Building Massive Delts | Justin Compton Shoulders His Way to the Arnold Classic
Building Massive Delts
Justin Compton Aims to Shoulder His Way to Top Spot at the Arnold Classic
This Kid Is the Future of our Sport!
Kevin Levrone said it in the “How I See It” column on the October 2015 issue of MD, and I am going to officially agree with his prediction here: Justin Compton will be the man who breaks Phil Heath’s winning streak and will prevent him from tying the joint record of eight Mr. Olympia wins held presently by Lee Haney and Ronnie Coleman. It’s not that Justin is a better bodybuilder than Phil Heath. He isn’t. But he will be. Phil is maxed-out for his frame and will only be able to improve marginally from here on in. Meanwhile, Justin is eight years younger and still showing no signs of being anywhere near done growing. As a teenager in 2008, he was competing as a 198-pound light heavyweight. Just three years later, he was a 225-pound national-level heavyweight. The gains just kept coming, 234 for his pro debut in 2013, 244 for his first pro win in 2014 and around 254 for his first Arnold Classic (he placed third) in January 2015, all at 5’8”. He reminds me, and more than a few others who were around to witness the rise of Jay Cutler, of that four-time Mr. Olympia champion— except that Justin actually has a smaller midsection and hips, and better overall shape. As he methodically improves on his areas that need it, Justin becomes an ever-growing threat to the entire A-list of the IFBB, including Heath. Here’s a review of his delt training as he prepares for the 2016 Arnold Classic on March 5th.
Shoulders Do Make the Man
One of the strong points on Justin’s physique, one of his biggest advantages over his fellow competitors, is his powerful shoulder development. Firstly, his delts are built on top of wide clavicles, a factor of his genetic bone structure that makes his shoulders appear even more impressive than they would on a narrower frame such as Heath’s. Second, he has already built his deltoids up to a level of thickness and mass that puts them in the elite category of development seen only in a few other men in the upper echelons of the IFBB, namely Heath, Wolf, Big Ramy, Roelly Winklaar, Evan Centopani and Juan Morel. Shoulders like Justin’s are a distinct advantage for anyone aiming to be recognized as the best bodybuilder in the world— which I do believe he will be one day in the not so distant future.
Preliminary Construction
Looking at someone with such superhuman development as Justin, it’s easy to forget that he didn’t always look this way. Certainly he had the right genetics to respond to training with far superior results than most of us mere mortals, but there was still a starting point even for him. I asked him about what his early shoulder training was like. Like most, his was nothing overly complicated. “Early in my bodybuilding journey, I never really focused on advanced angles and techniques,” he told me. “I stuck to the very basics in a specific order each workout. I would do barbell military presses, followed by dumbbell side laterals and then bent-over rear laterals. That was the gist of my shoulder workout.”
Most of the time, hard work on the basics is the very best way to lay a muscular foundation. It certainly was in the case of Justin and his delts. “They grew proportionally with my body at that time.” Compton does concede that his genetic proclivity for big shoulders was apparent fairly soon. “My shoulders are very dominant, so they grew well under these circumstances, but for the average person I wouldn’t consider this optimal,” he notes. “Even for beginners and intermediates, it makes sense to switch up the exercises you do and the order you do them from time to time, such as doing dumbbell instead of barbell presses, or working rear delts first at times.”
Revisions and Recommendations
Justin’s shoulder training has undergone major changes since those early days. For the first few years, his only goal was to pack on sheer mass. Now, his approach is more methodical. “At this point in my career, I try to focus on details such as making the rear and side delts as good as possible,” he explains. “I typically do much more volume for those two areas, rather than the front delt head.” And his exercise order now reflects this prioritization principle. “I also start my workouts with rear and side delts, because my front delts are my stronger point. I save them for last since they don’t need as much improvement. You hardly ever see weak front delts, but you do see a lot of side delts that could be bigger and rounder, and weak rear delts are unfortunately more common than not.”
A final piece of advice applies to the tools you choose. The standard dogma preached in our sport is that free weights are the best choice for making gains, and everything else is inferior. Compton disagrees. “I like to incorporate barbells, the Smith machine, dumbbells, Hammer Strength machines and cables into my shoulder workouts. They all have their advantages and disadvantages, and you would be missing out if you didn’t make use of all of them at various times.” With that in mind, here are six shoulder exercises Justin has his own unique take on.
1) Dumbbell Rear Lateral Raises
If you had to pinpoint the one area of priority that’s shifted the most in Justin’s shoulder training over the years, it would have to be the focus given to his rear delts. To his credit, he was at least training them from day one, which is more than many bodybuilders can say. But still, his awareness of that aspect of the deltoids definitely grew over time. “When I was young, I focused on overall mass, which was why I emphasized shoulder presses,” he states. “However, this totally neglects the rear delt. As I started competing nationally, I knew I needed my work on that area, so I increased my volume and typically started my shoulder workouts with bent laterals.” To maintain stricter form and ensure isolation of the posterior delts, Compton prefers to do them facedown on an incline bench. You will also note that he has adjusted his grip to have his thumbs face each other at the start of each rep. “If you look in the mirror at how your delt moves with your thumbs facing each other versus the palms facing, you will see that with palms facing it engages the side delt a lot more,” he explains. “Not that this is a bad thing, but my primary focus is on the rear delts here, so I want to isolate them by making sure my thumbs face each other.” For those of you who have never tried this simple variation, you will be shocked at how much more strongly you suddenly feel the rear delts working.
