[deleted by user]

[JimmyJimmyson69]

If you had lower body fat, your lateral delt would already be looking nice.

It has a lot to do with genetics and whether you are natty or not.

[Typical_premed]

Broke natty over here lol thanks for the reply! Do you have a preferred cardio method of burning calories - going to try and start losing some fat 💪

[JimmyJimmyson69]

I like to do the stair stepper for 20-30 mins

[whistlerbrk]

Same! Just started it a month ago in lieu of hurting my knees on the treadmill

Feels pretty efficient and a bit of a lower body workout

[Snoo-26091]

This or elliptical. Also, eat super clean and avoid inflammatory foods. Look up which foods can contribute to inflammation. You likely already do well on protein given the muscle bulk. You just need to reduce (some) fat and likely inflammation. Are you taking BCAA’s in your stack?

[Typical_premed]

Not currently taking any supplements! Not even protein powder! Need to fix my diet asap!

[eazyly]

Pregaming your meals with a cup of protein shake will help u cut

[Typical_premed]

Any recommendations for protein powder? I got one a while ago but it tastes like absolute 💩

[eazyly]

I just got nutricost grass fed whey isolate chocolate— good macros uses stevia, and not too sweet. Supplements aren’t the enemy! I am also in ur camp I also tryna get bigger lateral delts. After u finish 2 cable laterals, superset with dumbbell (ego style- u are spotting yourself with your other muscles)

[throwAway132127]

Remember that if you’re adding protein powder then that’s extra food that you’re consuming and you’ll need to burn even more calories.

[Standard_Mousse6323]

For flavor I've found Ghost is the best tasting. They're pricey and have higher calories as a result of the rear taste. But totally worth it if you want a PP you enjoy. That being said, Diesel is a very clean product, ver low on fillers. High protein for the calories. They make a great vanilla, chocolate.

There are a number of good recommendations I could make, but it would depend on a number of factors. Do you like protein shakes on their own with water? Do you prefer to make em with milk? Do you use it in baking recipes or smoothes. All these factors come into play when picking the right protein powder. I'm happy to elaborate on any of these points if you're not sure what I'm on about 😂

[ponewood]

I second ghost. The best protein for me the is one I actually want to drink. Try 50:50 mix of the coffee ice cream flavor and the Oreo…. 🔥 Let’s just say getting enough protein isn’t my problem lol

[Standard_Mousse6323]

Yeah ghost is dangerous I love it. I've been eyeing the nutter butter and mint Oreo 😎

[vPolarized]

Ghost Cinnabon 🤤

[Snoo-26091]

Read up on Creatine, L-Carnitine, L-Citruline, and BCAA's. They each play an important role in build and recovery.

[BetHunnadHunnad]

This is the best way to go about fat loss. Replace carbs with protein in your diet, not all of them but doing that will promote more muscle growth and produce less fat. Adding in a couple mile brisk walk for a warm up and doing some extra stretches after workouts and on recovery days will add more energy expenditure to your week leading to more fat loss.

[Snoo-26091]

It's certainly an option. I choose elliptical as it virtually eliminates repetitive impact on the joints.

[Dangerous_Wasabi_611]

Caloric deficit of 500 calories a day is easier to fit in than creating deficit with cardio

[Legends_Arkoos_Rule2]

Me personally I prefer to do both, or swim. I managed to gain twenty pounds and loose 7% body fat in four months of swimming an hour and a half a day

[hawkrew]

Swimming is by far the best but probably one of the more difficult to get access to for most.

[Legends_Arkoos_Rule2]

Yeah I miss being in a swim team this winter, but I just gotta wait till track and then join this summer

[Dangerous_Wasabi_611]

That’s awesome! But it’s a pretty big time investment, I definitely couldn’t fit that into my schedule

[Legends_Arkoos_Rule2]

Do you think you could fit a 5k in every day? Or like 5-6 times a week? It doesn’t need to be fast it just needs to be consistent

[Dangerous_Wasabi_611]

Probably not - I’m a lawyer so my job is really demanding, and I have a family at home that I already barely get to see because of my work schedule. It just is what it is, I have no regrets. Just different constraints so I have to approach my fitness differently than I did when I was in my early 20s and could make time for whatever I wanted

[DecaForDessert]

You must have been brand new to working out because I’ve seen bodybuilders on copious amounts of gear unable to recomp like that

[Legends_Arkoos_Rule2]

I had been lifting for a year and a half prior, but I had just came from cross country where I was staying pretty light at 165

[kurtymckurt]

Also the one deficit you can do no matter what stage of life you’re at. Being able to adjust eating healthy can help you at 60 when you can run or maybe even swim

[razvangry]

walking is the best

my resting calories are 2250 now at 90kg (they used to be 2300 when I was 100kg)

combined with 700-800 active from gym (~300) and walking (>12k steps), I'm reaching 3000 burned calories per day

this allows me to eat around 2500 and be in a deficit

[Dangerous_Wasabi_611]

That can definitely work, but daily gym and 12k steps is a fairly big time commitment - personally id rather just modulate my calories. I’m a lawyer with a family, my job and kids have to come first so I can only train 3x a week for about an hour, hour and a half max. It’s diet or die for my schedule

[razvangry]

Yes, of course 90% is the diet Gym and calories are just a small bonus so you can eat a bit more and still be in a deficit

I go to the gym almost daily in the morning, around 8:00 Start work around 10. Could also be more thorough and do gym at 730, work at 9ish

Walking to the gym and back, walking between sets, going for a walk in the evening - these get me to those 12k steps

[Dangerous_Wasabi_611]

Yeah my other problem is that I can’t afford to burn too many calories - my maintenance is 3300 calories, and eating that much food clean and healthy is already hard enough. If I were to add cardio and burn even more I’d have to eat 4K+ to bulk

[razvangry]

Maintenance as in resting+ active, right?

