6 Strategies To Bring Up Your Middle DeltsBill Geiger

May 07, 2015

Become a human shield with these 6 strategies to make your middle delts grow!

Emphasizing your middle delts over the short term can widen your V-taper and give you the illusion of a smallerwaist. You may also choose to focus on your middle delts if they're lagging compared to the fronts and rears. Ifyou're looking to build more breadth east to west, here are six strategies to enhance your middles.

1 TRAIN DELTS TWICE OVER THE COURSE OF YOUR TRAINING SPLIT

One easy strategy is to simply train your delts twice over the course of your split. The extra work, done for 6-8weeks, can help stimulate greater growth.

The problem here is constructing your split so the delts aren't getting overworked. In a worst-case scenarioyou'd be doing chest on Mondays, delts on Tuesdays, and triceps on Wednesdays (many multijoint tricepsexercises like dips and close-grip bench presses also recruit the front delts). Even back training, with itsemphasis on rows, works the rear delts.

Instead, insert lower-body or rest days between upper-body workouts if you have a split that runs at least fivedays. For example:

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AVOIDING SHOULDERINJURYThe shoulders are prone to

Monday: Chest and shoulders

Tuesday: Legs

Wednesday: Back and biceps

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Shoulders and triceps

Saturday: Rest

Constructing your split is a bit trickier, but you want to build in at least 48 hours of recovery before hitting atarget muscle again, to give it time to grow.

Since you're doing two shoulder workouts each week, consider doing one regular shoulder workout and oneabbreviated workout that consists primarily of middle-delt exercises. A workout that includes overhead dumbbellpresses, leaning lateral raises, and the lateral-raise machine fits that bill nicely.

EVEN BACK TRAINING, WITH ITS EMPHASIS ON ROWS, WORKS THE REAR DELTS.

2 PICK THE RIGHT SHOULDER PRESS

Well-conceived mass-building shoulder workouts typically begin withmultijoint movements for a good reason: You're able to lift more weightearly in your workout when your strength levels are highest. That

overuse in bodybuilding, andaccount for some of the mostcommon injuries amongweightlifters. Keep these tips inmind to maintain the health ofyour shoulders:

Always warm up sufficiently.Don't train delts on back-to-backdays.Avoid movements that cause pain.Strengthen the rotators with post-workout rotator-cuff exercises.Limit twice-weekly delt workouts tosix weeks.

makes the family of overhead presses your starting point.

While the middle delts are heavily recruited during overhead-pressingwork, not all shoulder presses work the middle delts equally. Watchyour elbow position relative to your torso. When you press overheadwith dumbbells, your upper arms go straight out to your sides; that'syour cue that the middle delt is positioned to undergo maximalcontraction.

But when you do Arnold presses or barbell presses with the bar in frontof your head, your elbows pull forward—they're no longer directly out toyour sides. That slight shift recruits the front delts and relieves some ofthe tension from the middle delts.

While Arnold presses are still great shoulder movements, dumbbell andbarbell presses in which you take the bar behind your head will bettertarget the middle delts. Any machine press in which your upper arms travel directly out to your sides will also hitthe middle delts more effectively.

Besides zeroing in on the right move, you'll also want to pick a challenging weight. Early in your workout whenyou're fresh is the best time to challenge yourself; moderately heavy weights for sets of 6-8-reps are ideal. Overthe course of your delt workout you can use relatively lighter weights for higher reps, but you'll want thatstrength stimulus early, which means starting heavy.

BESIDES ZEROING IN ON THE RIGHT MOVE, YOU'LL ALSO WANT TO PICK A CHALLENGING WEIGHT.

3 DO A MIDDLE-DELT ISOLATION MOVE NEXT

If you've been following a shoulder routine in which you do a single-joint movement for each of the three deltheads after your presses, you're right on the money. But if you want to emphasize a particular portion—in thiscase the middle delt head—do it first, before your energy levels trail off. After your multijoint pressing move, goright into a single-joint exercise for the middle delts before hitting the fronts and rears.

There are a number of lateral-raise movements to choose from, and each has its particular advantages. Ingeneral, a standing movement like a dumbbell lateral raise will enable you to use a bit more body English—helpful to get past a sticking point—and you'll be able to go a bit heavier. Watch for your upper arm goingstraight out to your side and up; that's what makes the middle delt undergo the greatest contraction.

When choosing a weight, don't go so heavy that you lose form, which is incredibly common with dumbbell orcable lateral raises. Also, going heavy isn't optimal for middle-delt growth—that applies mainly to multijoint

movements. With single-joint exercises in which your arm is locked in a slightly bent position throughout therange of motion, extra weight means extra pressure on the elbow joint. Choose a weight in which you can do atleast 8 reps with good form.

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4 DO A SECOND MIDDLE-DELT MOVEMENT

While a typical shoulder workout consists of just one single-joint movement for each of the three delt heads,there's no reason you can't do another for the middle delt head. While the movement itself doesn't changemuch, you'll want to make it just a bit different so you're simply not repeating the first move.

