Beating Narrow shoulders, have you done it? can you?

[callmestar]

Having narrow shoulders is ****ing bull****.

Get a big chest and you look fat, get big arms and it makes your shoulders look even more narrow, where a baggy t-shirt you look fat, where a baggy jumper you look fat. Where I tight t-shirt you look frial and out of proportion, even with a small waist.

Sorry to moan, its just so hard to get that V-taper and to just generally look good in whatever you wear when you have narrow shoulders. Even with adding an inch to each shoulder, you will still have that sloped Coat hanger like look.

Just getting a bit pissed of here lol.

Any advice on anything to make shoulders appear wider? Like what cloths to wear? What Colours? anything other then delts and lats?

Also anyone with narrow shoulders who feels they have overcome them to have a good all round physique?

Any ideas would be great.

[Diablomeister]

its your lateral delts as much as you can, and also getting a wider back will help with your goal.

[callmestar]

Any Narrow defeaters out there?

[Drinman]

My traps are naturally big and my delts are naturally small so I'm pretty much a walking recipe for being narrow. I cut down on my trap excercises such as shrugs and widened my grip on upright row to hit my delts more. Make lateral raises and rear delt work a priority.

[aleeboy]

You sound like a girl. You keep whining about looking fat and you moan ffs.

Any more info on how much bf you have? I know narrow shouldered guys and they don't look fat even though they have meaty arms, chest and back.

In answer to your question, I have never seen a narrow shouldered person put on enough mass to bring them to broad shoulder status. This does not mean they don't get broader, I mean you can only grow it to a certain extent. But hey, when it comes to the human body, 1cm makes a whole lot of difference. Especially when it grows horizontally.

If others disagree, post pics of someone who went from narrow to broad. Don't be posting someone who put on size and still looks narrow.

Edit: Lateral raises are your best friend.

[callmestar]

You sound like a girl. You keep whining about looking fat and you moan ffs.

Any more info on how much bf you have? I know narrow shouldered guys and they don't look fat even though they have meaty arms, chest and back.

In answer to your question, I have never seen a narrow shouldered person put on enough mass to bring them to broad shoulder status. This does not mean they don't get broader, I mean you can only grow it to a certain extent. But hey, when it comes to the human body, 1cm makes a whole lot of difference. Especially when it grows horizontally.

If others disagree, post pics of someone who went from narrow to broad. Don't be posting someone who put on size and still looks narrow.

Edit: Lateral raises are your best friend.

Thanks for the input. I didnt mean i specifically look fat, just that narrow shoulderd people look fatter in general compared to broad shoulderd guys. My bf is 12% at the moment.

Yea I would also like to see pics from narrow guys who have made big changes.

[autonoma]

Having narrow shoulders is ****ing bull****.

Get a big chest and you look fat, get big arms and it makes your shoulders look even more narrow, where a baggy t-shirt you look fat, where a baggy jumper you look fat. Where I tight t-shirt you look frial and out of proportion, even with a small waist.

Sorry to moan, its just so hard to get that V-taper and to just generally look good in whatever you wear when you have narrow shoulders. Even with adding an inch to each shoulder, you will still have that sloped Coat hanger like look.

Just getting a bit pissed of here lol.

Any advice on anything to make shoulders appear wider? Like what cloths to wear? What Colours? anything other then delts and lats?

Also anyone with narrow shoulders who feels they have overcome them to have a good all round physique?

Any ideas would be great.

What I did was work on my military press to work the overall framework of the shoulders then grill the lateral heads with lighter weights and then the rear delts.

Working on the military seems to bring up my shoulders quite a bit, though I need more lateral raises. Some people work shoulders twice a week, shoulders are the only muscle group of mine that does not experience DOMS!

[callmestar]

Cheers autonoma, sound advice. I also dont experience DOMS in my delts.

[Holty]

What I did was work on my military press to work the overall framework of the shoulders then grill the lateral heads with lighter weights and then the rear delts.

Working on the military seems to bring up my shoulders quite a bit, though I need more lateral raises. Some people work shoulders twice a week, shoulders are the only muscle group of mine that does not experience DOMS!

I did am still doing what you said for shoulders, is working great. The military press just hammers your shoulders and is the best mass-builder. I don't get DOMS either, but I can definitely feel stiffness and tightness in the delts the next day

[GuyJin]

Just because your shoulders don't hurt doesn't mean they aren't growing. If you use progressively heavier weight in good form, then they'll grow. That's assuming you don't overtrain and you eat well.

With regards to "beating the narrow look" if you have narrow clavicles then you're screwed to a certain degree; you can get wider, but you'll never look as wide as a guy with a different clavicle structure.

What everyone said about doing lateral raises is spot on; do them first in a routine to pre-exhaust your delts (either seated or lying or machine or cable--vary it!) and then do overhead militaries (barbell or dumbbell, your choice) or upright rows with a fairly wide grip, as long as they don't hurt your rotator cuffs; if they do, then switch to shrugs. Rear delt work will give you that "complete" look. You don't have to do laterals first all the time; once every three workouts should give you a nice change from the same ol' same ol' stuff.

