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Shoulders (narrow)

Human anatomy, unfortunately, offers no way to make the bones of your shoulders grow farther apart. So the only way to make your shoulders appear wider is to build the muscles that surround your shoulder bones, particularly the meaty outside portion of the deltoid muscle. “But it’s very difficult to isolate that muscle,” says Juan Carlos Santana, C.S.C.S. “You need to take a shotgun approach, hitting the entire shoulder area: front (anterior), middle, and rear (posterior) delts.”

Santana recommends that you perform the following three shoulder exercises as one long set-one right after the other, using the same weights and taking no rest in between the exercises. This will stress your shoulder muscles to the maximum and produce the biggest gains. Take 7 seconds to perform each repetition: 4 seconds down, a 1-second pause, 2 seconds up. Do three sets once or twice a week. Rest for 2 minutes between sets.

1 Standing lateral raise (works the middle deltoids): Stand holding a pair of dumbbells at your sides, with your palms facing in. Slowly extend your arms out to the sides, raising the dumbbells until your upper arms are parallel to the floor. Pause for a second, then return to the starting position. Do four to six repetitions.

2 Alternating dumbbell upright row (works the rear deltoids and trapezius): Stand holding the dumbbells in front of your thighs, palms toward your body. Lean forward slightly. Slowly raise one dumbbell along the front of your body until it reaches the side of your chest. Keep your wrist relaxed. Hold for a second, then slowly lower the dumbbell. Raise the other dumbbell the same way. Do four to six repetitions.

3 90-90 dumbbell press (works the front deltoids and triceps): Hold the dumbbells so your upper arms are parallel to the floor and your lower arms point straight up toward the ceiling. In other words, your shoulders and elbows should both be bent 90 degrees. Face your palms forward. Slowly press the weights up until your arms are straight. Pause for a second, then lower them to the 90-90 position. Do four to six repetitions.