Muscle Building Exercises – Deltoid Workout

When working out your deltoids, try starting with standing side dumbbell raises. To start, alternate your arms with very slow and deliberate movements. For correct form, be sure to raise dumbbells to nose-level and keep your elbows straight. Use two to three working sets and for an extra pump and hold the weight in the top position for 3 seconds or so on the final few reps of each set.

You can also vary switch up side dumbbell raises by bringing your arms slightly forward at an angle. Shoot for a grove – about halfway between side raises and front raises. Use light weight initially to really feel the movement. Deltoids respond well to light and moderate poundage providing proper form is maintained.

On the standing raises, you’ll also benefit from experimenting with the hand and wrist position – try it thumbs down, palms down, palms up, etc. This will change the angle of attack on your deltoids slightly and help add variation into your program. With this in mind, you should also try the various lateral raises while seated on a flat bench; this often helps you to maintain proper form and really isolate the muscle while engaged in deltoid exercises.

Try this next time you’re at the gym: try warming up your delts to get a sense and feeling of the different muscles being worked. Take a ten pound dumbbell in one arm and raise it in front up to shoulder level. While keeping the height of the dumbbell steady, move your arm across your body towards your opposite shoulder… you should feel the very front of your delt flex slightly. Now keeping your elbow straight, move your arm outward towards your side… you’ll feel the tension in your shoulder shifting.

While you’re doing this, you can also rotate your palm and wrist from thumb-up to thumb-down and take note of the different deltoid heads tensing with the varied hand position.   Place your opposite hand on your flexed shoulder to feel how the delts respond to the various positions of the arm and hand.  These exercises and techniques should help you with building muscle mass in your deltoids area – without the necessity of a dip exercise or dumbbell bench press routine.

When working your deltoids, in is always important to use good a good creatine protein combination.  Either premixed, or taken separately, quality creatine powder and protein drinks can give you the edge needed to really get your deltoids ripped!

Deltoid Workout for Women

Deltoid Workout for Women

Building those impressively sleek shoulders takes a great deal of raw grind but once you sport a shapely set, you’ll quickly be separated from the rest. If you like to wear bikinis or summer dresses that reveal your upper torso, shoulder training is ideal in sporting a sexy physique.  So how should women workout their deltoids?  Try these exercises on for size… and without further a due, the deltoid workout top two:

ALTERNATING DUMBBELL RAISES: A great arm workout for women.  Standing straight with your feet shoulder-width apart, take a pair of dumbbells into your hands and hold them down at your sides. Make sure that the dumbbells are of a manageable weight.  Bending your knees slightly, slowly raise one arm, twisting it so that your palm is facing down. Stop when your arm is straight out in front of you (at shoulder level) so that it forms a right angle with your torso. Squeeze your deltoid muscles before slowly bringing the weight back down to your side. Meanwhile, your opposite arm should be rising just as the other one drops. Repeat the alternating motion for 12-15 reps on each arm. Try 3 sets of this.

LATERAL RAISES (ON CABLES): Want another deltoid workout for women?  Put a D-handle on the lower hookup of the cable machine. Stand with your side to the cable. With your arm that’s farthest away from the cable, take the handle into your hand, and hold it to the opposite hip. Slightly bend your torso away from the cable, shifting weight onto your furthest foot from the cable. Slowly raise the weight across your torso, your arm slightly bent while doing so. Stop when your arm is extended directly away from your shoulder. Squeeze your shoulder at the contraction before slowly releasing to the starting position. Repeat this motion for a total of 12-15 reps at a lighter weight before switching sides. For a great burn, do not take any rest between alternating sets.

A shoulder injury can be devastating to a deltoid workout, or any arm workout for women; considering the delts are used in virtually every other upper-body exercise. Your chest and back in particular can suffer from a nagging shoulder ailment. So make sure to stretch appropriately before partaking in these strenuous shoulder workouts for women.