How to grow your shoulders (front delt edition)
Nikola Man
This is going to be shortest training guide I will ever write. Yes, you read that correctly, this one will be short and sweet. So far we have covered most muscle groups, but a major region, the shoulder, is left untouched. Well, today we are touching the shoulder. Not in a creepy way of course. More specifically, we will be talking about the front deltoid muscle. As is now the tradition, we will start off with some anatomy:
Today we will be focusing on the anterior (front) deltoid. This muscle has one primary function and that is shoulder flexion. Just imagine lifting your arm up.
Time to talk some volume:
Minimum volume (MV)
This is the easiest my job has ever been. The volume necessary to maintain shoulder size is 0 sets of direct work per week. If you do enough pressing movements for your chest, you do not need to do a single exercise for your front delt. Enough pressing for the chest means, in this context, MEV for chest, which is around 10 sets a week.
Minimum-effective volume (MEV)
If you want to stimulate your anterior deltoid to grow, you, again, will not need to do any direct work. Most people already do a ton of chest pressing as it is, and chest pressing is a ton of indirect work for the front delt.
An MEV of 0 means that you can grow your front delts quite a lot without ever doing an overhead pressing movement.
Maximum recoverable volume (MRV)
The most direct work your front delts can recover from is around 12 sets per week. Obviously, this is due to the anatomy of our body and the degree of activation front delts have in pressing movements. A lot of chest work also means a lot of shoulder work, if you add more direct work on top of that you get overtraining and/or overuse injury.
You will need around 10-12 sets per week only when your front delts are so massive that they require a hard, disruptive stimulus to grow. Most lifters do not have delts this big.
Intensity and frequency
Intensity is fairly straightforward for the front deltoid. You want to be doing your direct work somewhere between 6 and 12 repetitions, taken sufficiently close to failure.
Frequency-wise, usually I suggest at least 2 sessions per week for all muscle groups. For the first and only time this will not be the case. I suggest hitting the front delt once or twice per week.
Exercise selection
Standing barbell shoulder press (military press)
Standing dumbbell shoulder press
Seated dumbbell shoulder press
Tips for making a program
As you can tell from the exercise selection, there is not too much crazy variety going on. If you want to target the anterior deltoid directly, you will need to press overhead. I have two workout structure suggestions for you:
You can do direct work once a week. Pick one exercise that really works for you and do it fairly heavy for 6-10 repetitions for 4 or 5 sets. My favorite is and always will be the standing dumbbell press, but if you feel the barbell or the machine better go for it
You can do direct work twice per week. On one day where your pushing movements are mostly focused on your chest add one shoulder pressing movement and do it for 10-12 reps for 2 or 3 sets. On a different day where you are not doing as much chest pressing, add one heavy shoulder exercise and try to pick the one you like the most. Do it for 6-8 reps for 3 sets.
As is the advice for every muscle group, focus on steady progression in terms of weight and you should be on your way to huge front delts.
Other important comments
Only two comments here:
DO NOT DO FRONT RAISES. I swear, if I see any of you (even though we don’t train at the same gym and I don’t know you personally) doing front raises I will personally take away your gym card and kindly request that you never return. This is quite literally the most pointless exercise on the planet. It provides a weaker stimulus than the pressing movements AND in order to do properly you need to reduce the weight drastically. What’s more, unlike the pressing movements, it doesn’t stimulate the triceps almost at all which means that you don’t even get any auxiliary benefits.
You do not need separate shoulder workouts where you mostly focus on shoulder pressing. A lot of shoulder pressing is unnecessary if you’re doing sufficient chest pressing work. If you want an aesthetic physique, and this applies to regular lifters who just want to look good and to bodybuilders, do side and rear delt work. Side and rear delts are what makes your shoulders look great. Side delts give you the width, they are the core of shoulder training.
Luckily for you, we will discuss side delts next week.