Large and voluminous shoulders are the dream of most men. For athletes who work out in the gym, it is easy enough to realize this dream, because they have at their disposal a whole arsenal of barbells, dumbbells and fitness equipment. But what to do to those people who do not visit fitness centers? How to pump up the deltas at home? What exercises to use for this? Is it possible to build muscle without sports equipment? We will try to find answers to these questions in our article.
Anatomy
To understand how to properly train your shoulders, you first need to find out where the deltoid muscles are located, what functions they perform.
The shoulder joint is an articulated type when the spherical head of the bone enters the articular fossa of the scapula. Thanks to this, it is the most mobile joint of the human body, which has a large amplitude and can rotate in almost any direction.
The muscle got its name because of its resemblance to the Greek letter delta (Δ) inverted. The image below shows where the deltoid muscle is located.
You probably could notice that the shoulder muscles are divided into several parts. Your vision does not fail you, because the delta really consists of three beams: front, middle and rear. The front beam is responsible for raising the arm in front of you up. The function of the middle is to move your arms to the side. The back bunch takes a hand back.
Features of shoulder training
If you ask a professional trainer how to pump up the deltas at home, then he is likely to tell you that to get large and voluminous shoulders, you need to train all three beams. Three types of exercises are used to pump them: bench presses, wiring and traction. Presses and traction are the basic movements (that is, those that involve several muscles at once), and the wiring - to the insulating ones, which load only the deltoid muscles.
Below we will talk in detail about the best exercises for pumping deltoid muscles that can be done at home. For their implementation, you do not need rods and simulators. The only thing that is required of you is a pair of collapsible dumbbells, the weight of which can be adjusted.
Dumbbell Bench Upright
Dumbbell bench press is considered a basic exercise for training the shoulders. This movement can be done both standing and sitting. During its execution, all three beams work, but the front and middle ones get the greatest load.
Consider the technique of performing a dumbbell bench press on the shoulders:
- Take sports equipment with a direct grip and lift them so that they are at the level of your ears. This is the starting position.
- As you exhale, squeeze the dumbbells up.
- Taking a breath, slowly and slowly lower the shells down.
- Pause at the bottom, and then repeat the movement as many times as you need.
Standing with dumbbells
This is an isolated exercise aimed at working out the middle beam of deltas. It is performed as follows:
- Take sports equipment. Extend your arms slightly in front of you, bending them slightly at the elbows. Lean a little forward, keep your back straight.
- While exhaling, spread your arms to the sides to shoulder level. In the upper position, pause for a second.
- While breathing in, gently lower the dumbbells down.
- Perform the remaining number of repetitions.
Inclined dumbbell mahi
This is an insulating exercise for working out the posterior deltoid muscle bundle (the mid-deltas receive an indirect load).
Technique of execution:
- Take the shells in your hands, turning the brushes with palms to the sides. Straighten your back, bend your lower back slightly, pull your stomach in, fix your posture. Bending the legs at the knee, lean forward with a straightened back. The torso in this position should be almost parallel to the floor. Hands with dumbbells should be slightly bent at the elbow joint and lowered down. Fix this position of the body.
- While exhaling, raise straight arms to the level of your back.
- Taking a breath, return to the starting position.
- Do the right number of reps.
Dumbbell Deadlift
This exercise is called a broach by professionals. The main load during its implementation is received by the middle deltoid beam (the front delta is indirectly included in the work). It is worth noting that this movement, despite its effectiveness, is very traumatic and can seriously harm the shoulder joints.
The technique of dumbbell traction is almost the same as that used when pulling with a barbell:
- Pick up your sports equipment. Keep your back straight.
- While exhaling, pull the dumbbells to the chin, while spreading the elbows to the sides.
- Taking a breath, return to the starting position.
How can I replace dumbbells
We learned the best exercises for shoulder training. Recall that to perform those power movements, which we talked about above, you need a pair of collapsible dumbbells. However, not everyone has such sports equipment at home. Some guys, especially those who live in small towns, have nowhere to buy them. How to pump up the deltas at home for those people who, for one reason or another, cannot get such sports equipment?
In such situations, improvised items used in everyday life come to the rescue. For example, you can take ordinary plastic bottles filled with water as dumbbells. The advantage of such "shells" is that you can also adjust their weight. If at some point it becomes easy for you to do exercises with water bottles, you can fill them with sand or stones, which will make them even harder. Alternatively, you can also use an old unwanted backpack or bag: they can be filled with books and other heavy objects.
How to pump up deltas at home with your own body weight
You already know how to build shoulders with dumbbells. You know how industrial sports equipment can be replaced. But what to do, for example, on a business trip or vacation, when there is no way to use dumbbells or improvised items? In this situation, exercises with your own body weight come to the rescue. Try the following:
- Corner push-ups. This is perhaps the most affordable shoulder exercise. Even people with little training experience can perform it. During this exercise, the butt should be raised up, as shown in the photo.
- Push-ups with a corner with the emphasis on the wall. This is a more complex version of the first exercise, designed for athletes who already have decent training experience with their own weight. When performing this movement, the elbows must be taken strictly to the sides. As for the amplitude, you need to push up as deep as possible, trying to touch the forehead of the floor. At the upper point, the elbows do not need to be extended so that the triceps do not pick up the load from the deltoid. You can also perform this exercise using an object, such as a table, for the legs.
- Handstand pushups. This exercise is by no means recommended for beginners, as it is designed for people with a high level of physical fitness. It can be performed both with support on the wall, and without it.
Since all three exercises are done upside down, performing them can lead to increased pressure. If you have problems with this, we strongly recommend that you refuse to implement them.
Video lessons
Below we offer you informative video tutorials that detail how to build shoulders at home (using and without additional equipment).
Workout program with dumbbells at home
Shoulder training at home using improvised items
Bodyweight Deltoid Exercises
Professionals Recommendations
You already know how to train your shoulders at home. Now we offer you some useful tips that will help you make your sports activities safer and more effective.
- Always warm up before starting classes. The shoulder joint is very vulnerable, so injuring it is easy. To prevent this, before each lesson, a full-time warm-up is necessary. This applies not only to shoulder training. In addition, if you work with a lot of weight, then before the first working set it is advisable to make one warm-up approach using less load. This will also prepare your shoulder joints for subsequent exercises and protect them from injuries. Do not listen to those who say that warming up takes a lot of time and energy. It is better to spend 5-10 minutes to warm up than to treat injured joints and tendons for several months.
- Do not chase a lot of weight. Training your shoulders with dumbbells can be very traumatic. If you overestimate your strengths and take the weight that your muscles are not ready for, you will not only not pump anything, but also stretch or tear muscle fibers. As a result, you will not be able to fully train for a long time. What weight dumbbell to choose? Everything is individual here. Try to choose a weight with which you can do from 6 to 12 repetitions in one approach.
- Let the muscles rest. Quite often, you can hear from beginners that daily workouts focused on a specific muscle group allow you to quickly create your desired reliefs. Forced to upset you. Daily training does not accelerate the process of muscle building. On the contrary, they slow it down several times. Shoulders, like any other part of our body, need time to recover from a difficult training session. If you load them more than 1-2 times a week, then over time your strength indicators will drop, and muscle growth will stop.
We can put an end to this. We hope that you have gained a lot of useful knowledge. Follow the advice and recommendations of professionals. Then you will definitely achieve the desired results.