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Cannonball Delts Vol.1
Cannonball Delts Vol.1
If you want to achieve a 3D delts kind of look, appear bigger and more
muscular than you actually are then this short guide is for you.
Shoulders, often referred to as the “caps” of the upper body, hold the power to
transform an ordinary physique into a chiseled work of art. Beyond mere
aesthetics, well-developed deltoids contribute to overall upper body strength,
stability, and functional fitness
● Shoulder anatomy
● The function of the shoulders
● Benefits of shoulder training
● The best shoulder exercises
● Shoulder workout program
ANATOMY OF DELTOID MUSCLE
The deltoids are large triangular-shaped muscles made up of three heads, the
anterior (aka front), middle (aka lateral), and posterior deltoids (aka rear delts).
The delts lie over the shoulder joint, which gives your shoulder muscles that
boulder shoulder look that almost all lifters desire. . To dive more into the
anatomy check out this cool video
● ▶ Delts Anatomy
● ▶ Traps Anatomy
Here are the main movements for the deltoid with the muscles involved:
BENEFITS OF SHOULDER TRAINING
Training your shoulders is crucial for several reasons, encompassing both
aesthetic and functional aspects. Besides the obvious vanity benefits of a
rippling set of 3D shoulders, there are important performance and health
benefits of having strong and muscular shoulders.
#1 IMPROVED POSTURE
Strengthening the shoulders helps improve your posture and helps stop the
dreaded ape-like posture that comes from sitting too much and playing with
your phone.
Just doing a few shoulder circles is not enough. Better to throw in a few low
intensity shoulder exercises which target the shoulder area to prepare the
shoulder joint for action. Although there are lots of moves, here are several
good ones that get the shoulders ready to roll.
This exercise is varied by changing the angle (wide for more shoulder), narrow
(more anterior deltoid and triceps), grip width, and even rotation. All options
are good, but it depends what other exercises you are doing in your workout.
The beauty of all overhead presses is they train all 3 of the deltoids. Yes, even
the rear because the posterior deltoid stabilizes the weight when you’re
overhead.
How to do seated dumbbell shoulder presses:
● Clean the dumbbellS so they are sitting on your shoulders and sit
upright on an incline bench.
● Puff your chest out, brace your core, and find your preferred pressing
angle.
● Then press both dumbbells overhead until your elbows lock out.
● Slowly lower the dumbbells back down to your shoulders and reset and
repeat.
This greater range of motion with a strong contraction of the lateral deltoid
leads to more tension and more gains than the standing or sitting variation.
Performinglateral raises unilaterally helps decrease strength imbalances
between sides too.
How to do sumbbelllateral raises:
WORKOUT #1:
● Dumbbell shoulder press 3 sets, Rep range 6-8, Tempo 2-0-2-1
● Dumbbell lateral raises 3 sets, Rep range 12-15, Tempo 2-0-2-1
● Peck deck rear delt fly, 3 sets, Rep range 12-15, Tempo 2-0-2-1
● Rope front raise, 2 sets, Rep range 10-12, Tempo 2-1-2-1
● Machine lateral raises, 2 sets, Rep range 10-12, Tempo 2-0-1-1
● Dumbbell shrugs, 2 sets, Rep range 10-12, Tempo 2-0-1-1
WORKOUT #2:
● Shoulder machine press 3 sets, Rep range 6-8, Tempo 5-0-2-1
● Cable cross lateral raises 3 sets, Rep range 12-15, Tempo 2-0-2-1
● Rear delt cable fly, 3 sets, Rep range 12-15, Tempo 2-0-2-1
● One arm cable lateral raises, 2 sets, Rep range 10-12, Tempo 2-1-2-1
● T-bar row wide grip row, 2 sets, Rep range 10-12, Tempo 2-0-1-1
● Dumbbell shrugs three variations, 2 sets, Rep range 10-12, Tempo 2-0-1-1
Although it depends on your specific training split and structure, here is how
you can focus on shoulders more in your training regime.
The downside may be that your shoulders could be fatigued from training
other muscle groups, so it would be best to start with shoulders, especially if
they are your weak link and want to focus on them.
#3 TRAIN THEM ONCE SEPARATELY AND MUSCLE-PAIR THEM WITH
OTHER
This training split will be most beneficial for advanced lifters who want to
improve their shoulders. Focus on heavy compound exercises to promote
strength and size gains on separate shoulder day, and spread/pair the
isolation movements through the week with other muscle groups, focusing
on higher volume sets and reps.