Are you a bodybuilder? You certainly look like one. You’re the biggest guy in most rooms you enter. And you certainly eat like one. Everyone knows that when they see you, they’ll usually see you accompanied by a cooler full of protein and a gallon of Crystal Lite. Finally, you train like one. You’re in the gym five days a week. You see the lesser trainers arrive, train, and depart while you’re still working on your first body part. The staff knows you by name, and you’re well aware of the little idiosyncrasies of both the equipment and the other people in the gym. It’s your second home away from home, and you leave everything on that gym floor.

Yet there is still a chasm. There is a gap which exists between the good bodybuilders and the great ones, even on your local scene. There is a single piece of meat which separates the complete bodybuilders from the “good collection of body parts” bodybuilders. That piece of meat, or muscle group which needs to move classification from underdeveloped to full developed, is the rear delts.

Oddly, most beginner and intermediate workout routines don’t address the movements which hit the rear delts. Perhaps the magazine authors want to burn the importance of compound pressing movements for shoulder thickness. These movements include barbell and dumbbell overhead presses. And, everyone can agree upon the need for width in bodybuilding. The movements which emphasize width include dumbbell and cable side raises. It could just be that authors and trainers feel width and thickness are most important in shoulder training, and they probably are. However, the illusion of height is one that the great bodybuilders have, and mediocre bodybuilders do not. Here are some methods for improving your upper body muscle height through better rear delts.

Watch Out For Traps!

The rear deltoids are the muscle group that ties the trapezius and neck to the back. Many bodybuilders neglect this important muscle group for fear they will appear too ‘bunched up’. A fate worse than that is to appear a pencil neck and deny your rear delts the secondary stimulation from trap movements. Four to eight sets each week is more than adequate for trap training.

Exercise Selection

Bent-over lateral dumbbell side raises at a 45 degree angle is the chief exercise that should be used – every workout – for rear deltoid mass. The reverse pec-deck machine is also useful. Cables can be used as well when seeking new angles of approach for this muscle group. However, nothing beats free weights when it comes to adding mass!

Adding Mass

It’s impossible to add any meaningful muscle mass to the body without adding some weight onto the scale at the same time. If you want to put 1.5 inches of thickness onto your rear delts, you’re going to need to eat in a manner consistent with these kinds of gains. If you train the area, and gain 15 pounds of lean body mass, it’s undeniable those rear delts will grow!

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