To that end, leaning lateral raises allow for a slightly longer range of motion, cable lateral raises allow you toslightly change the angle of pull when you bring your arm out and slightly forward, and single-arm raises allowyou to use slightly more focus on each side. You can even do multijoint upright rows, which also engage themiddle delts.

YOU CAN EVEN DO MULTIJOINT UPRIGHT ROWS, WHICH ALSO ENGAGE THE MIDDLE DELTS.

But don't stop there. Besides changing the exercise angle, vary the relative intensity as well. So if you do the firstmiddle-delt movement for sets of 8-10 reps, do the second for sets of 10-12 reps. This relatively lighter weight hitsthe muscle fibers in a slightly different way, resulting in greater overall growth.

5 DON'T STOP AT FAILURE

One of the best ways to beat down those middle-delt muscle fibers is to take multiple sets (but not every one)past muscle failure with advanced training techniques. One of the easiest methods to employ with a single-jointmove is a dropset: Once you reach failure, quickly reduce the weight by about 25 percent and immediatelycontinue on with the set to a second point of muscle failure.

It's difficult to complete forced reps with lateral-raise movements, but it can be done on the machine version.You may also try the rest-pause technique, introducing 15-second rest periods intra-set and linking 4-5 worksegments.

Save any high-rep "pump" sets until the tail end, when you can really add fuel to the fire. Finish off your deltthrash with a middle-delt exercise combined with an intensity-boosting technique such as dropsets. Keep restperiods short; you've got nothing to save any strength for!

6

TRY UNCONVENTIONAL MIDDLE-DELT MOVESThe problem with always doing your favorite middle-delt exercise is that you've done it so many times, themuscle has already undergone adaptation. It's important to constantly change some aspect of the stimulus.Introduce some novel angles that are just different enough to encourage a new stimulus for better overallgrowth.

Seated dumbbell lateral raises are a lot harder than the standing version, because they isolate the muscle better—it's much harder to cheat! You can also try cable lateral raises with the cable running behind your back, whichmeans you'll pull out and back a bit more than if it were in front, which entails more of an out and forward armmovement. And single-arm versions are a great change of pace that allow you to focus on each side individually.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bill Geiger

Bill GeigerBill Geiger, MA, has served as a senior content editor for Bodybuilding.com and groupeditorial director with MuscleMag and Reps magazines.

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11 COMMENTS11 COMMENTS

Please keep comments posit ive and constructive.Please keep comments posit ive and constructive.Help the community by reporting inappropriate comments. Inappropriate comments may be reported and/or removed.

CommentsComments

YOGUIYOGUI (Rodrigo Montefusco)Not sure in the safety of point 2 and 3...being the shoulders so critical in everything else, I would expectsome warning in trying first if the shoulders of each one allows some of these movements.Aaaanyways...great article.

August 11th, 2015 • Delete • Reply

darthmommydarthmommycan someone tell me the name of the woman pictured in Step 2 of this article

June 16th, 2015 • Delete • Reply

Ironbabe18Ironbabe18 (Ying chun Li)Great ! I do want to try all these tips ! Thanks a lot!

May 12th, 2015 • Delete • Reply

emilyskoppemilyskopp (Emily Kopp)Tip number 7. Pick a superior gene pool. Honestly, you can't develop a muscle that you don't already

POST COMMENT

have.

May 11th, 2015 • Delete • Reply

jellotripjellotripPretty sure every person has middle delts.

August 11th, 2015 • Delete

jazzkittyjazzkitty (Raine)Everyone has delts and therefore everyone has a posterior, medial and anterior head to thismuscle. Some people build muscle more easily than others and that part is genetic.

November 30th, 2016 • Delete

kingadenkingaden (Raynor Whitcombe)Awesome article! I'm definitely taking all this information and incorporating it in my next shouldersession. Can't wait to feel the fibers burn! Thanks :)

May 7th, 2015 • Delete • Reply

leenmachineXleenmachineX (Leen)Thanks for the tips!! Bigger stronger shoulders are a major goal. Psyched for next shoulder workout.

May 7th, 2015 • Delete • Reply

GenevieveDSGenevieveDS (Genevieve (IG: genuinelygenevieve))Great article! Can't wait for my next shoulder workout;)

May 7th, 2015 • Delete • Reply

mrsJNOmrsJNO (Jennifer N.)Nice! Shoulders are a challenge for me so these tips are great! Can't wait to try them next time I trainshoulders. Thanks!

May 7th, 2015 • Delete • Reply

CFA4CFA4Good article but please elaborate on "post-workout rotator-cuff exercises"

May 7th, 2015 • Delete • Reply

TrojanMuscle1TrojanMuscle1 (Bill)That's on my to-do list, but minimally some internal rotation and external rotation movesusing CABLES (not a dumbbell unless you're lying down) and VERY VERY VERY VERY lightweights. (You got the very part right? LOL. Seriously super light.)

May 7th, 2015 • Delete

CFA4CFA4Looking forward to it. I tore my labrum years ago so I always hold back when liftingshoulders.

May 8th, 2015 • Delete

KathleenTesoriKathleenTesori (Kathleen)Great article. I will be sharing this because so many girls are always asking about how to build up theshoulders!

May 6th, 2015 • Delete • Reply

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