Anterior Delts
Thus far we have hit the heavy duty work of “Shoulder Presses” that stresses the entire shoulder girdle with each rep. Next we attacked the “Posterior Delts with High Rope Cable Pulls” which as stated works the Posterior Delts. I try to do these in between sets of heavy Shoulder Presses so I do not let my shoulders rest much between sets. Most recently I described the use of “High Cable Crossovers” which attacks the lateral/medial portion of the shoulders. We now turn our attention to more lateral shoulder work and to the Anterior Portion of the shoulders.
In the video above we use a barbell held at thigh height to the front. We keep our arms as straight as possible and elevate the bar to slightly above shoulder level. I usually do from 8-12 reps and I do a total of 6 sets of this exercise. This exercise focuses exclusively on the Anterior Delts and they must be included in our regimen to build big shoulders.
I love doing these isolation exercises after doing heavy shoulder presses to exhaustion. I refer to these movements as finishing work on my shoulders. They help take the shoulder closer to exhaustion. They also bring out the deep striations in the shoulders. These are hard but very necessary so do not neglect to do them.
Lateral Dumbbell Raises
These babies are my favorites to hit my lateral shoulders. They have the net result of piling on width to my shoulders. Again, I include this exercise as finishing movements for my shoulders. When your shoulders are screaming from training this is the best exercise to take them to exhaustion. I guarantee that when you combine this lateral shoulder raise regimen to the already existing regimen you will see remarkable change to your shoulders as I have.
A Lesson I Learned
When I first started training I stuck pretty much to just shoulder presses straight up and down and on an incline. I couldn’t help but get bigger but I lacked the ultimate size and definition in my shoulders that so many of my competitors had. My coach, Justin Dees emphasizes that you train hard but that you quit when exhaustion has been reached to avoid injury. I worked so hard the wrong way that by the time I got Justin as a Coach I was literally injured. My tendons in my shoulders, upper arms, elbows, and wrists were, quite literally on fire all the time. One of my first lectures from Justin was that I was over training. The pain in my shoulders and arms was a direct result of doing too many sets and reps. He told me, “The other side of exhaustion is—–Injury!” I suddenly began to listen. I adopted Justin’s philosophy of “stopping” when I have done all that I can do. As a result, I have had very few injuries in the last 5 years. All because I listened to my Coach and my body.
In closing, please note that these exercises for the shoulder should be used only on Monday which is Shoulder Day. Do not try to do more than you can or more often than you ought. Each of these leads to injury and debilitation. Train hard but be smart about it.
Until Next time, I remain, Douglas E. Graham, Lt Col, USAF, (ret), MHSM
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Six Pack and Senior 