Have you ever seen a guy with massive shoulders walk down the street? Chances are, such a guy may have had to walk through a door sideways. Kinda freaky, but also kinda cool, right?

Many of us like the idea of having big, broad shoulders, but accomplishing that goal is not so simple.

Where do we start? What exercises work the best?

In this easy guide, you’ll discover the most effective ways to ensure that you’re building greater strength and growing big boulder shoulders.

Use these strategies to get the big shoulders you want:

1. Fix your posture. Having big shoulders is almost a futile endeavor unless you can successfully have good posture. This means having the ability to relax your shoulders and neck in an optimal position without putting stress on the muscles.

◦ Having big shoulders is all about good blood flow. Without good posture, you might be restricting your ability for growth and the end goal of broad shoulders.

◦ Train and correct yourself for optimal posture before you begin your strength training.

2. Train heavy. Assuming that you have a base level of strength, training heavy will be one of the biggest components to your success in building bigger shoulders.

◦ Hypertrophy is our goal, and this will not occur as optimally with a lower weight. On the other hand, if you can train safely with a higher weight and lower reps (below 5-6 per set), you will see growth very quickly.

3. Use overhead presses. There is no better exercise to develop the shoulders than the overhead press. Not only is it a complete strength exercise that requires core stability and untamed pressing power, but you are also able to make the most of your heavyweights.

◦ A warning to beginners: Be sure to start on a machine or with lighter weight until you build up the strength in the shoulders to press something overhead.

◦ You can also use dumbbells to condition each arm in a very balanced setting, as this will ensure that you don’t have one arm working harder than another. Surely, you don’t want to end up with one big arm and one little arm, right?

4. Use cables. The only downsides to free weights are that they do not provide a steady flow of strength recruitment throughout the entire range of motion. Cables, on the other hand, like those found on a machine at your gym, will train your shoulders through a complete range of motion.

◦ This will help to ensure that you are always growing stronger in the most balanced way possible.

Building Bigger Shoulders

Your quest to build giant bowling balls on your shoulders will take time and dedication to your practice. There’s no need to rush something like this, as all it will do is bring you closer to an injury spectrum.

Instead, take it slow, track your results, and work in a progressive strength setting.

It’s really easy to injure yourself when you’re training shoulders with your ego!

Drop the ego, train smart, and watch your shoulders grow bigger, broader, and stronger.