What's up guys, Michael Kamalu here aka Dr Gaines and today's video is part two of "Everything you
need to know about shoulders" and this is the part where we get to the good stuff.
Now that we have an understanding of all of the movements of the shoulder and the 17 muscles that
go into that, we have a solid foundation to build the actual Deltoids upon. And build them we will.
In this video, not only will I break down the anatomy and functions of the three different
heads of the Deltoids, but I'll also walk you through specific exercises to isolate them in your
workouts. So let's get to it. We'll start with the Anterior Head of the Deltoid. The Anterior
Head is probably the hardest to isolate in a workout and I'll explain why in a bit. But first,
gotta understand the anatomy. The Anterior Head is also called the Clavicular Head
and you can see why. While the other two heads of the Deltoids originate from the Scapula,
the Anterior Head actually originates from a totally different bone and that is the Clavicle.
The Lateral third of the clavicle, to be specific hence Clavicular Head of the Deltoids. And then
it wraps around and inserts on the Lateral edge of the Humerus in what's conveniently called the
Deltoid Tubercle of the Humerus. So, what's going to happen when the Anterior Deltoid contracts?
Well, three different things. First, because the origination point is above the insertion
point and on the front of the body, it's going to pull up on the Humerus and flex it forward.
Second, since the origin is more medial than the insertion point or closer to the midline of the
body, it's also going to pull the shoulder forward in what's called Transverse Adduction. Adduction
meaning bringing something closer to the middle of your body. And then third,
since it wraps around the Humerus to pull from the Lateral edge, it's going to pull that
in. What that results in is medial or internal rotation of the shoulder. Now,
I mentioned earlier that the Anterior Deltoid is the hardest head to isolate in your workouts.
Now, if you watched part one of this series, then you might start to understand why. Because there's
one other muscle that does all those same three movements, flexion of the shoulder, adduction of
the shoulder and medial rotation of the shoulder. What muscle is that Pectoralis Major. Now, look at
the size of Pec Major compared to the Anterior Head of your Deltoid. Which one of those do you
think is going to win in a fight? So, because of that, it's very difficult to take the Pec Major
out of any of your Anterior Deltoid workouts. It will take most of the load away, however,
one strategy to do that is to take the motion that is the major role of the Anterior Deltoid,
which is flexion which also happens to be a minor role for Pec Major. And hit that with
a couple tweaks. Here's how you do it. Alright guys, time to hit the Anterior Deltoid because, if
it's positioned next to all the powerful internal rotators, the Anterior Deltoid is actually the
very hardest part of the shoulder to work, and for those of us who have a history of shoulder pain,
it's even harder because a lot of the anterior motions are what really give us pinching and pain.
So, this exercise I'm going to show you is actually my favorite way to
completely isolate the Anterior Deltoid and work it without getting that pain. But first,
I'm going to tell you why you should never do what the vast majority of people I see do in order to
try and hit their Anterior Deltoid. Guarantee you have seen this motion at the gym before. With,
whether it's a dumbbell, two dumbbells, barbell or whatever, it's horizontal facing the ground
and, they go forward. That's one of the worst motions you could do for your shoulder because you
are locking your shoulder in an anteriorly rotated position, and then pinching it. With dumbbells and
free weights especially, you're really not even getting any resistance until you get about here,
here to here is where the real resistance happens, and that is where the most pinching happens as
well. So, we're going to avoid all that and get a better workout with the cable because
we can manipulate the point of resistance to hit the full range of the Anterior Deltoid
without getting the pinching motion. So, the first tip is, you're going to grip the handle
with an open palm. So, rather than palm down which pinches the shoulder and forces internal rotation,
we're going to open up that joint. Not only does it prevent the pinching, but it also actually hits
the Anterior Deltoid muscles better because the fibers are now facing opposite the resistance
whereas, if you have your hand down, you're really working more of the middle Deltoid than anything.
Open palm gets that insertion of those pi fibers facing the right way and opens up the joint.
From there, we're gonna do some raises out in front of us making sure we keep an open palm.
