Wider shoulders: training for great shape

What guy doesn’t dream of wide shoulders and a narrow waist? Modify your training program to draw the cherished V faster and look more massive!

Anyone can offend a bodybuilder, and almost any letter of the alphabet is suitable for this. Tell a guy that his body resembles the letter I (sleeper), H (brick), B (big chest and the same belly) or even a monstrous O (speaks for itself), and you insult him to the core. But mention the letter V in the context of his physique, or call him V-shaped, and there will be no limit to pride.

A massive shoulder girdle with a body tapering towards the waist makes the venerable bodybuilders stand out from the crowd. But the shape of an inverted triangle cannot be drawn in any particular workout; you need to train many muscle groups and at the same time work on creating a dried belly. If there is a lot of fat dangling from your belt, you will have to turn on cardio and observe a strict diet – otherwise your V will be more like U.

By pumping up your training program a little, you can shift the emphasis to those areas that will make you the owner of a magnificent body and create the illusion that you are much more massive than you really are.

1. Molding for shoulder width

Of the three heads of the deltoid muscle – anterior, middle and posterior – it is the middle delta that gives the shoulder girdle the maximum width. By focusing on the middle deltas, you will see the result faster.

Overhead press or chin pull with elbows in the lateral plane. While mid-deltas are heavily involved in any variation of the overhead press , not all presses work equally well. It is important to watch the upper arm here. When you lift the dumbbells over your head, the shoulder should be straightened strictly in the lateral plane. In such a scenario, the average deltas are located so that the degree of their reduction is maximal.

When you do the Arnold press or overhead press from the chest, the shoulders go slightly forward instead of going straight to the sides. This slight shift connects the front deltas and takes some of the stress off the middle heads.

Don’t get me wrong, the Arnold press is a great shoulder exercise, but the dumbbell press and overhead press will pump your middle deltas much more efficiently. And any press in the simulator in which the upper arm moves in the lateral plane is great for aiming the middle deltas.

What applies to bench presses also works with the chin row. If you grip the barbell with a narrow grip, your elbows will begin to move forward, as a result of which the load on the front deltas will increase, and the middle deltas will decrease. Instead, it is better to take a wide grip and purposefully bomb the middle deltas.

Do not forget to raise your arms to the sides. The rule that guided us in multi-joint exercises like presses and deadlifts also applies to single-joint movements. For optimal recruitment of the middle deltas, the upper arm must necessarily move exclusively in the lateral plane. As such, any version of raising or extending the arms to the sides is a great candidate for inclusion in your workout. But in raising your arms to the sides, you can easily screw up, so be extremely careful about your technique.

To put even more stress on the middle deltas, add not one, but several single-joint movements to the shoulder workout. You can also hook up muscle failure training techniques such as forced reps or drop sets. This will help increase the burning sensation in the muscles and, in theory, stimulate even more growth of the middle deltas.

2. More attention to the top of the lats

Coming down from the middle deltas, we meet the lats, which, when well developed, help create the killer V shape. Of course, back training includes many muscle groups (the largest are the lats, rhomboids, middle and lower traps, rear deltas), but for an inverted cone, it is better to focus on the upper musculus latissimus dorsi.

In general, back training can be broken down into two parts: movements like pull-ups or pull-ups of the upper block, which are performed in a vertical or almost vertical plane, and all kinds of rows in which you pull the load almost perpendicular to the body. The vertical force vector helps to increase the width of the back, while the perpendicular force adds thickness to it.

If at this stage you are pulling on a block with a narrow grip, try replacing it with a long bar and a wide grip. Pull towards the top of your chest and you get the most out of your upper lats.

3. Drying the middle

For many, this fight can be the most exhausting, since you cannot create a dried belly by training alone. You will have to make an effort not only in the gym, but also in the kitchen; you need to control what and how much you ate, and make sure that you remain in a calorie deficit from day to day. Stick to a smart fat burning strategy, record your results, do strength training, and do cardio to burn more calories. When drying, keep in mind that maintaining muscle mass should be your top priority.

As the fatty glaciers melt, the relief of the anterior abdominal wall will begin to be drawn. Be sure to incorporate abdominal exercises (including a variety of crunches , leg raises , reverse crunches, and weights) into your workout routine. Here are some decent options for successfully completing the V-quest:

• Abdominal crunches
• Twisting on the upper block while standing
• Inclined bench crunches
• Fitball crunches
• Side bends
• Raising the legs on an incline bench
• Pulling the legs to the chest on a fitball

With this program, you can create a grid of six cubes and lift the rectus abdominis muscles above it. To get started, train every other day and do 3-4 exercises. Start with the hardest and try to rest no longer than 30-45 seconds between sets.

To make the inverted cone even more impressive, you need to use a double approach, in which you build muscle on the top and simultaneously release the ballast in the middle. The more massive the shoulders and the smaller the belly, the lower the chances that someone will mistakenly apply the wrong letter of the alphabet to you. You will always stay V – in great shape!