Group: General Fitness & Exercise

General Fitness & Exercise
Created: 2011/12/31, Members: 382, Messages: 54581

Various general exercise related discussions. Find out what it takes to reach your fitness goals through daily effective exercise. With so many options we try to find out what works best.

Join group

Broadening/widening shoulders

glenn_gould
glenn_gould
Posts: 4
Joined: 2002/09/28
Canada
2002/11/02, 09:17 AM
Hi there everyone,

I am a 21-year-old male. I've been lifting weights for a couple of months now, doing 3 times a week. I'm doing almost exclusively high weights and low reps. I am seeing fairly good gains muscle-wise, but I would really like to BROADEN AND WIDEN MY SHOULDERS. Is this still possible to any significant extent at my age (21)? I know that when you're younger, you can do swimming etc. and broaden your shoulders because your bones are still growing. Should I start swimming....would it help?

And what are the exercises that could theoretically help broaden the shoulders (or at least add to the illusion to that effect)? Perhaps(?):

- deltoid exercises (lateral raises and dumbell raises)
- wide-grip pulldowns
- cable cross-overs

Any input would be very much appreciated. Thanks.
bb1fit
bb1fit
Posts: 11,105
Joined: 2001/06/30
United States
2002/11/02, 01:44 PM
Probably the undisputed king of shoulder exercise is the standing barbell military press, or you could even do them seated if you have a tendency to arch your back too much with heavy weight. The seat will help to brace your back. Either will work. This will build overall shoulder size like no other. Your high weight/low rep scheme is correct for building mass. Good luck.
Carivan
Carivan
Posts: 8,542
Joined: 2002/01/20
Canada
2002/11/02, 05:12 PM
You can add to that the Arnold press.
Gives a nice look.

--------------
To change it, or to create it, simply train it!
mackfactor
mackfactor
Posts: 766
Joined: 2002/10/17
United States
2002/11/07, 02:30 PM
You can't widen your shoulders MUCH after you're done growing. You can thank your parents for your shoulder width, that's mostly genetic. If you put on muscle in your shoulders, it can widen them to some extent. I agree with the other two posts, shoulder press type exercises are the undisputable best. I'm also partial to upright rows since I do my shoulders on back/bi day.