If you’re looking to improve the appearance of your upper body, focusing on the shoulders might just do the trick. Check out these 3 perfect exercises for stronger rear deltoids for an awesome shoulder workout. It was first shared by John Meadows.
John Meadows, “The Mountain Dog”was a professional bodybuilder, trainer and nutritionist who died in 2021. He is famous for sharing gym tips and workouts and showing how he trained to achieve his goals.
If you want to go even further, you can use Meadows’ 3 simple tips for massive shoulders – implement them every time you do a shoulder workout.
Without further ado, scroll down to see the perfect 3-exercise shoulder workout for stronger rear deltoids.
Perfect 3-exercise shoulder workout for stronger rear deltoids
Word on the rear delta fly
Use a rear fly machine to get a “phenomenal workout for your rear deltoids.” Do this with a bit of a bend in your elbows and lock your arms out using only the rear deltoids to move the handles.
Depending on the machine or your own body, you might feel more comfortable using an overhand grip or a neutral grip. Anyway, that’s fine.
While it’s not on Meadows’ list, he says he doesn’t appreciate how some online influencers are talking about the exercise not targeting the rear deltoids. This is Meadows favorite exercise to start a rear delt workout.
1. Raising and swinging the bent-over dumbbells
The dumbbell raise can be done by bending over for a similar mechanism to the back delt fly, but using gravity and the dumbbell to create tension on your muscles.
Meadows says to annihilate your rear deltoids, do dumbbells with a full range of motion until failure, then after you can’t lift the dumbbells to shoulder height, just let your hands hang down and start rocking up and down. This is probably known as a barbell lift partial range of motion, only one third of the movement.
2. Dumbbell rows on a bench
The idea behind this exercise is that you get a full range of motion and can squeeze the top muscle, which might be harder for the 1st exercise mentioned in this list.
But you have to make sure you contract your rear deltoids for that mind-muscle connection.
3. Face sweaters
This exercise isn’t ranked higher than the others, but Meadows likes this one for his shoulder health. He prefers to do facepulls with a bit of external rotation.
The way Meadows performs this move is with the rope attachment locked at the bottom of the machine and pulling the rope towards the face with some external rotation.
Click on the video to see Meadows’ full explanation below.
Learn more below.
6 Best Bodyweight Shoulder Exercises
How long does it take to train a muscle again?
How many times a week should you train each muscle?
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Training the shoulders to make them bigger can be difficult for several reasons:
- Genetics: The size and shape of your shoulders are largely determined by your genetics. Some people may have a genetic predisposition for wider shoulders, while others may have narrower shoulders. This can make it more difficult to achieve significant gains in shoulder size through training.
- Shoulder anatomy: The shoulders are a complex joint made up of several muscles, tendons and bones. Due to their complexity, it can be difficult to effectively target all shoulder muscles with traditional weight training exercises. For example, the front deltoids can be easily stimulated with overhead pressing movements, but the side deltoids and rear deltoids may require more targeted exercises to stimulate growth effectively.
- Overtraining: Shoulders are often worked indirectly through other upper body exercises, such as bench presses and rows. This means they can be easily overtrained if they don’t have enough rest and recovery time. Overtraining can lead to injury and can also prevent muscle growth.
- Lack of Progressive Overload: Progressive overload is the gradual increase in stress placed on muscles over time, which is necessary for muscle growth. If you don’t gradually increase the weight, sets, or reps of your shoulder exercises over time, your muscles may not be getting enough stimulation to grow.
To effectively train the shoulders and promote muscle growth, it’s important to incorporate a variety of exercises that target the three heads of the deltoids, as well as the rotator cuff and trapezius muscles. It’s also important to allow adequate rest and recovery time between workouts and to gradually increase the intensity of your workouts over time.
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Should you train your shoulders every day?
No, it is not recommended to work your shoulders every day. The shoulders are a complex joint involved in many upper body movements, and they need time to recover and adapt to the stress placed on them during exercise. Overtraining the shoulders can lead to muscle fatigue, decreased strength and increased risk of injury.
The frequency of shoulder workouts depends on several factors, including your fitness level, training experience, and training intensity. As a general rule, it is recommended that you allow at least 48 hours of rest between shoulder workouts to allow for adequate recovery time.
If you’re a beginner, it may be beneficial to train your shoulders once or twice a week, gradually increasing the frequency as your fitness level improves. If you’re an advanced lifter, you may be able to train your shoulders more frequently, but it’s still important to allow adequate recovery time and avoid overtraining.
Ultimately, the frequency of your shoulder workouts should be based on your individual fitness goals, training experience, and recovery abilities. It’s important to listen to your body and adjust your training frequency and intensity as needed to avoid injury and promote muscle growth.
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