To build wider shoulders, you need to focus on hitting the lateral delts. This is not a shocker to most people. Bigger shoulders enhance the look of a physique more than pretty much any other muscle group.
This lateral raise variation is going to give you the benefits of both free weights and machines for building the side delts.
Brace the ends of two barbells against something solid. I'm using the bottom cross-beam of the rack. The bar ends should be about 6 inches apart.
Grip the ends of the bars then stand up, holding the ends just in front of you, NOT at your sides. The movement should start with the ends of the bars you're gripping on almost touching each other.
Now it's very simple...perform a lateral raise.
As you come up, lean forward into the movement so your body is at an angle at the top. Raise your arms until your upper arms are horizontal.
Hold for a second or two then lower back down under control.
It looks strange but I found it to be a phenomenal way to target the lateral delts.
Here are the advantages this lateral raise exercise has...
1. It allows you to better control the resistance through all phases of the movement, especially at the top. Because you're leaning into the bars, you can brace your weight against the bars and use that control the movement.
2. Because of the pivot of the bars as you come to the top, you end up leaning forward. This is actually an ideal position for activating the lateral delts. Even dumbbell lateral raises should be done with a forward lean. Leaning against the bars allows you to really embrace this position.
3. If you're familiar with the "pouring water" trick that is sometimes recommended for activating the lateral delts (where you tilt the dumbbells forward at the top), this mimics that only without the potential issues to your shoulder joints that that trick can have. This is because your whole body is actually at that angle as well....the angle of gravity on the lateral delts has changed but the shoulder joints are still lined up properly.
4. You're using the "fat" ends of the bars, which can improve muscle activation just in general.
5. You can hold at the top of the raise very effectively. This is tough to do with dumbbells or cables.
6. The ends of the bars rotate freely, allowing you to easily perform one of my favorite methods for increasing lateral delt work in the raise. It involves extending the wrists at the start of each rep (I think I might have mistakenly referred to it as flexing the wrists in the video).
Start in a neutral position, hands in front.
Now extend the wrists so the hands come apart.
THEN start the lateral raise movement. Imagine you're scraping out the inside of a big bowl as you come up. This will really help engage the lateral delts.
I find this actually helps take away the tendency for the upper traps to help with the movement too much. The wrist extension engages the lower traps, which locks down the scapulae, which keeps the shoulders from coming up.
You can do this trick with dumbbells and cables as well as this two-bar setup. It works GREAT.
7. Finally, the resistance for this exercise can be easily adjusted. You can add small plates onto the bars to use more.
There are a few downsides to this setup.
1. You need to be strong enough to use just the empty bars, at the very least. You could potentially use a couple of lighter bars, if you have access to some, though.
2. You need two bars. You can do these one bar at a time, but I didn't find that to be as effective. Worth a try, though, if you do only have one bar.
Overall, this is a fantastic way to hit the lateral delts. I like this variation a LOT and I think you will, too.
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Want more unique and challenging exercises to work your entire body with simple equipment? All you need is just a barbell, dumbbells and a bench. Check out The Best Home Gym Exercises You've Never Heard Of!
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