The Best Damn Boulder Shoulder Superset

Building beautifully-capped boulder shoulders may not be as straightforward as some of us think. Many of us struggle to build the medial delt, and some even have a side that lags behind entirely. Let me show you an incredible superset, and explain why it's such a good use of your time.

Why this superset in particular?

Building beautifully-capped boulder shoulders may not be as straightforward as some of us think. Many of us struggle to build the medial delt, and some even have a side that lags behind entirely. Let me show you an incredible superset, and explain why it's such a good use of your time.

But as is tradition, let me begin with an analogy

You ever have a group project where that one control freak needs to have everything done to their standard, so they just end up doing most of the work? And then they get all upset because nobody else contributed? Well that control freak is your anterior delt. The anterior delt tends to be stronger, and if we aren't careful - it'll complete the 'group project' before the medial delt even starts to contribute.

When doing any superset for the shoulders, I love pushing the anterior delt to exhaustion before targeting the medial head. This ensures we get a great shot at targeting that coveted medial delt without those pesky anterior delts taking over. To refer back to the prior analogy, we're wearing out that control freak with a nice long work shift before they have a chance to take over the entire group project.

But can we do even better?

Of course we can - we get a chance to target each side independently of one another.

Look, I'm not usually one who preaches symmetry as a solution to your ailments - quite the opposite in fact. The human body isn't meant to be symmetrical, and oftentimes this asymmetry is an advantageous adaptation to an asymmetrical world.

Except for the fact that the human eye is drawn to symmetry. So what the heck is more aesthetic than two, beautifully symmetrical capped delts?

Exactly. It's not a long list.

We get it, you like this superset. Do you plan on sharing it?

Let's get to it!

If you have a weaker side, let's start with that (whether it's your dominant side or not). If you aren't sure, start with your non-dominant side.

On that side, you'll begin with a half-kneeling single arm dumbbell press. The knee opposite to the target arm will be the one facing forward. Below is a picture you can use for reference:

I generally recommend 8-12 reps for this exercise, but what's far more important is that you perform this set close to failure.

Immediately upon completing this set, we should have a significantly lighter dumbbell ready for leaning lateral raises. We use one arm to maintain the leaning torso angle, and the other arm to perform the lateral raise.

The advantage of this leaning position, is to change the joint angles at which the shoulder is loaded. This stimulus is significantly different from traditional standing lat raises, and becomes even more effective when we pre-exhaust the anterior delt like I mentioned in the beginning of the article.

Here is what the leaning lat raise should look like:

With this exercise I generally recommend 15-20 reps, but again the more important variable is proximity to failure.

When done correctly, this superset should be an effective stimulus for both the anterior and medial deltoid. It should also work to address any obvious weaknesses that we have on one side vs the other.

So what are you waiting for!? Go build those boulder shoulders!

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The Best Damn Boulder Shoulder Superset

Building beautifully-capped boulder shoulders may not be as straightforward as some of us think. Many of us struggle to build the medial delt, and some even have a side that lags behind entirely. Let me show you an incredible superset, and explain why it's such a good use of your time.