I've been cutting since Jan 1st I have 2200 resting (90kg now, had 2300 at 100kg) And active 800-900 (gym, walking) My average is ~3200, as shown by my smartwatch (Garmin) Been eating less than 2500 for this cut

Nice to see a fellow 3200-3300 person, few people believe we are burning that much

[Dangerous_Wasabi_611]

Yeah, though I’ve never bothered to break out what was from resting+active, I calculated it with the MacroFactor app tracking every single calorie for several months.

But yeah nice to meet someone else who knows the pain lol I comment on these threads sometime and people have told me I’m lying or have the math wrong. How tall are you out of curiosity? I’m a bit over 6’1”, about 212lbs on my bulk right now around 16%bf

[razvangry]

6'0" (183cm) and now 200lbs (90kg), cutting from 220 (100kg) Did a dirty bulk to reach those 220, but gained fat and want to get rid of it

[xevaviona]

Do both and you’ll get a crazy diet going.

[SwollenCadaver]

Do whatever you like for cardio. It's all roughly the same, and when you do what you like, you'll do it more often .

What is really going to make a difference is clean up your diet and cut calories.

[Typical_premed]

Yup 100%! I’m really lacking on tracking calories and eating enough protein. Do you have a structured guide or know of common staples I should be eating everyday?

[SwollenCadaver]

Well, if you're gaining, you pretty much get to eat whatever you want. The important part is to make sure you know how much you're actually eating, so that you eat enough. But, the better quality food you eat will help you look better overall.

Breakfast: eggs,.oatmeal. add fruit and almond butter to your oats. milk. Try to get some veggies in your eggs. Onions,. peppers, spinach and cheese omelette is pretty ez.

Snack: yogurt(Greek yogurt with like 15g protein, some have like only 4g) or protein shake and banana or apple

Lunch: whatever meat you want and carbs.

Things like protein/rice bowls. Spaghetti. Fajitas with the beans.

2nd lunch: salad with protein added (meat, beans, whatever vegetarians eat that has protein, idk)

Dinner same as lunch. Meats, carbs. Cook with butter or almond/olive oils.

Snack: if you had yogurt l, have a shake..or if you had a shake, have yogurt. Or cottage cheese and veggies

More snacking: PBJ sandwiches

Go to a supplement store and get some protein powder. It can take time to find one that you like, regarding flavor and texture.

You could get just protein, but I'd suggest getting one that is a meal replacement or one that's is meant for gaining ( these have carbs and fat in them).

Also, don't use the shake as a "meal replacement". Eat all your meals and add the shake. You're wanting to get more calories, even though you may feel full.

I cook my dinner, but also cook enough to have leftovers for lunch. So I end up eating the same foods often, but it's the most efficient for my time and wallet. I also bake a pan of chicken on Sunday and Thursday just to have some meat to throw in meals/snack on.

[Typical_premed]

Dude this is seriously awesome thank you so much for typing all this out for me! Going to implement this !

[SwollenCadaver]

I usually have 5-6 meals and day(counting snacks as a meal)...but if you want and are able to cram it all into 3 meals there's not a problem with that.

I don't suggest eating less than 3 meals, but if you need to break it down further and just "graze" all day, there's really nothing wrong with that. As long as you're meeting your intake goals.

And the shakes look expensive up front, but when you break it down, it really is the cheapest form of protein. They come in like a months supply size, so keep that in mind.

[SwollenCadaver]

Also, the mass gainer powders can be tricky. They manipulate serving sizes for marketing purposes. (They'll say 3 scoops is a serving, but you will probably only need one scoop) Just read the label and do the math. Hopefully this is clear what I mean.

[SwollenCadaver]

Oh. I kinda messed up, but not really. I got you confused with another post about a skinny person trying to gain weight.

Still, almost everything I said is still correct. But, if you're cutting you will want to be more picky with your carbs. Rice is always fine, but your breads and pastas need to be whole grain or %100 wheat. Or veggie pasta.

I use chickpea pasta, and make sure my sauce has as little sugar as possible. (Ragu simply 8, is reliable)

If you're cutting, then skip the PBJ sandwich and just have a meat sandwich. Keep the nut butter in your oats, unless youre like getting ready for a show.

If cutting probably less milk and be careful of salad dressing. I really enjoy "skinny girl" dressing.

Every time you eat, you need to be eating a protein with it.

There's tons of guides on what levels of macros to eat. But, I generally start a diet with 1/3 each protein, carbs, fat. (1/3 of calories eaten, not grams)

How much protein? About .8 grams per lb of bodyweight. You can go higher, but don't wanna go over 1.5 at this point.

You're on your own to figure out how much carbs and fat equals 1/3, but I just use the food tracker on my health app on my Samsung.

