[ReMos]

I have recently focused on losing weight, and after getting my weight problem i am now ready to put on some muscle mass (I do not want to be skinny fat... :P )

I have very large pokey irritating pelvic bone, which makes the bottom/middle-section of my body look very wide.
I also have always neglected my back and shoulders due to a few reasons, which means they are below average. -this distorts my proportions so much i cannot describe!

I go to the gym around 4 times a week, and usually my workouts are as follows:
1st (usually monday): legs
2nd (usually tuesday): arms and abs
(wednesday: nothing/cardio)
3rd (usually thurs): back
4th (usually friday): shoulders and abs

I feel like my back and shoulder workouts are not as effective as the others, and i would like to seriously put an emphasis on my shoulders and back to increas the size of my shoulders and upper back. there is nothing I'd like more than to broaden my back and shoulders!!!
(I am willing to go to the gym extra days, work out harder, ANYTHING. I just want good exercises!!!)

(ALSO, my back is not strong nough to do pullups etc unassisted, so you can count those out)


I need help with good effective exercises to gain shoulder and back mass, (and strength)!!! ANY HELP IS APPRECIATED !!!

[The Blind Monk]

Depends on what kind of kit you have access to. I'd be quite happy to tell you to do assisted pullups, t-bar rows and machine pullovers but you might not have access to the equipment/type of gym which will let you do these sorts of movements.

I'd also recommend some rehab type stuff for shoulders because they're good for most people: google YWTL/Dan John Batwing/Facepull

[The Troll Toll]

So long as you're doing mostly compounds I think exercise selection is probably secondary to effort, volume and loading. Effort is obvious, and should be high on all exercises. Back you can probably get away with heavier weights and less volume, shoulders you need to do mix in some higher weights with lighter reps, which will probably come from isolations which you don't need for back.

I'd structure my back day simply like

Heavy deadlift
Drop set of 1 arm DB rows
Lat pulldowns, either another drop set if you get away with less volume or 5x10 if you don't. The latter option is by far the best starting point.

Shoulders

Heavy barbell press of some sort, but for more reps than the deadlift. For example for deadlift you might do a heavy triple and then a back off set of 8. I'd do something like 3x5 on your press.
Drop set of DB press
Then isolations
50 reps on rear delts
50 on side delts
25 on front delts (optional since it's never anyone's weakness)

The drop sets should be really tough in this.

[Sammydemon]

(Original post by The Troll Toll)

Heavy deadlift
Drop set of 1 arm DB rows
Lat pulldowns, either another drop set if you get away with less volume or 5x10 if you don't. The latter option is by far the best starting point.

Shoulders

Heavy barbell press of some sort, but for more reps than the deadlift. For example for deadlift you might do a heavy triple and then a back off set of 8. I'd do something like 3x5 on your press.
Drop set of DB press
Then isolations
50 reps on rear delts
50 on side delts
25 on front delts (optional since it's never anyone's weakness)

The drop sets should be really tough in this.

Deadlift (3x5) for the back and shoulder press for the shoulders (3x5).

The bold exercies seem pointless to me. The Drop set DB press may be useful once a plateau is reached from the heavy OHP.

[The Troll Toll]

(Original post by Sammydemon)
Deadlift (3x5) for the back and shoulder press for the shoulders (3x5).

The bold exercies seem pointless to me. The Drop set DB press may be useful once a plateau is reached from the heavy OHP.

So you're suggesting dropping shoulder volume from ~140 reps to 15? Per week.

I am not convinced.

[silent ninja]

Whether you can or can't do pull-ups, inverted rows are awesome. They are a lot more effective than rows, are shoulder friendly and will work your back extremely well. Finally, a use for the Smith machine :

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009...reat-exercise/

http://stronglifts.com/how-to-do-inverted-rows/

Start off with your knees bent and work from there to the harder variations.

[Sammydemon]

(Original post by The Troll Toll)
So you're suggesting dropping shoulder volume from ~140 reps to 15? Per week.

I am not convinced.

Not per-week. I'm just plucking the value from within my full routine. He should probably do 3x5 OHP maximum weight for 2 or (maybe) 3 times per week. Decent recovery times are a must, as I'm sure you know.

[commandant]

^that won't really make your shoulders grow though

if you want them nice and round like cannon balls, you need to focus on the rear and side delt shiz

[RudeBoy]

Swimming is a great exercise for the shoulders and back.

My favourite shoulder exercise with weights is the military press followed by side raises. I hate shrugs!

[Thebigfudge85]

A 4 day split i found was great for building muscles, especially shoulder as you give them a day on their own, My shoulder workout at the minute is a 12,10,8,6 set of dumbell military press then the same with side raises. Go heavy and the last 6 you shoud struggle to complete. In the shoulder day also do some trap work, shoulder shrugs and delt raises.

When it comes to the back dedicate a day to it on its own, I alway do 10,10,8,6 of wide grip pull ups, then the same for close grips, I follow it up with 12,10,8,6 in bent over rows and the same again in single arm rows. If you can't doa pullup use the assisted pull up machine if your gym has one,

I was in a similar situation went from 19 Stone 8 to my current wieght of 15.9 in about 18 months. Which i thought was another benefit of the 4 day split as you are still fresh and you can fit in tons of cardio after your weights session.

[SEHughes]

Add an easy set of pullups between all your pressing exercises.