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The shoulders or the deltoids, are among the most important muscles we use in our daily lives. Whether we’re pushing, pulling or lifting things over our heads, the shoulder muscles always come into play. They’re also a key factor in aesthetics.

Wide shoulders are desirable because they can make your frame look more proportional by widening the appearance of the upper body. They create an inverted triangle shape in the upper body that’s wider at the top and narrower at the waist. Wide shoulders are more square than round, and sometimes have a bony protrusion. They’re often associated with athleticism. Having well-developed shoulders can indicate strength and health since you’ll have lots of upper body muscle mass. It’s recommended that you support shoulder strength with a strong back and arms as well as a lean waist.

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Standing up straight can also help enhance the appearance of your shoulders. Opening your chest and drawing your shoulders back down your spine can help improve your posture. This can make you feel and look more confident and boost your mood. But achieving a hot body isn’t as easy as it looks and most often than not, individuals face difficulty fitting their shirt’s sleeves.

But today is your lucky day, as team FHM helps you with the key to an ideal upper body, as we speak to an expert in the field of fitness. Hailing from a small town named Polaha, Madhya Pradesh, Jitendra Chouksey, Founder of the apps SQUATS & FITTR, moved to Pune and initially began working for an IT company. After completing the Nutrition Science course from ISSA, he set out to change the way people thought about fitness and the way they approached getting fit. “I strongly believe that education is the key and that’s what I set off to do with Fittr, educate people and give them all the tools they need for getting fit and staying fit for life,” said Jitendra.

But in order to achieve a body that is as desirable as a double chocolate chip cake, is not an easy feat. To start off you need to set goals and most importantly begin the process, that might be the most scary part. Procrastination, often takes over and our busy lives seem to rule the day, keeping our dreams of a fitter life astray. But how do we make it work?

“People seem to take care of their cars and pets better than they take care of their bodies. Health and fitness seem to be quite low on peoples’ priority lists when, in fact, there is nothing more important. If you want a good life, if you want to be pain-free and disease-free well into your twilight years, then you need to make fitness an integral part of your daily routine. Proper exercise, a nutritious diet, and adequate sleep, that’s all it takes,” said Jitendra.

He further goes on to say that, “stalling is resistance to change and it takes on a number of forms, especially fear. I wish there were a magic formula for overcoming procrastination but the only thing that works is taking action. In the beginning, simply aim to turn up at the gym. Don’t overthink things, don’t keep very high expectations of yourself. Start small, build a daily habit, take it one day at a time, this seems to work. You’ll be amazed at what just 6 months of doing this will do for your health and body.”

Workout Tip

Start your workout when not fatigued and at your strongest, with five sets of five repetitions with a heavy, standing military press with a weight 70 per cent to 80 per cent of your one repetition maximum. Try adding supersets into your shoulder routine. This is where you perform multiple exercises within one set. This is particularly good for shoulders that by their anatomical nature work over many ranges of motion.

Shoulder width can be changed to a certain degree. But you can’t change your bone structure, which is determined mostly by genetics. This includes the width of the collarbones, an important part of shoulder width. However, you can build up and develop muscular shoulders. You can use training methods to make your shoulders stronger, which makes them look wider and aesthetically pleasing.

Every body is different. How much muscle and size you can build is ultimately a function of your genetics. Having said that, there are some basic training protocols which must be kept in mind if you want to build big shoulders.

“The shoulder has about 8 muscles; when people say shoulders, they usually mean deltoids. The deltoid has 3 heads – anterior, lateral and posterior. If you want muscular shoulders, then make sure you perform exercises (with proper form, naturally) that target all 3 heads. The other thing that is needed for muscle growth is sufficient training volume. Also, the role of recovery in aiding muscle growth and preventing injury or fatigue cannot be overstressed,” explains Jitendra.

With so many muscles to work, no one exercise will work them all, so we’ve put together a list of seven exercises that target different shoulder muscles. According to Jitendra, no shoulder session is complete without these moves, but if you’re wondering how to put these into a routine, check out the ultimate shoulder workout below.

When you start training the first thing you need to understand is one’s training history and body structure. This will give you an idea of how much volume an individual can pull off at the gym.

We’ve already looked at the training protocol for shoulder training. Apart from that, it’s important to pay close attention to the under-developed muscles. This will ensure that the client keeps making strength gains and his body maintains aesthetic symmetry.

If you want a muscular upper body, then Compound Lifts such as Bench Press and Overhead Press must form part of your exercise regime.

In addition, make sure you also train smaller muscle groups and supporting muscles. Isolation exercises that target your arms and shoulders will help you perform better at compound lifts and will also improve your overall upper body aesthetics.

As always, adequate volume and sufficient rest and recovery will help you make gains.

In addition, Jitendra understands the key roles that motivation and peer support can play in helping an individual on his fitness journey. The Fittr community has over 500,000 members and the app provides them with a platform to share their stories and engage with others on their fitness journeys.

All these innovations and services have made Fittr one of the highest rated fitness apps and a must-have tool for anyone who wants to get fit and stay fit.