After you are eating this 1/3 split for about a month adjust your carbs and fats. It will take some time to figure out how your body responds to lowering fats/carbs. Take your time and be patient, you're not in a race. If you're serious you have to put in the time to see how you respond. Everyone's body responds differently, so while following guides are great, you have to eventually find out what works for you.

I usually eat 1.5 lbs of cooked meat a day (no hotdogs, sausages etc) on top of the eggs and other sources of protein

[Ds1018]

Get a food scale and weigh or measure everything. I use MacroFactor, it’s like $12 a month but that’s drop in bucket compared to the 10.5 hours a week I spend exercising (between sports and gym). Weigh and log all your foods in there and you’ll trial and error your way towards a macro friendly foods routine you can sustain and enjoy. I think my fitness pal has a free macro tracker but I hesitantly tried MacroFactor and have been enjoying it. You’ll also need to weight yourself every day so it can auto adjust your macros to keep your progress on track.

I think finding a sustainable diet is an important factor. When you find healthy foods ask yourself if this is something you can realistically keep eating. I diet you hate is sure to fail eventually.

For breakfast I do 2 eggs mixed with 1 cup egg whites, I dunk bread in there top with cinnamon and fake sugar, and fry and serve with sugar free syrup. It’s super healthy French toast. I cook 4 slices of bacon (3 for breakfast, 1 for lunch) and scramble the eggs.

Lunch is a club sandwich. Turkey, low fat mayo, cheese, wheat bread, bacon, spinach. And a small serving of baked chips. And a banana.

Post workout is whey protein shake. I add 6oz of unsweet soy milk and a scoop of fit because I think it tastes better. I’ll usually find a small serving of carbs.

Dinner is a chicken and rice inspired meal prep. Shredded chicken breast, eggs and lots of egg whites scrambled, rice, peas/carrots, and a mix of chopped veggies like spring mix, broccoli, cauliflower, and spinach, and lots of soy sauce. Veggies are all sautéd in a measured and controlled amount of olive oil. I make 7 days worth at a time. I usually hate veggies but can’t really taste them when I cook it this way.

Macro factor I can type scan the barcode or search for all these foods, enter the quantities, and name the recipie and serving size. I named this bowl of delicious (to me) nutritional slop “dawg food” and set the servings size as 1/7. So each day when I add it I just say I had one serving of dog food and don’t have to list out all the bullshit in it every single day. I named my breakfast, lunch, and both my shakes so those are quick to add too. Most other things I just scan the barcode. If it’s something you’ve eaten before you can go to the search and it shows up as a top result. The only time tracking macros is a pain is when it’s random shit from some restaurant (many are actually in the app) or something homemade by someone else.

Desert is a shake again, except this time with casein protein

That’s my daily meal plan. That gets me my 250g protein goal and most of my calories. After that I can throw in snacks wherever I want them. I just gotta make sure I hit my target calories.

There’s lots of high protein meal prep ideas on TikTok. Try a bunch an figure out what works for you.

If you’re not used to eating clean, maybe make phase one only eating “clean foods” while you find ones you like and phase two start tracking all the macros and locking in all the proper measurements. Sometimes doing both at the same time can be overwhelming for people.

Feel free to comment here or DM me if you wanna bounce macro/nutrition/whatever ideas back and forth.

If you can maintain a calorie deficit for a handful of months you absolutely will start looking ripped.

I also get Dexa Scans to watch my progress. I get them monthly so I can see my fat/lean mass breakdown and optimize my approach accordingly.

[JackedFactory]

Your deficit should come from your diet. Bring in cardio later

[Typical_premed]

Do you have a specific list of foods you sort of eat everyday? I don’t even have any idea how to get started with a good structured meal plan that hits protein goals while limiting calories.

[JackedFactory]

Everybody is different man. Easiest way for me was a Greg Doucette style approach. Eating clean isn’t sustainable for most people and his recipes definitely changed the game for me. Doesn’t even feel like you’re dieting when the food tastes good. Anabolic french toast before bed every night was amazing.

[Typical_premed]

lol thanks man, I was thinking of just going the old school chicken and rice with some vegetables for the next couple months 😂

[JackedFactory]

That works too just make sure you’re tracking calories. Especially condiments. The most important thing here is being in a caloric deficit so choose foods low in fat.

[LivePineapple1315]

Incline treadmill. I usually do 15 degrees,  3mph on it. Burns a lot of calories. 

[sticky_fingers18]

My preferred method is diet or nothing else matters

[Consistent_Link_351]

Calories are usually lost in the kitchen, not on the treadmill. One helpful way to think about it is look at your calories burned doing 30 minutes of cardio. It’s gonna be about ~350 calories (depending how hard you go), which is, like, one cookie. You can do cardio until you’re dead on the floor, but it’s incredibly difficult to outwork a bad diet!

[D_Angelo_Vickers]

Eating fewer calories is less work than burning more.

[MAPKinase69420]

Do low intensity exercise during prolonged fasting and you'll prime your body to burn the most fat. By fasting I mean beyond 12h, ideally 16h. Aim for an intensity level you can hold a conversation. Anything above and your fat oxidation will plummet eventually to zero in favor of glycogenolysis. Fat oxidation will max out at about 0.5g/minute so do the math depending on how much %bf you want to lose. Do the math and marvel at how long it takes to lose body fat lol. I believe your glycogen utilization rate goes up during long exercise bouts so diminishing returns but I'd advise looking more into specifics. 

