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THE ULTIMATE DELT PROGRAM

Wri‫﬙‬en by Ron Harris 21 May 2019

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The Ultimate Delt Program

 

The Unsung Hero of Physiques

When people rave about specific body parts, the two most common subjects are the arms and
quads. The arms have always been the showpiece muscle that trainers of all levels are asked to
flex and gladly oblige, and huge legs have taken on an almost mythic significance in recent
decades. Plenty of folks appreciate thick pecs and the elusive rugged back. Oddly enough, the
shoulders don’t seem to get anywhere near the glory of those other muscle groups. But make no
mistake. You will never have an exceptional physique without wide, round, full deltoids with all
three heads developed to the max. And if your delts are lagging, your physique will never have
that look of overall impressive mass and power, and it sure won’t have a great V-taper. You need
width in both the upper back and the shoulders to complete that coveted look. Your delts
probably aren’t as good as they could be. I say that not to be judgmental or cruel— it’s just a fact.
There are some things you need to know, and some techniques you should be implementing, that
will help your shoulders reach their full potential. Let’s get to it.
 

All Three Heads Matter Equally

One fundamental fact you must take to heart is that all three heads of the deltoids— anterior,
medial and posterior— must be given equal time and attention. Much of the time, trainers focus
most on overhead presses. Presses are absolutely essential and form a foundation for overall
mass. Guys also tend to enjoy them because they allow for the use of the most weight. Who
doesn’t like to hoist up the big dumbbells or a bar or machine loaded up with 45s? But overhead
presses work mainly the front delts, with some stimulation going to the medial heads. The rear
delts don’t get any work at all. The typical shoulder routine of the average gym rat is a bunch of
sets of presses, a few rounds of lateral raises and a wee bit of rear delt work, if any. Since
everyone and their cousin loves to do heavy presses for the chest, this usually leads to shoulders
that carry most of their development in the front, with some development in the sides— and a
void where the rear delts should be, as if some flesh-eating bacteria consumed them. If any of
this is hitting close to home, don’t worry. You’re in good company, and the good news is that this
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is a situation you can fix with some strategy and hard work. The goal should be “3-D delts” that
are round and full from all angles. That’s what we are going to strive for.

Form Matters – A Lot

In any discussion about improving a lagging area, we must take a moment to remind ourselves
how essential proper form is. John Meadows made an excellent point recently in MD when he
noted that factors like working the muscle group in question more often, or even with the best
possible workout routine for it, would fail to produce results if the form was poor. When your
form is sketchy, the target muscle isn’t being activated properly. He used chest as an example,
as poor technique in presses will often work more front delts and triceps than the pecs. So it is
with the shoulders. Any type of lateral raise to the side or rear can easily be dominated by the
traps and/or other muscles of the upper back, such as the rhomboids, teres major and teres
minor. Ballistic form on overhead presses can work more of your nervous system and connective
tissues than your actual deltoids. Maybe you have seen Olympic lifters who are able to pick up a
heavy barbell and snap it to an overhead press position in the blink of an eye. They are all very
athletically built, but you will notice that most are not as heavily muscled as bodybuilders. This is
because they train explosively, and the muscles aren’t under tension long enough to stimulate a
growth response. This is not to say that you should be doing your reps in slow motion, but you
do need to do them at a speed where you are able to control the movement and most
importantly, feel the target muscles contracting.
 

Direct Front Delt Work – Not Needed

There will be no direct front delt work in this program, for the simple reason that I have never
seen weak front delts except in the case of guys who have absolutely no shoulder development
at all. If you do any pressing at all for the chest and shoulders, you will get all the anterior delt
work you need. Trust me on this.
 

Constructing the Ideal Shoulder Routine

Putting together the ideal shoulder routine is based on where most trainers go wrong. Firstly, the
rear delts are almost always given short shrift, undertrained and practically ignored. This is why
so few guys have decent development back there. So we always start with rear delts. Doing so
will not take away from the rest of the workout. If anything, it will help serve as a nice general
warm-up for the movements that follow. And by training the posterior delts when you are fresh, Sponsored
they will finally have the chance to grow to their full potential. After rear delts, we will move on to
a free-weight pressing movement. Though we will also be doing a machine press at the very end,
it always makes sense to do the barbell or dumbbell overhead press earlier on in the workout. As
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any workout goes on, your energy will ebb, and your balance and coordination begin to
deteriorate. Following the free-weight press, we do two different exercises for the medial delts.
And finally, we wrap it all up with a machine press to finish the workout with a killer overall
deltoid pump.
 

The Side Delt ‘Bonus’ Workout

Sometimes, hitting a lagging muscle group twice a week is an effective way to help it grow. With
shoulders, performing two full shoulder workouts a week would lead to overtraining in most
people. You have to keep in mind that the front delts take a real beating on chest day, and the
rear delts work hard on just about every back exercise. But that doesn’t mean you can’t give the People Thrilled With This Ultra-Fast WiFi
side delts some extra attention. A few years ago, Victor Martinez told me how he used to do Boost Device In Algeria
lateral raises after his chest workouts for just that reason. It makes a lot of sense. It’s those side Promoted by dailylifetech.com
heads that give you the round, “capped” look to the shoulders, so working them again on another
Recommended by
day either before or after training a different body part can help you add more mass and fullness
to them. When you choose to perform this “bonus” side deltoid routine is up to you, but you
should make sure it’s at least 48 hours before or after your full shoulder workout. Otherwise, they
will never have the chance to completely recover and grow.
 

