Get to the shoulders and chest, men! A fitness coach explains what needs to be done in order to soon be able to boast male proportions.
Bust size is important. Not just for men. Women also like to look when the guys have the right curvatures on top. To protect and mark territory, a man urgently needs broad shoulders. “In three to four months you can visibly develop your shoulders with clever training,” says celebrity fitness coach Jörn Giersberg (www.figurtrainer.de). Strong shoulder areas also perfectly compensate for the lifebuoy on the stomach: “This gives the body more attractive proportions than if shoulders and arms atrophy and the stomach becomes more pronounced.”
If you’re ambitious and train every day, you’ll only channel your energy into the exercises – but not into building muscle. He recommends training your chest muscles intensively once a week and your triceps on your shoulders once a week. “Always work on both,” he warns, “because without pectoral muscles, the shoulder builds up too slowly. They need each other.”
There are also additional units on both exercise days to activate back muscles and other muscle groups. “It’s important to work on the triceps, shoulder muscles, chest muscles and back at the same time to strengthen the entire upper body. If you train too specifically, poor posture can occur,” he warns. An upright posture not only looks attractive, it also prevents back problems. Cardio training for weight loss is not important in this building phase: “You only start when you have muscles.” >>
Barbell training
The good old “bench press” with barbells is ideal for the right bust size. “This basic exercise activates the various muscles of the shoulder, pectoral muscles and triceps in one movement,” he explains. But first you have to find out the right weight to start training. Depending on your body weight and level of training, 20 to 40 kilograms are placed on the first warm-up set. Lower the barbell to your chest, press it back up with power until your arms are extended and repeat. If you could easily lift this weight ten to 15 times, stop after eight repetitions and add ten kilograms more for the second set.
Now repeat four to six times. If you can easily lift 50 kilograms with body tension, that’s right. Two minute break. In the third set, 55 to 60 kilograms are on the bar. Press up with power two to four times without exerting yourself. The fourth set follows with 60 to 65 kilograms. This determines the weight that you can lift two to three times.
A constant weight doesn’t bring success.
Now it’s getting difficult. Good this way! Because this energy makes the muscles grow – but only if the sets are coordinated correctly: It’s all about the right warm-up sets and the optimal increase in intensity: “It’s about warming up smartly. The dosage is crucial.” It is important to improve systematically and top your best values in the next training session. According to Giersberg, anyone who initially manages less should not allow themselves to be influenced by the bodybuilders in the gym: “Go your own way.” But if you work with the same weights for six weeks, you don’t have to hope for broad shoulders, he emphasizes. “It’s often shown that way in the gyms, but it doesn’t help much.” >>
Around three quarters of training in the gym should be spent working with barbells and dumbbells – and only a quarter should be spent working on equipment. “Dumbbell training is the core of training.” There are plenty of ways to vary it: “For example, you can adjust the bench so that it is higher on the foot side than on the head side – or vice versa as with the incline bench press.” But the higher your head is, the less weight you can press. >>At home and on the go, push-ups are just the right way to improvise when the walk to the gym is too annoying, too cold or too wet. But here too it is important to maintain a clean posture: the body forms a straight line from the calves to the hair on the back of your neck. Then lower yourself cleanly until the tip of your nose touches the floor and push yourself up with energy. After about three months, Jörn Giersberg recommends losing excess fat with cardio training and using “isolation exercises” to define the individual muscle groups around the upper body for the broad shoulders. “You can do this well with machines in the gym, but also at home with special dumbbell exercises. But keep training with the barbell, otherwise the muscle mass will shrink again.”