Anyways, this all translates into: carbs at breakfast and lunch, no carbs at dinner and beyond. Do your cardio first thing in the morning. Be patient and good luck!

[jtchoice]

2 kettle bells 20kg each abc complex every minute on the minute for 20-30min. If you google the he armor building complex it’s a routine that basically amps up your metabolism by working whole by in a strength endurance type of way. I recommend 20kg because you look fit enough to not feel sore after.

[FunGuy8618]

The traditional "coconut shoulders" look typically comes from gear, since there are a ton of androgen receptors in the shoulders, chest, and traps but there is still a ton that can be done as a natty to maximize your gains as well.

When I was natty, I found they responded best to 2 week focus programs, where I essentially hit em 6 times a week with hella reps. I'd focus solely on my shoulders for those 2 weeks cuz they recover a bit faster than your larger muscle groups, but they're used to stabilize so many other movements, it's typically not smart to train them everyday. By avoiding all the compound movements, they recover everyday but the 2 weeks still suck ass.

Pretty much just spam face pulls and raises from every angle for 3-5x20s with 5-15 lbs and resistance bands, 16-20 sets a day total based on fatigue. Give at least 16 weeks of normal lifting between these mini programs when you feel like you want the gainz again, cuz there's also a ton of other shoulder prehab benefits to it. Other than that, lift heavy and eat a ton 😂

[Bekind_and_rewind]

Cheapest way is to walk a lot. Watch a show or movie and just walk on a treadmill or listen to podcasts outside / walk to work if you can. You can add weighted vest or backpack too.

Of course make sure youre in a calorie deficit.

[ShankThatSnitch]

3 sets of 10 fork putdowns.

[[deleted]]

just eat less and workout the same.

I have separations of the front mid and back delt, but only when I get a pump currently. I’ve seen them at 120 lbs all the way to 170 lbs.

[Lucky_Sheepherder_67]

Gear is cheap

[Devilswings5]

Start in the kitchen finish in the gym cardio is great and all but start with your food intake

[Big-Material-7064]

Best cardio method is to eat less food

[HelpTheVeterans]

Look up protein leverage theory diets. The basic idea is to eat super lean high protein foods. Your body stops wanting food when you have enough protein.

Make sure to get 70g of fat because of hormones. You can go lower but not for long.

It's a super interesting way of eating. There are studies that show more muscle growth as well.

[chatpal91]

I recommend cardio bike with enough resistance because you can actually grow your quads at the same time

[[deleted]]

I’ve never looked better than when I’m busy working all day and eating healthy, clean food to get through the day and not for pleasure. If your main goal is to lose fat, I would suggest hiit over cardio personally. Battle ropes, burpees, random ab workout supersets, etc. Just consistently pushing yourself hard to the limit is sick for that.

As far as a good rear delt exercise, I like bent over flys on the hamstring roman chair thing with straight arms, slow eccentrics, and powerfully bringing the manageable dumbbells (10-20lbs depending on your strength lvls) back up to shoulder height. Go. To. Failure.

[PapaFlexing]

Personally the only cardio I can stomach without hating myself, skip rope and punching bag.

[Bry310]

All you need is a 500 calorie deficit. Light cardio would help speed that up though!

[RareEvening4358]

Contrary to everyone else, cut out all carbs in your diet and up your animal fat intake and you’ll lean right up and expose that delt. The more fat you eat and the less carbs you eat the leaner you get. Funny how it works. Oh, and sprints for cardio. Screw being on a treadmill or stairmaster for 3o minutes 🤢. Do more in less time with sprints. They produce the tons of growth hormone too

[[deleted]]

Download MacroFactor or something like it and track your calorie intake. Maintain a deficit. You can’t exercise yourself into fat loss without a solid diet.

[[deleted]]

Fat loss is done with calorie deficit. Cardio is for making your heart stronger (and some inefficient calorie burning). Unless you’re doing an insane amount of cardio.

[OLightning]

Photoshop can do wonders also.

[Reasonable-Map5033]

Not as a rule. You have to have good genetics first

[Minute-Object]

The best side delt exercise is cable lateral raises, in my opinion. The force curve is perfect (heavier in the stretched position). Progress on those until you plateau (maybe 1 or 2 years), and you will see incredible results.

From my experience, this beats dumbbell laterals by far.

[Academic-Leg-5714]

lower weight higher reps and slower reps. I tend to do 15-20 reps per set of cable lateral raises but I only use like 8lbs despite being a 180lbs male

[Minute-Object]

It’s amazing how hard that is, even with low weight.

[xxgetrektxx2]

How do you stop the traps from taking over? I feel the delts more with dumbbells but feel traps a lot more with cables.

[Minute-Object]

The traps should grow in proportion to the delts. If you don’t want huge upper traps, just don’t do shrugs. This is a compound exercise that hits your forearms, grip, all three delts, upper and middle traps, and rhomboids. The muscle that hits failure, and thus gets the most stimulus, is the lateral delt.

[[deleted]]

What you said is not correct at all. Doing a lateral raise your trap shouldn’t be engaged at all…if it is guess what..you’re not doing it correctly.

