Broader shoulders can create the illusion of a tiny waist and the coveted V-taper aesthetic. To build 3D shoulders, one must develop all three deltoid heads — front, side, and rear — with equal emphasis on size, shape, and symmetry.
On June 7, 2024, the reigning Men’s Physique Olympia champion Ryan Terry published a video on his YouTube channel pulling back the curtain on his off-season high-volume shoulder workout designed to pack on muscle mass.
Ryan Terry’s Off-Season Shoulder Workout
Here is an overview of the training session:
Cable Rear Delt Flyes
Seated Barbell Press
Barbell Front Raise
Barbell Lateral Raise
Superset — Dumbbell Shrugs & Plate Shrugs
Machine Shoulder Press
Check out the video below:
[Related: A Guide to the Best Pre-Workouts]
Cable Rear Delt Flyes
Terry prefers opening with rear delt flyes. Performing this isolation exercise before heavier compound movements enables a deeper mind-muscle connection, which can improve the qualify of the reps in future sets by biasing the load to the target muscles more acutely.
The British bodybuilder performed two warm-up sets and three working sets. He performed a quadruple drop set on the final set to exhaust the rear deltoids.
Terry performed the rear delt flyes on a functional trainer with the pulleys pinned at their highest setting. He retracted and depressed his scapula to initiate each rep to isolate the rear delts better.
Seated Barbell Press
The 35-year-old Terry did two feeler and three working sets on this exercise. He employed a steady rep tempo with three seconds on the eccentric and concentric phases to maximize his time under tension (TUT), which provides more stimulus to the target muscle group.
Terry trained on a slightly inclined bench, emphasizing a full range of motion (ROM) by lowering the bar to his upper chest and extending his elbows at the top of each repetition. He employed forced reps toward the end of his set.
Barbell Front Raise & Lateral Raises
Terry transitioned to barbell front raises to load his anterior delts. He completed eight to 12 strict repetitions with a slight forward lean.
Unilateral lateral raises with a barbell demand greater engagement and stability from Terry’s core. Terry focused on peak medial delt contraction by externally rotating his wrists during the concentrics. He followed with a set of dumbbell lateral raises.
Superset — Dumbbell Shrugs & Plate Shrugs
Terry used a superset to target the trapezius muscles. He aimed for 10 to 12 reps on the first two sets, followed by 20 reps on the final set to max out his pump. (1)
Machine Shoulder Press
Terry concluded his session with shoulder presses on the standing calf raise machine. After reaching mechanical failure (where form starts to break due to fatigue), he utilized his leg drive to squeeze out additional repetitions.
While filming, Terry was one week from starting his 2024 Olympia (Oct. 10-13) prep, where he will attempt his first title defense. Former Olympia champs Erin Banks and Brandon Hendrickson will likely return to the Olympia stage to challenge Terry for the crown.
References
Hirono, T., Ikezoe, T., Taniguchi, M., Tanaka, H., Saeki, J., Yagi, M., Umehara, J., & Ichihashi, N. (2022). Relationship Between Muscle Swelling and Hypertrophy Induced by Resistance Training. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 36(2), 359–364. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000003478
Featured image: @ryanjterry on Instagram
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