Bodybuilding Tips and Tricks

Named after The Oak himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Arnold Presses are a great delt exercise. They’re very similar to typical overhead dumbbell presses but with a slight twist (literally).

First, grab two dumbbells and sit down on a low chair or flat bench. Start out with the weights at shoulder level and your palms facing in toward your body. The position is very similar to the top position when doing dumbbell curls. From there, using a smooth motion, press the weights upward in an arc over your head, rotating your wrists outward as you do so. By the time you are halfway through the movement your elbows should be pointing away from your body. The top position should find your arms overhead, weights close together or slightly touching, and your palms facing out away from your body. Next, reverse the motion, lowering the weigths back down to shoulder level and rotating your wrists in so you are once again at the starting position for the exercise. I’d recommend that you start out using slightly lighter weights than normal overhead dumbbell presses to give yourself a chance to get used the motion of the exercise. You can also perform these from a standing position if you like. This is a fantastic exercise for isolating the delts and with Arnold as your guide you can’t go wrong =)

Performance: Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and take an overhand grip on a barbell. Your hands should also be a shoulder-width apart. Bend your knees slightly. Keeping the bar close to the body, lift the bar up until your upper arms are parallel to the floor. Lower the bar under control to full elbow extension. Repeat for reps. This exercise can also be performed using a bar attached to a low pulley on a cable apparatus.

Muscle Emphasis: anterior, middle and posterior deltoids; secondary stress on upper trapezius

Performance: Stand holding a dumbbell in one hand with your arm at your side. Hold onto a solid structure or another dumbbell with your other hand for balance and support. With your elbow in fixed position, slowly raise the weight until your arm is parallel to the floor, pause for a moment, then return to the start. Repeat for reps. These can also be performed with both arms at the same time or alternating right and left until the desired reps are completed.

Muscle Emphasis: Medial head of the deltoid.

Seated Barbell Shoulder Presses (whether performed on a regular pressing bench or a Smith Machine) are a great mass-builder for shoulders (deltoids). While shoulder presses primarily work the anterior (front) head of the three-headed deltoid muscle, the other two heads (medial and posterior) are involved in the lift to some degree as well. I recommend starting your shoulder workout with these for a nice muscle-building pump before you move on to the (typically) lighter weight isolation shoulder exercises. Try to lift heavy on this one but, as always, stay in good form and be careful of straining or tearing your shoulder. Choose a weight you can manage as shoulders are prone to injury.

Performance: Set an adjustable bench at 90 degrees and adjust either the bar or seat height so you can comfortably reach up and unrack the bar. Sit up straight and make sure that, when lowered, the bar passes just in front of your face. Take a larger than shoulder-width grip (palms facing away from you) on the bar and unrack it. Slowly and in a controlled motion, lower the bar to approximately chin height, then flex your shoulders and power the bar forcefully back up. Try to keep the motion of the bar as perfectly up and down as possible, with your elbows under the bar during each rep.

Muscle Emphasis: anterior, medial, and posterior deltoid