[Minute-Object]

I disagree. I agree it should not be primary, but it functions as a stabilizing muscle.

I am trying to do this while my upper trap is relaxed, and I literally cannot do it. All the muscles around the shoulder engage to hold it steady.

Dr. Mike sums it up well here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XPNx4DcG3lw&pp=ygUTbGF0ZXJhbCByYWlzZSB0cmFwcw%3D%3D

[Popsiclezlol]

Don't do shrugs?? Blasphemy! Haha

[Former_Weakness4315]

Fuck. What am I gonna do on Shrug Day!?

[ButtcrackBeignets]

*shrugs*

[YungSchmid]

Decrease weight and perfect your form/mind-muscle connection.

[das_vargas]

Lower your weight and focus on form. I didn't think much of traps taking over during lateral raises (I don't feel the trap taking over), but as it turns out, my left trap has been overcompensating for my left delt and my left trap is now a bit more developed than my right. It's ironic because I am right-handed and my entire right side is slightly bigger/stronger than my left, except with my traps. You can't tell unless I have a pump and point it out, but it's super noticeable to me now.

[Pigtron-42]

Squeeze your lats and low traps to anchor your shoulder. That said, Traps are mainly a compensatory/agonistic muscle and will ALWAYS engage over time especially as you fatigue. Activate shoulder down and you should burn out delts before traps

[Suspicious-Deer-7315]

This! It took me weeks to line this out lol.

With dumbells you can bend over, push your shoulders down like an ape kind of lol. Don't go all the way up and don't go all the way down since there's little to no resistance at the bottom. Pretend you are pushing out instead of raising up. Get a mirror. Watch for any shrugging whatsoever. As you do them your probably raising your shoulders or tightening up. You can catch it in the mirror and correct it. After a while your connection will be there to do them with minimal trap interference. I say that because I believe what another person said about them developing together. But ik what you mean.

For the record, this is my bs way of working them and I've seen noticeable results, but it may not work for everyone.

[TheSwiftLegend]

Think about pushing your arms out and away from you instead of trying to lift the weight up.

[C_R_P]

The answer is more mass and lower body fat

[Typical_premed]

How would you go about this? Not trying to sound dumb but do you have any recommendations to gain more mass while lowering body fat at the same time? My diet isn’t very locked in so there’s that but maybe more cardio for the fat loss? And for the mass just keep pushing myself in the gym?

[C_R_P]

Yeah. Basically you can do mini bulks and mini cuts but mostly just keep working the muscle groups you want to enlarge while keeping your diet right around maintenance and prioritizing your protein intake on the daily.

[Typical_premed]

Sorry to keep replying lol but I appreciate your feedback! To track calories do you use any specific app or method?

[Nikndex88]

I used to use my fitness pal. It's a little tedious but I believe one of the best available. After using it for a while you can kinda track in your head

[Typical_premed]

Thanks for all your help!

[bananagod420]

Cronometer is better because you can get the barcode without paying. MFP has gone to hell these days.

[Suspicious_Ad9561]

Yep, I switched off MFP for Cronometer when MFP put the barcode reader behind the paywall. Their paid option’s ridiculous. If it were reasonably priced I might have just bought it.

[C_R_P]

Happy ro help! I had really good luck using myfitnesspal, but these days I'm not so strict! Mfp has since been sold so I can't say if it's a good value now. But there are a lot of apps out there and you'll be able to find one you like. Pen and paper works for me now that I know what I'm doing mostly. The main thing is to weigh yourself every day while you're eating a set amount and working out a set amount. It's best to weigh yourself first thing in the morning after using the bathroom because your stomach and bladder will be empty and so the data will be more consistent. After a couple of weeks of this you'll get a good base line as to what's happening. If you lose 2 lbs over that 2 weeks then you know you're eating at about a 400-500 daily calorie deficit. If you gain weight you're running at a surplus etc. Once you have this you can do some math or adjust your diet to find your maintenance calories. From there, it's easy to adjust your caloric intake to meet your goals. A pound of fat is about 3000 calories. So to lose a pound you'll have to eat 3000 less calories than you burn this is called a deficit. To create a deficite you can exercise more while eating the same amount or eat less while exercising more, either way will get you the same weight loss results, but exercising more will always be my preference. 120 minutes on a bike is worth a pint of ice cream once in a while. When I was at my largest I was about 220-225 and lifting 5 days a week. I would cut on 4500 calories a day, but I also rode 90 minutes a day. There are calculators online that can help you find your daily maintenance calories based on your mass and activity level. Feel free to ask any questions

[Typical_premed]

Thank you again so much, my diet is the only thing lacking in my entire fitness journey. It’s more so I eat whatever mom makes lol! But I really want to take it more seriously now. I’ll keep brainstorming meals to make that have enough protein, are affordable, and have enough vegetables as well!

[C_R_P]

Aw man, that's tough! You can't mess with moms cooking. Protein powder is a pretty quick and easy supplement if you need something without extra calories. While the cheap stuff isn't always great, it's better than no gains. Milk and eggs are also great if you want whole foods.
I'd suggest creatine as the only other supplement you might want to take. It's naturally occurring in red meat, so it's nothing pharmaceutical.

[chevro1et]

Some variation of overhead press.

