3 Shoulder Exercises For Skinny Guys / HARDGAINERS!

This next installment for the STRETCH, FLEX, OVERLOAD SERIES will be focusing on building bigger shoulders. Now this advanced technique was specifically designed to help YOU hardgainers build muscle by creating a stronger mind-muscle connection, but anyone can take advantage of this technique to bust through a muscle building plateau.

How It Works

Once again you are going to be performing a triset of 3 different exercises. The first exercise will place the majority of the resistance during the negative when the delts are a fully stretched. The second exercise will place the most resistance on the delts when fully flexed.  Then, after the delts have been pre-exhausted with those two specific movements, the third exercise will place the maximum load possible on the on all three delts, when we know that they will be at their weakest point and required to do the majority of the work, rather than other muscles taking over the movement.

In a nutshell, the first two exercises will help establish a stronger mind-muscle connection and the third one will destroy the shoulders using as much weight as possible.

As for the routine itself, you’re going perform 8 – 10 reps per exercise and complete 4 rounds of all three movements, ONLY resting 60 – 90 seconds after you complete 1 round of all three exercises. Remember it’s a TRISET, so there is no rest between exercises and you are going to complete 4 TOTAL ROUNDS.

Stretch: Single-Arm Raise On Flat Bench

The lower the bench’s incline, the more of a stretch you get with this movement, as it stretches the entire shoulder. For this movement, you’re going to lay on your side on a bench. I like to hook one arm underneath the bench for stability. Also make sure you are flat and ‘in-line’ with the bench – don’t be hunched over either side of the bench. Your shoulder should be facing the ceiling.

You’re then going to grab your dumbbell, without rolling your shoulder over too much, and go all the way to the top, so that your arm is fully extended. The negative is what gives us the most muscle breakdown, so remember to lower the weight slowly, and really feel that deep stretch at the bottom of the movement. Initiating the lift from that bottom position will be the hardest part of the exercise, so make sure you don’t skip it, and make sure you don’t use momentum. Once you have completed your reps on one side, turn over, and do your reps for your other arm. This can also be done with cables if you have access to a cable machine station.

Flex: Lateral To Front Raise

In a sense, this is going to be two exercises in one. You’ll be doing a front raise, straight into a lateral raise, but with no rest in-between. Starting with the front raise, you’ll hold the dumbbells in front of you, and bring them up so that the dumbbells are about in-line with your mouth. Hold this position for 2 seconds before lowering the dumbbells.

You’ll then go straight to your sides with the dumbbells, and again, raise them to about the same height as your mouth, hold for 2 seconds, and then lower them back down. You’ll then go straight back into your front raise – so you will be completing 8-10 repetitions of BOTH MOVEMENTS before the end of 1 set. Also remember that very important 2 second hold at the top, or FLEX position of each movement. Use dumbbells.

Overload: Dumbbell Or Barbell Standing Press

Now that your delts are fried and you’ve established a strong mind-muscle connection, it’s time to hit them with a compound movement that targets the entire shoulder complex. You may even want to use some momentum and leg drive here (cheat) to overload your delts as much as possible.

For this movement, grab the bar with about a shoulder-width grip. You’re then going to focus on pressing the barbell over your head by keeping your glutes tight, core tight, and not using any momentum. As you press up, make sure to push your head THROUGH, and when you come back down, make sure to move it back again. Also make sure you are using FULL ROM, which means your arms are fully extended at the top position, and the bar touches your upper chest at the bottom position.

Generally dumbbells are better than barbells (particularly if you want to target more rear delts), but on this occasion, a barbell is more preferable because you want to lift the maximum amount of weight. Also keep in mind that because the first 2 exercises can practically be done with 20lbs dumbbells, the 3^rd exercise requires a lot more weight, and you may need a belt if you’re going super heavy. You can also use a bit of momentum (to perform a push press) if you start to fatigue with only 2-3 reps remaining. Lastly, if you don’t have a barbell with weights, or heavy dumbbells, you could also perform handstand pushups as the overload part of this routine

Conclusion

The idea behind this series is to get you in and out of the gym as fast as possible while dealing maximum muscle damage for regrowth because as a hardgainer you don’t want to be burning too many calories with long workouts. You need those calories to build MUSCLE!

Also, make sure you’re challenging yourselves with heavy weights.  You guys ask me all the time in the comment section “how much weight should I be using”.

The answer is that on every set you should use the maximum weight you can handle for 8 – 10 reps. So, if you can go heavier on round 2, then increase the weight.  But if your form is breaking down, then go a little lighter.

One last thing, if you are not a hard gainer and want to add this workout to your current shoulder training try adding 2 rounds as a FINISHER after your current shoulder workout.