The Workouts
There will be a total of four workouts to follow. You will alternate two different full shoulder
routines from one workout to the next, and do the same with two different side delt “bonus”
routines. You should strive to gradually increase the weights you use as the weeks go by, but
never at the expense of form and even more importantly, feeling in the muscle. Presses are a
compound movement that you won’t necessarily feel in quite the same way as the other
exercises, but in all other movements you should focus on quality contractions and getting a
nice, tight pump. Warm-ups are not shown, but always take the time to warm up as much as you
need to. This is especially critical with your free-weight presses. Never launch into working
weights on those without preceding them with at least two to three lighter sets.
 

Full Shoulder Routine A

Bent Dumbbell Lateral Raises             4 x 12
Rope Face Pulls                                  4 x 12
Seated Dumbbell Presses                   4 x 12, 10, 8, 8
Dumbbell Lateral Raises                     4 x 12
Wide-grip Barbell Upright Rows          4 x 12
Smith Machine Presses                       4 x 12
 

Full Shoulder Routine B

Machine Rear Lateral Raises                4 x 12
One-arm Cable Rear Lateral Raises     4 x 12, each arm

Barbell Military Presses                         4 x 12, 10, 8, 8

Machine Lateral Raises                         4 x 12
Dumbbell Upright Rows                         4 x 12
Machine Presses                                   4 x 12                         
 

Side Delt ‘Bonus’ Routine A

One-arm Cable Lateral Raises               4 x 12, each arm
Seated Dumbbell Lateral Raises            7 x 10-12*
*FST-7 style, same weight and only 30 seconds between sets.
 

Side Delt ‘Bonus’ Routine B

Up and Down the Rack Laterals*       2 rounds
 *Start with a pair of light dumbbells, doing 10-12 reps, and move up the rack without resting until
you reach a weight you can only do for six to eight reps. Immediately reverse direction and grab
lighter dumbbells, continuing until the pump is too much to bear and even light dumbbells are
impossible to budge. The progression might look like this:
15 x 12
20 x 12
25 x 12
30 x 10
35 x 10
40 x 8
35 x 8
30 x 8
25 x 10
20 x 10
15 x 8
Rest three minutes, and do it all over again.
 

Fascial Stretching  
Fascia is a tough connective tissue that encases the skeletal muscles, not unlike steel belting on
radial automobile tires. In fact, on the molecular level, fascia is actually stronger than steel! It
was Ohio’s John Parrillo who originally proposed over 30 years ago that fascia could serve to
restrict muscle growth. To counter this limitation, he prescribed aggressive fascial stretches for
each muscle group. Dante Trudel continued and expanded on this concept in his DC Training
system. The scientific community has been debating the topic for years as well, with the main
argument being whether it is the actual fascia itself that can be “stretched,” or rather fascial
adhesions. Therapies such as Rolfing, myofascial release and even deep-tissue massage all
supposedly contribute toward this effect as well. For our purposes, every one of these workouts
should end with a shoulder stretch of 60 to 90 seconds. The easiest way to do this is to set a
Smith machine bar at about hip level and face away from the bar. Grab the bar behind you with a
shoulder-width, underhand grip, and then lean forward until you are on your knees and feel the
deltoids stretching. Try to hold that stretch for 60 seconds. You may only get 30 or so the first
couple of times you try it, but over time you’ll be able to hold it longer. Does this contribute to
better growth in the delts? Anecdotal evidence from many bodybuilders over decades says it
does, so it’s certainly worth a couple of extra minutes of your time.
 

Build Bigger Delts, Now!

Thicker, wider, rounder delts will make anyone’s physique appear more impressive. Follow these
workouts as they are listed, and you will definitely see improvement in as soon as a few weeks’
time. After four to six months, you should notice a very real difference— and so will everyone
else!
 

Form Pointers
All Overhead Presses:
Proper range of motion is to lower the bar, dumbbells or machine movement arms until your
upper arms are parallel to the ground. Some insist on lowering until dumbbells touch their
shoulders or the bar hits their clavicles. This is actually too far, and will overstretch your shoulder
joints.
 

Dumbbell Lateral Raises:

Keep your hands slightly higher than your elbows as you bring the weights up. For some, the
“pouring water out” motion at the top of the rep enhances the muscle contraction; for others, it
does nothing. Experiment with light dumbbells to find the right form for you that allows you to
feel the side delts contracting maximally.
 

Upright Rows:
The correct form for upright rows isn’t a straight upward pull, but rather an arcing motion of
pulling up and back. Think about pulling the bar or dumbbells over your shoulders. Obviously
that’s not possible, but it will put you in the proper plane of motion.
 

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