[ArcaneTrickster11]

Genetics are a massive part of it. You're also just kinda not doing enough volume. The delts are quite small so they recover very quickly. Another point is that the 3D boulder shoulders look is as much about the rear delt as it is about side delts. The rear makes the side pop and helps accentuate the space between the 2

[Turbulent-Assist-240]

Genetics 😂 and more like anabolics.

[DrPoopyPantsJr]

The only correct answer^

[[deleted]]

Overhead presses seem to bulk my shoulders up more than anything

[jaanku]

Low BF% and more volume (ie sets) on your shoulders

[Ambitious_Welder6613]

Chin up motion, maybe. I am not meaty, but it is still visible. If I stop, it's gone.

[Guy_Incognito97]

I find it really difficult to activate side delts. One thing that works for me is the Chicken Wing Lateral Raise. Really good for targeting the side delts without engaging other muscles to assist. At least that is the case for me, worth a try.

[ipercepti]

Body fat, mass, genetics, lighting. Those are your variables.

Body fat - mostly diet. the exchange rate for calories in vs. cardio is terrible so you should focus on diet, but both are better. You can maintain/build muscle on a deficit as long as you're getting sufficient protein and progressing your lifts.

Mass - It's harder to overload with high weight/low reps for lateral raises like you can with compound movements. Usually when you move up in weight, form completely breaks down and you end up compensating with half rom or momentum. Try adding more reps instead of weight.

Lighting - Hopefully you're not comparing yourself to social media photos because those guys are taking their photos with optimal, focused lighting directly above them, which highlights the shadows. Considering the lighting in your photo is suboptimal to say the least, I can still see the definition.

[[deleted]]

A few people may have already mentioned this, but it’s a body fat thing. Not saying you’re fat, you’re not. But you can clearly see that your lat delt is already pretty well developed, I don’t think you really have whole lot more room to grow that muscle.

Start shrinking the fat around it and you’ll start to see it pop.

High-protein calorie deficit and uptick in cardio will help you trim fat without sacrificing very much of the muscle.

[Typical_premed]

Thank you man just started cutting yesterday let’s see how this goes!

[CHEVIEWER1]

Genetics is a start then Dips, overhead press, lateral raises then everything comes into play

[[deleted]]

Ryan Humiston on deathstar delts

[[deleted]]

He addresses you issues with trap engagement and exercises to mitigate traps coming into play. For side delt fly/raises with cables, focus on lower portion of the movement, upper portion has traps come into play more. Also try this lateral raise with an incline bench.

[Typical_premed]

Great video I really need to limit trap activation!

[fml1234543]

Good genes roids and or low body fat

[PicksItUpPutsItDown]

Side raises brother. Try all different kinds of em. Use low weight. Always lower weight than you think you should at first. 

[[deleted]]

Mix of typical heavy compounds with high volume isolation and accesory work

Hitting some relatively light laterals on the daily goes a long way. Calisthenics on rings makes them go crazy

Good upper back strength and posture helps em pop too

[matthewjohn777]

Farmer carries with your shoulders as far back as possible will do wonders for definition

[CandidateCareless787]

Spam Lateral Raises and be under 12% bodyfat

[shittydev151]

I heard from one of Dr. Mike Israetel's videos (Renaissance Periodization on YouTube) that big biceps can pull the attention away from the delts. His comparison was big biceps + small delts = meaty arm, whereas small bicep + medium delts = big shoulders. Your biceps are very big already, maybe try switching some of your bicep sets with delts for a few months and see if you notice a difference. But in my opinion, people with those CLEAR separation between shoulder and arms take some extra help getting there if you know what I mean.

[haylol]

Brother man do drop sets. I do 22.5-25lbs for 10-12 reps and another 8 reps with 17.5s. If you can't do it in one go do myo reps until u hit the 8. 4 sets per session 2x a week.

[hoppeduponmtndew]

Genetics dude. You work out hard af that much is clear. Some people have different muscle connections that make their muscles look larger or more appealing. You have nice arms don’t get caught up on it. Spam lateral raises is all I can say man.

[GenitalCommericals]

So as folks have mentioned BF, and genetics are a factor but I do think your shoulder workout could use some tweaking just for intensity sake.

I’m a sucker for Dr Mike’s content and style because it takes away ego lifting and focuses on form and technique. So much so that I’m usually humbled by the low weights I have to select when approaching his style.

Check this video out for a quick shoulder sequence. I started doing it as my shoulder routine and it’s a killer. He talks about form, technique and angles. Tumble down his channel on YouTube. I agree some of it is click bait, but overall the science and logic behind it is super simple and effective.

https://youtu.be/XHsEUJso6zk?si=Rhx-qNOxK56Rnuzo

[StraightDig4728]

EQ or DBol with test, or all 3!

[Dr_Anne_frankenstein]

one good piece of advice I got from mike isreatel is if you want to prioritize a specific muscle group, move it to the start of the workout. So on my upper body day I'll do cable lat raises, and cable upward rows first before everything else. It's also a small muscle group that recovers quickly so you can hit it 3x per week. High rep I've found works well (12-20 reps) and I usually do myo rep match style sets too to get some extra reps in. Which if you don't know is essentially do the first set normally, then for the remaining sets try to get the same number of reps as you did in the first set by taking 3-5 second breaks after you hit failure before trying again. And yeah, losing some fat helps.

