Written by Lee Haney
21 December 2017

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Do It Right! 8-Time Mr. Olympia Lee Haney on Delts

 

Part 4: Shoulder Training

So far in this series, we have covered the best exercises for back, chest and legs, pointing out common technique errors and giving you tips on how to do them right. This time, we’ll talk about the right way to train another critical component of any great physique, the deltoids. Because the trapezius muscle is so closely tied into the functions and movements of the shoulders, we’ll also include what to do for your traps— and you may be surprised at what isn’t in my recommended program.

 

Working the Angles

The shoulder is composed of three heads: the front or anterior deltoid, the side or medial deltoid, and the rear or posterior deltoid. Collectively, they are referred to as the deltoids, or delts for short. When designing an effective shoulder routine, you need to be sure each head is being given the proper amount of attention. This requires working the delts from various angles.

 

Military Press

Just as the bench press is the bread-and-butter movement for the chest, and squats will always be the best foundational exercise for your legs, the overhead press with dumbbells or a barbell is the core movement to developing your shoulders. To get the best results, I like to alternate between those two from workout to workout. Whichever type of press you do, make sure that you follow my “check mark” format for your reps: explode up in a ballistic fashion, lower at a slower speed under control, and smoothly turn the rep around from the bottom with no pause. It doesn’t take 8,000 pounds to stimulate growth with this type of rep performance. Recently I met fan who is a few years younger than me with various joint pains including his shoulders, and was shocked when I told him I had none at age 58— because I understood the science of training. I’m sure many of you will also be surprised to know that while I was winning the Mr. Olympia title eight times in a row, my seated dumbbell presses were usually done with a pair of 60s. On rare occasions I would go up to 70s. I could have gone much heavier, but that would have been overloading my joints and tendons more than my actual deltoids. On these, I did four sets of six to eight reps, pyramiding up as I went on.

 

Lateral Raises

While presses are more or less a natural movement the shoulders do often in “real life,” lateral raises are fairly awkward in comparison. Rarely do we ever need to grab hold of something and lift it straight up to our sides. That’s why there is no need to go very heavy on lateral raises, and in fact you shouldn’t attempt to do so. How much do you think I used on mine, something between 50s and 100s? Not even close. I typically worked in the range of 30-40 pounds in each hand. I have never seen anyone using heavy dumbbells and doing this exercise properly, with smooth repetitions that target the medial heads without involving a bunch of other muscle groups. I prefer dumbbells for lateral raises, though you do see people using cables. That’s fine for advanced bodybuilders or if you’re close to a contest, but otherwise you will get much better results with good old dumbbells. Four sets of 8-10 good reps will get the job done right.

 

Bent Laterals

Bent laterals to the rear are essential to develop the rear delts, but they are also an awkward movement; even more so than side laterals. I never used more than a pair of 30s or 35s for them. Rich Gaspari and I did these every time we trained shoulders when we were training partners, and Rich had some of the best-developed shoulders of our era. We would do four sets of 8-10 reps.

 

What About Front Raises?

I never believed the front delts needed any specific, direct work, and I still don’t. They get plenty of stimulation from overhead presses, as well as incline and even flat presses that we do for our chests. Furthermore, I’ve never seen weak front delts on anybody. Often those are the only part of a person’s shoulders that are developed!

 

Behind-Neck Presses

Pressing behind the neck is yet another awkward movement, but as bodybuilders we do various unnatural types of motions to maximally develop our physiques. This isn’t quite the same as the standard military press, which hits the front delts primarily and also involves the side delts. Pressing behind the neck will work the rear delts, and does a better job of “capping” the side delts than pressing to the front. I liked to use these at the end of the shoulder workout to tie everything together, and I would only use half the weight I would on military presses. Furthermore, I did these standing almost all the time. That forces you to go lighter, and it’s really a more natural way to press for any athlete. Think about it. How often during a game does a football player sit down on the field? Standing presses also build your core strength, which I consider vital. You don’t just want to look pretty— you want to be functional too!

 

Working the Traps - Without Shrugs!

Whenever most people think about working the trapezius muscle or “traps,” they immediately think about shrugs. To me, they are a waste of time. I did them early on, but stopped doing shrugs even before I turned professional in 1982. They give the traps some work, but once you try upright rows behind your back, you’ll never go back to shrugs. I found this exercise accidentally. In an old workout photo of Arnold, he had a pair of dumbbells behind him and it looked like this was what he was doing. To this day, I’m not sure he was. But immediately the upright row behind the back made sense to me as a better way to work the traps. If you think about it, your traps aren’t in front of you or to your sides— they are in back of you. So it stands to reason that pulling up behind you would provide the traps with a more direct hit. Once I tried it, I knew I was on to something. I am so confident about the effectiveness of this exercise that I guarantee anyone will see significant results with it within a few weeks’ time. Take before and after photos of your back to confirm. You can do these with a barbell or dumbbells. In either case, you need to keep your core tight, and lean back slightly so the weight clears your glutes. Start from a full stretch and pull up as high as you can with the elbows and arms bent, then lower in a controlled manner. I worked with 135-185 on these, for four sets of about eight reps.

 

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