One other thing: Don't be afraid to vary your rep ranges. I don't know what kind of set/rep scheme you're doing now, but changing it up every now and then and varying the amount of reps you do, the tempo, the set order...all that, can help you add on some extra meat. Throw in good food and a lot of patience and it will happen.

As Captain Picard said: "Make it so."

[J_Bo]

I've got narrow clavicles, but feel I've done a good job building mass, enough so people think I look wide.

[callmestar]

Yea I can see you wernt the widest J_Bo, nice job though, you look massive now.

[dbp]

Check out this thread
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...ght=guide+wide

One of the old, respected posters here used to focus on this problem specifically. After years and years trying different things, he settled on those exercises which finally added several inches to his shoulder width.

I also have a really narrow clavicle. To a certain degree, I think you can only expect so much..... but growing the medial delts/lats seems to be the best solution.

[Buzz_Lightyear]

its your lateral delts as much as you can, and also getting a wider back will help with your goal.

Medial delts*

But yeah, this.

[callmestar]

Great thread in the link there dbp. cheers.

[Ironfreak220]

Behind the Back Lateral Cable Raises (i know its a long one), Lateral raises, and upright rows. I usually use FST-7 with either one of these.

[EatSomeIron]

get bigger lats, to look wider and have a v-taper.

make sure you do shoulder day with the same intensity as chest day- most of my friends will bench hard, and won't even break a sweat on shoulder day.

shoulders should have their own day, also.

[powercleanlol]

how many inches for shoulders would be considered a "narrow" and "broad", respectively?

[TheSheepdog]

What I did was work on my military press to work the overall framework of the shoulders then grill the lateral heads with lighter weights and then the rear delts.

Working on the military seems to bring up my shoulders quite a bit, though I need more lateral raises. Some people work shoulders twice a week, shoulders are the only muscle group of mine that does not experience DOMS!

I work them twice a week

one day of lateral movements and the other for presses, I had very narrow shoulders but I made them my focus in my workouts

day1- full chest workout w/lateral work on shoulders
day2-legs
3-off
4-back
5-shoulders w/ cable work for chest


when I hit my shoulders I do a lot of push presses, I currently only use a barbbell for my shoulders. At one point I was able to do 100lb dumbbells for 25+ reps. When I use dumbbells I push them out instead of up. Also make your back wider and stronger. Focus on the basics when doing shoulders and getting as much power as possible and be patient.

[callmestar]

Thesheepdog just checked your pics, I would never of thought you were narrow but you can tell its not natural width and you have packed all that meat on them delts. you seem to have overcome the narrow shoulders dude, you are ****ing huge.

I think i like the sound of a day of laterals and another for presses, I am defo going to give that a go.

[SPECIJALAC23]

You know what man, I don't think you can get any worse than me. I am 168 cm and I have such narrow shoulders. But I think the thing is to just forget aobut it and keep doing it to be strong. Be thankful for having a fully working body and healthy. There are people without legs, without hands and they would do anything to have a fully functioning body. But alright to answer your question what might help is i think have big legs. If you can't have big shoulders why dont you have big legs so you stick out. It works for me i have built my legs quiet a bit and it makes up for small frame i have

[hamzavanderross]

Are my shoulders narrow? I need an honest opinion.

[RADRYAN]

the presses will build some delts up, lateral raises, and front raises to detail them out. Growing is the best thing to combat those narrow shoulders, genetics play a big part but you can build them as much as they will allow.

You know they pad the shoulders in women's suits? you could try that

[soccerskillz123]

Are my shoulders narrow? I need an honest opinion.

No man I think ur in the middle not wide or narrow u could get big shoudler just train them hard and do the right workouts

[backspace412]

Are my shoulders narrow? I need an honest opinion.

thick, solid, tight

[Thethird310]

Pushups have down wonders for my shoulders considering I way 187 pounds and look bigger than most people 200 pounds plus

[KingOfLimbs]

Is it even possible to have "narrow shoulders" and a huge chest? I think most people would agree that getting bigger shoulders is way easier than bigger arms or chest.

[bevans100fitnes]

Facepulls, supinated grip lateral raises, one arm lateral raise from low-set pulley (resistance is diagonal).

Delts along with abs are probably the major muscle group that confuses the most people, because they are usually assisting and not doing the majority of the moving.

To make things even more confusing the orientation of the hand facing up (suppinated[bicep curl]), sideways (neutral grip[hammer curl]), or facing down (pronated[bench press]) completely alters which deltoid you are working.

[speedjason]

some people are just framed that way also posture does it too.

[F1eld]

Just do some exercises involving a wide or snatch grip where the bar goes over your head on a consistent basis.
Pretty much guaranteed you will get better developed upper back, traps and rear delts . Its been workin for me anyways.

Sure you can do retarded rear laterals and stuff like that, but you will probably make faster progress doing most any of these exercises with heavy weights.

1. Snatches
2. Muscle Snatches
3. Klokov presses
4. Wide grip pullups
5. Snatch deadlifts
6. Snatch high pulls
7. Behind the neck push presses.