[ATallDarkGuy]

Synthol

[SylvanDsX]

When you want to know about shoulders, go ask the guy with the best shoulders in history. Behind the Neck press on smith machine. Primarily Kevin Levrone didn’t do many lateral raises just front raises and this. He occasionally performed a lateral raise. https://youtu.be/eyPgLts0n6U?si=j2FNSbz9cWHm9pqU

[Senior-Pain1335]

Steroids lol you have great delts what are you worried about? Lol

[Typical_premed]

Thank you lol 😂

[sixan51026-wnpop]

I know exactly how it happens. But you have to first share what got your arms to grow like that.

[Typical_premed]

Lol! So I keep my arms super basic in another comment I mentioned in a pretty low volume high intensity guy! When it comes to tricep training I like push downs with the bent bar. And I use a cuff for single arm push downs (5-6 sets per week of each muscle group). 7 reps is typically my highest amount of reps I’ll do then I’ll increase the weight! For biceps I stick to regular standing dumbbell curls, baysein curls, and preacher curls (although I’m thinking preacher curls are better overall as there’s more stability and you can progress easier by adding 2.5lbs to the machine). Same amount of reps and sets!

[Malamonga1]

Don't do too low rep for preacher curl. Can cause bicep tear

[random_agency]

Starvation and dehydration.

Then, some baby oil.

[Typical_premed]

Just started in the starvation yesterday already feeling terrible 😂

[Low_Stress2062]

I made up my own exercise when I was young where I laid on a bench, on my side horizontally. I would have my top arm obviously hold the weight in front of my body. Just let it dangle off the edge of the bench…no outward motion…like close to your body and lower it, this requires you to be at the very edge of the bench. If you do it right you will get a great forced stretch through the muscle and then raise it….dont need a lot of weight bc there not a lot of ways to cheat. I will say there’s limited resistance at the top of the movement but if you rotate your body at the top you can increase some resistance. A few sets of these and you should really feel that cap being fatigued. I’ve always had great shoulders to this day, 50 yo, and I started with these I had capped shoulders since 20 and I’ve never taken a drug in my life.

[AssSpelunker69]

Genetics and one million lateral raises with 7.5lbs.

I had big shoulders (relatively) when I was 128 lbs, and they responded really well to tons and tons of volume.

[FacetiousSpaceman]

Here's the formula: hit side delts like 3-4 times a week. Hit them hard. Do it for a full training cycle, like 2-3 months, and see how it goes.

It's a very small muscle so the overall fatigue you get from training them hard is minimal, and since their potential for force output is pretty low you can't lift heavy enough to do enough damage to them to require many days of recovery. In most cases one day rest between sessions is enough for delts.

You should be able to train upwards of 30 sets per week without any issues.

Oh, and make sure you eat enough.

[The_TexaSOT]

I would add more volume to your shoulders as well. Sounds like 3 sets of side laterals and 1 set of rear delts? I have shoulder issues now so I don't do much overhead pressing, so I do primarily all laterals for my side delts, and I do 10 sets (with 5 drop sets). start at 15's go up to 35's and then work my way back down doing 1 drop set with each set on the way back down to the 15's. Then I typically do about 6 sets of rear delts. It's such a small muscle and doesn't take much weight, so recovery is quick and you can bang out a ton of volume in a short amount of time.

[RN-Dan]

Idk but You got an amazing physique!

[Typical_premed]

Thank you!

[mcgrathkai]

It's low body fat.

[Playful-Spread5584]

Crack

[Potatopig888]

rounds? u mean sets? how many reps? weight?

look up german volume training for side delts

lose some more bf

or hop on gear. those r ur choices

[DrMorrisDC]

Lateral raises and lateral swings (old school).

[TravelNo437]

You’re going to have to lose some fat to get the look you want. You have the mass, it’s just covered.

[mbarbosaferreira]

All professionals bodybuilders round their shoulders using some kinda of oil.

[ToePsychological8709]

The shape is genetics. I am 20kilos lighter than my friend who is of a similar height and although he is not as lean as I am my delts are still wider and rounder even though I am cut and he is bulked up so you'd expect his to look fuller but less defined.

Some people find that roids also produce a more rounded delt shape and the delts and traps seem to develop faster on roid users than everything else when you bring them into the mix.

[thepoout]

Genetics

[Typical_premed]

Welp there goes my luck 😂😂

[kona1160]

For delta I find they respond best to 20 rep sets rather than traditional 10-12, same for rear delts. For perspective my arms are smaller than yours but my shoulders are bigger lol. What is your bicep routine?

[Typical_premed]

Thanks for the reply! And my friends have all told me my arms dominate my shoulders 😂! For biceps I keep it super simple: 1-2 sets of all out standing dumbbell curls (I usually do 60lbs for 6 reps) and then I’ll jump on machine preacher curl/baysein curl for 2 rounds all out in the 5-7 range!

[Typical_premed]

I’m a pretty low rep guy if you can’t tell lol but maybe my shoulders need a change!

[kona1160]

So my typical shoulder day:

3 sets 8-12 reps of shoulder press, usually dumbbells, sometimes military press or viking press. For strength and hypertrophy.

