When it comes to building shoulders for bodybuilding competition, there is almost no such thing as too wide. A bodybuilder can be too tall and lanky, and blown away by guys with a lot more muscle. He can be too short and stocky, and knocked off in competition by competitors with insane vascularity and aesthetics. A bodybuilder can be ripped to shred with other-worldly conditioning, and lose the show to a man with less condition but far better lines. However, in the history of bodybuilding, a man has never lost a show because his shoulders were too wide. It is the Adonis goal, set forth by Steve Reeves decades ago and still striven for by millions of bodybuilders worldwide.
 
If you were born with the genetics for wide shoulders, you have nothing to worry about. You can use a standard training protocol to develop all three heads of the deltoids, and you will undoubtedly see success on the bodybuilding stage. If you were both narrow or without strong bracings and muscle insertions for the deltoid muscles, all is not lost. You can still improve your lot significantly through training which is specifically designed to target those lagging side deltoids. Let’s look at such a routine.
 
Start your day with cable side raises. These are designed to draw a great deal of blood into those side deltoids through the use of continuous tension. By the time you’ve completed your four sets of 15 repetitions; your shoulders will be bright red with blood. They’ve become completely pumped, and now you are finally ready to attack the shoulders with some real weight!
 
Jump over to seated dumbbell side raises. You can’t go as heavy as you normally would, as your side deltoids will be torched before you even touch a dumbbell. Pick up the weight and find a seat on the incline bench, set almost to 90 degrees but not all the way. Going to the top will place your side delts at risk for rotator cuff damage. Complete four sets of 8 to 12 repetitions of dumbbell side raises. Your repetition speed should be moderate. Do not allow the weight to swing at all. Doing so will allow your body to use momentum – not muscle fibers – to move the weight. You’re wasting your time by training in this manner, if your goal is to gain muscle mass.
 
You’ve gotten the focus done. Now it’s time for two movements, one for the front deltoids and one for the side deltoids.  An ideal exercise for those front delts are seated Hammer Press machine presses in the range of 6 to 10, From there, move to the bent-over rear deltoid laterals at a 45 degree angle form a flat bench. For these movements, your side deltoids will receive less of the focus. However, since they are already pumped greatly, their pump will remain as you use this front then rear deltoid movement, respectively. Training shoulders for width isn’t hard – you just have to use a lot of side deltoid movements.

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