When you look at Arnold, Im sure sometimes you may wonder if he has kept a basketball up his sleeves. Many men strive hard to get that perfect big shoulders as it makes them appear wider and masculine. Actually there are two things that are to be worked on to get those pumped up shoulder muscles, they are the width of the shoulders and how thick they are. The key to real body building is adding up muscle mass to your shoulders to make them look bigger than they actually are. It again helps you in two ways. The torso looks really wide and thick and secondly if the shoulders are bigger, it makes the lower part of your body appear thinner and in shape.
Most of the bodybuilders swear by upright barbell rows when it comes to shoulder building, as it helps hit all of the three important main muscle fibers, i.e. the anterior deltoid, the lateral deltoid and the posterior deltoid.
Upright barbell rows guide:
For freshers, start with warm up exercises before starting your barbell plates. This will make your muscles flexible.
Now grab your barbell plates with an overhand grip that is to some extent less than your shoulder width. See to it that the bar rests on the top of your thighs. Your arms should be extended and your elbows should be slightly bent. Do not bend when you are holding the barbell plate; instead keep your body straight. This will be the starting position of your upright barbell rows exercise.
Now breathe out and lift the bars by using the sides of your shoulders and by raising your elbows right up and also to the side. As you raise the barbell plate see to It that you raise the bar close to your body and continue to lift the weight until you reach a position where the bar almost touches your chin. Remember that while performing this step particularly, your elbows should make the movement and it should be always higher than your forearms.
When you lift the bar, keep your upper part of the body motionless and hold the position for a second or two.
Now bring the bar back down to the starting position and inhale as you come back to this position.
If you are beginner, start by lifting a 25 to 35 pound barbell plate with a set of 20 reps in the first two weeks, then increase it by 3 sets of 12 reps for the other two weeks, followed by three sets of 15 reps in the 5th and 6th week, then 3 sets of 20-25 reps and as you progress depending on your capacity, increase the sets. But see to it that you do not overdo it, as it can spoil your health instead of making it. For an advanced lifter, it is always good to start with a 45-100 pound weight with recommended sets.
So why wait any longer? Just grab your barbell plates and start working out. You are sure to achieve great results within a couple of months.