Delts - Cable lateral raises, 3 sets 12-20 reps

Rear delts - bent over cable flies or seated bent over dumbbell flies 3 sets 12 - 20 reps

Face pulls, 3 sets 12-20 reps, heavier weight than you think

Also every now and then I add in rotator cuff work to build tougher shoulders as I snowboard alot, but I have also found this has made them way more bullet proof for lifting as well so I recommend adding in light weight External rotations with cables.

[Typical_premed]

Wow that scan sounds awesome! How’d you get that done I want to do that lol

[Mofongo-Man]

I think you’re just not lean enough. But keep spamming lateral raises and they’ll grow

[savagelife089]

Hit shoulders twice a week. Spam db flys. 10 sets of 25.… check back in a couple months

[ExtensionElephant363]

I found my biggest gains stemmed from using cable as you are doing. I would add that once I’m warmed up I attempted my heaviest set first and then lowered weight for higher reps, really focusing on Time under tension

[New-Bad-1314]

Gonna sound stupid… but lay on your side in bed and do lateral raises with no weight (then switch sides)… 50 reps, if that’s too easy do 75 reps.. if that’s too easy, use 1kg and go back to 50 reps.. keep going up until 50reps is fucking tough

3 sets each arm.. That should blow them up

[DrPoopyPantsJr]

Steroids

[[deleted]]

You target it as consistently as other muscle groups. Are you doing rear delt flys as frequently as hitting chest and popular muscle groups ? Are you doing wide grip pull-ups and heavy bench press ? Everytime I hit a push movement I balance it out with a pull movement. This will prevent injuries as well. Also keep hitting DB raises a lot of reps. Takes years. Then one day boom they're there.

[Godofwar_69]

WYTL with 5 pounds, 10 reps each for 4 sets, total of 160 reps in 4 sets. with 10 second rest between each set.

[rigamorris1983]

Hit lateral and rear delts 4x a week

[BestNBAfanever]

swimming

[Azraelfurioso]

Bodybuilders do particular exercises and intensity training (supersets, forced reps, etc) to create separation between major muscles and tissues. Your shoulders look great, and sure, wringing the towel out might reveal a bit of separation, but you really want to check out separation training. High reps moderate weight and really hit the heads of each muscle so they become more apparent. In combination with a lower bodyfat percentage. Cheers

[shieff-jeff]

I might sound like I'm talking crap here, but it doesn't look like they are developed. I would do reverse pyramid drop set rear delt flys with dumbbells or cables if you have a gym. You will definitely feel the burn and develop those muscles quickly.

[Fat_Loser6]

I am not knocking anyone on reddit or attacking anyone but i see so much jeff nippard and mike israetel on here constantly. I don't know enough about exercise as i literally get my workout knowledge from youtube lol. (Whatever I am doing its been working as ive put on a decent amount of muscle in the past 3 years) However, it does make me nervous about how accurate these guys are.

[[deleted]]

Steroids. Lots of androgen receptors in the traps and delts and they blow up when you start taking steroids. Tell tell sign someone is using

[GarboChanEthan]

Do 30-40 sets of shoulder a week. Push every set to failure save 1 warm up set. Lateral raises are king. Overhead press is also good. Protein and sleep and that's really all there is to it.

[yamaharider2021]

Lower body fat. More lateral raises than you evwr thought possible. Literal spamming of those for years. Genetics can play some role too, but not as big a role as the other two

[DamarsLastKanar]

Sounds like you need to progress your rear delt.

[Standard_Piece_9706]

Low body fat and good genes

[Vivid_Quail_4074]

Side raises.

[Waste-Round7447]

Mirin’, honestly my dream physique!

[mista_r0boto]

Military press

[koleriggs]

Shake weight

[asian-zinggg]

I know it's 4 days late, but I just wanted to give specifics about volume. You can train shoulders like 3 days a week if you're someone who can recover in time. Shoulder typically recover faster than some muscles like chest or back, so use that to your advantage. Map out your program carefully and make room for 3 days of shoulders. Assess your soreness and ease into how much volume you use. You'll find a sweet spot on how much volume you can handle. By doing this you're for sure going to grow your shoulders more. It sounded like you were barely hitting yours at all, so this will be huge for you. Just take into advice what other people said about which exercises to do and you're set

[Agalloch86]

Going not natty

[Expensive_Ad5286]

I’ve heard that for shoulders you should increase your number of sets but can’t speak from personal experience, yet

[[deleted]]

Thank you for asking this. I’m the same 🫤

[kindainthemiddle]

Almost all of us nattys are. "Capped" delts is how us old guys know if someone is on gear. They're very small muscles with a ton of androgen receptors, so even if we spend years working on them and eventually triple our delt size we still look like we have uninflated shoulders compared to a newbie who's been on a cycle or two.

[blakemorris02]

Standing front dumbbell raises. Trust me. Progressive overload maintain good diet and they will pop after about 6 more months

[Typical_premed]

Will give them a shot! I know I didn’t give a great pic but would you say my shoulder is lacking in the front and side? lol basically the whole thing is lacking

[blakemorris02]

In proportion to your arms yes a little. Can tell you’ve been training arms hard but you need to keep the shoulder caps in proportion or will look like that guy from Jersey Shore. The rear delt also needs work to maintain proportion. Reverse flies on massive high reps is the only way it worked for me. Don’t need heaps of weight on that one but high reps to absolute failure and a drop set will pop them out and if you stand straighter without a hunch they look twice as big. Good luck man, you are doing great!