Like any of my Lateral raise exercises, you can manipulate the point of resistance by moving
forward more. Moving forward, the resistance is now more at the beginning of the motion, or if
I want to move back, the resistance is now at the end of the motion. Just like with dumbbells, keep
an open palm so that you're not bringing the bicep or forearm into it. I want to isolate the Deltoid,
get a good contraction. Now, one final tip on the Anterior Deltoid with that exercise specifically
is that, if you actually abduct your arm slightly as you bring it up or move it to the side,
then you can isolate it better by taking Pec Major out of it a little more. It wants to bring your
arm in. So, by having slight abduction during that movement, you can be sure that you're not
just working your chest and hit that main motion of the Anterior Deltoid. Still,
next we'll go over the Lateral Head of the Deltoid also called the Chromial Head
because it originates from the Acromion which is that lateral most part of the Scapula that
you can feel on your shoulder. Then inserts on the same place as the Anterior Deltoid,
that Deltoid Tuberosity since the origin and insertion point of the Lateral Head are in line
with each other. It doesn't have the same rotation roles that the Anterior and Posterior Heads do it
only is responsible for abduction of the shoulder. Here's the best way to isolate it
in your workouts. In this video, I'm going to show you how to do true dumbbell lateral raises. Now,
the vast majority of people do these wrong because they don't understand one simple concept,
and it's that the first 15 degrees of abduction are not done by your Deltoid. They're done by the
Supraspinatus. So, from here to here, you're not getting any tension or work done on the Deltoid.
From here to here, that's where the real work happens. So, the way we hit the Deltoids
hard in a lateral raise is by keeping our motion from here to here.
We never drop down below 15 degrees and we go back up. Try these and you will notice
a really big difference as you maintain constant tension on those Deltoids, rather than from here.
There's a big rest at the bottom because, not only are you not working your Deltoids from there to
there, but there's no resistance with gravity from here to here. You're not working against gravity,
it's a side to side motion, so true dumbbell lateral raises we start here. Let me go up
and back down always with a pause at the top to make sure we're getting a good contraction.
One last important tip on the lateral raises is that, when you hit 90 degrees, your Trapezius
actually gets activated and is responsible for abducting your arm from 90 degrees up to 180. Now,
the Lateral Deltoid is still involved. That's why, when you do overhead shoulder presses,
you are working the Lateral Deltoid because it still is abduction of the arm. However,
you have a lot of Trapezius involved there and you also have a lot of Triceps involved in overhead
presses. Now, that's not a bad thing, but my point is if you really want to isolate the Lateral
Head in a particular workout and load as much as possible on it, without having other muscles take
some load away. Then lateral raises between 15 and 90 degrees is your sweet spot. Now, let's get to
my favorite part of the Deltoids to work and that is the Posterior Deltoid. It's just one of those
muscles that, depending on how well developed it is, can really make or break someone's physique.
You can really tell if someone knows what they're doing in a workout and it's also a muscle with a
lot of practical uses. For example, if developed properly the Posterior Deltoid is one of the best
ways to prevent shoulder injuries and rotator cuff impingements. For example, the Posterior Deltoid
is also called the Scapular head of the Deltoid. And I turned bones around here so that you can see
why it originates from what's called the Spine of the Scapula and then travels down to insert again,
same place, Deltoid Tuberosity Lateral edge of the Humerus just like the Anterior Head. The
Posterior Head has three roles. First, because it originates from the posterior aspect or the
backsideback side of your body. It will extend the shoulder backwards and hyper extend the shoulder,
pulling it back behind your back. Second, when the arm is in an abducted position, it will pull
that back in what's called transverse abduction. Then third, since it wraps around the arm to
insert on the lateral aspect. When it pulls it will externally rotate the shoulder or,
in other words, laterally rotate the arm. Here's a great exercise to nail that post to your head.
So with these posterior deltoid motions remember that, because of the anatomy of the Deltoid,
you got to get your arm and elbow up behind your back in order to get full contraction there.
Now, one of the advantages to the cable is that you can get the resistance, not only up
but back at an angle as well. I like it a little more than with the dumbbells. Also,
with these ones, I like to use the wrist straps here because you take your forearm and bicep out
of the motion by creating slack in your fingers to try it. You'll be able to see the difference,
if you grab the cable, it inevitably bring a lot of forearm and bicep into that motion.
But, if you're able to relax that arm, then you can really isolate that Posterior Deltoid. Here's
what it looks like. So bringing that arm back and up at an angle, making sure we get really good,
full contraction at the top and hugging the side of my body throughout the whole motion.
I actually am rotating my arm a little bit out as I go up as well.
Now, if you noticed those three motions of the Posterior Deltoid were the exact opposites of
the Anterior Deltoid. The Deltoid is the only muscle that is its own antagonist and that's a
very good example of why it's so important to understand anatomy. If you're just doing one
motion to work your shoulders, you are not going to hit all parts of the Deltoid. It's
literally impossible because two of the heads do opposite motions. There are dozens of other ways
to work all three heads of the shoulders and a lot more principles to learn and implement. If you're
serious about fitness and specifically, you really want to work your Deltoids like you
never have in your life, then sign up using a link that i will put in the comments below this video
to pre-register for the Dr Gaines online training programs and you will be notified
as soon as they launch. The first one I'll be releasing is the Dr Gaines shoulder program.
Let me know if you have any comments or questions below and I'll see you guys next time!