2) Dumbbell Lateral Raises
“This is just the old-school, bread-and-butter movement for building good delts,” says Justin. “The key is to not use too much weight, and don’t involve the traps and bend too far at the arms.” Since it’s a conservative estimate to say that 90 percent of people doing lateral raises in any given gym merely sling the weight around and don’t truly engage the medial deltoids, I asked Justin to elaborate. “The reps must be done nice and controlled,” he says. “If you really do them that way, you won’t require a lot of weight. I personally use anywhere from 40s to 50s, and I weigh about 280 or more most of the time. So when I see guys who weigh 100 pounds less than me doing them with 70s or 80s, I just shake my head. They’re getting nothing out of that.” He’s quick to point out that he wasn’t always a lateral raise role model. “I was guilty of this in my younger years as well, going too heavy and just throwing the weight up. But luckily, I found I could actually work my side delts harder and get better results by going lighter and focusing on better form, and feeling the side head contract on each rep.”
3) High Rope Pulls to Face
Justin typically starts his shoulder workout with two different movements for rear delts, one with dumbbells, then either a machine or a cable. The rope pull with a cable pulley is a frequent choice. “I started these about two years ago in order to get away from the traditional lateral raises for the rear delts,” he tells us. “I added these in to change things up, and now I really like the exercise.” It does take a little time to get the form down properly. “You want to make sure you are keeping the tension on the rear delts, otherwise you end up working more traps and other upper back muscles like the rhomboids.”
4) Dumbbell Front Raises
MD keeps it real, so Justin was sure to say he doesn’t do these too often. Yet they do serve a purpose in his training at times. “When I have to lower my training volume and frequency due to feeling ‘beat-up’ in the gym, I will replace presses with these for a few weeks in order to ease the stress on my joints and let them heal up a bit.” It’s doubtful they will ever play more of a role in his shoulder training. “They’re not a great mass builder or a favorite exercise of mine, but front raises are a great alternative if you’re having any tendinitis or other aches you need to let heal up.” And if none of that sounds even vaguely familiar, count your lucky stars.
5) Barbell Upright Rows
Upright rows are a great exercise that many younger bodybuilders either aren’t even aware of, or simply don’t bother to do. Justin feels that’s a shame. “Along with presses, upright rows are a good compound movement that works the entire shoulder girdle,” he says. “I think most people give up on them too easily because they only feel them in the traps. That’s usually a result of using too narrow a grip. Set your hands at shoulder width and think about pulling up and back in an arc, rather than just up in a straight line, and you get a great overall shoulder pump.”
6) Overhead Presses (not shown)
What about shoulder presses? Justin still does them, of course. The difference is that he does them last in his shoulder workout instead of first, as he used to do. This is both to give priority to the rear and side heads, as previously mentioned, and so that he doesn’t need to go quite as heavy with the movement as he would if he did them as a first exercise. There does come a point for some men when they become so strong on certain compound movements that it simply isn’t safe for them to go as heavy as they can anymore. Compton mentioned that he likes to take advantage of all the tools in the toolbox to craft his delts, and that applies to his presses too. “I alternate my presses, typically every week, between the Smith machine, barbell and Hammer Strength,” he says. “I’m not much of a fan of dumbbells, because it requires so much effort to get them from the knees to the shoulders with the amount of weight I am able to use, that I lose several reps before the set even begins.” That may sound odd to some of you, but those of you who are able to press anything past 120s or 130s know exactly what Justin is talking about.
Shouldering Toward The Arnold
At the 2015 Arnold Classic Justin came in a few pounds too heavy. This time around he promises to not make that mistake. In 2014 and 2015 he bypassed the Olympia and at 27 he feels he has age on his side. He says, “I have chosen my shows as strategically as possible, and I think I have done a good job to this point. When I feel my body is ready to stand in the top three to top five at the Olympia, then I will enter the show. I don’t compete just to say I did the show. I want to stand with the best before doing so. I plan to refine my physique and bring up a few weak areas, and also improve my posing and presentation for this upcoming Arnold.”
As for his shoulders, Justin’s goal at this point is to keep them in proportion with everything else as his physique continues to grow and mature. He doesn’t just have incredible shoulders— he’s got a good head on his shoulders. And it’s his rare combination of gifted genetics, an analytical approach to his training and nutrition, a solid work ethic and dedication, and the patience and perseverance to plot a long and successful career in the sport that has me convinced Justin Compton is one day going to literally stand head-and-shoulders above the rest— atop Mount Olympus with a Sandow trophy in his grasp.
Justin’s Shoulder Routine
Reverse Pec Deck 3 sets x 15-20 reps
Bent-over Rear Laterals 3 sets x 15-20 reps
Dumbbell Lateral Raises 3 drop sets: 15 reps down to 3-5 reps
Hammer Strength Shoulder Press 3 sets x 10-12 reps
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