Seven-time Mr. Olympia Phil Heath shares insight on developing monstrous delts

If the sport of bodybuilding in 2010s had to be described by one athlete, it would undoubtedly be Phil Heath. Ranging from 2011-2017 Phil Heath ammassed a total of seven Mr. Olympia titles, making him the second-most successful athlete in the sport behind Lee Haney and Ronnie Coleman.

Considering the success 'The Gift' has seen in the sport, it is safe to say that he knows a thing or two about building muscle. One of the most significant aspects of Heath's Olympia physique was his deltoids. During his time as champion, he showcased well-separated and ridiculously muscular shoulders.

Phil Heath recently uploaded a video to his YouTube channel where he advised up-and-coming bodybuilders to focus on a complete shoulder workout. He stated:

"So right now, I’m just getting warmed up, doing some cable stuff. There’s some behind-the-back cables, side laterals, now, I’m working some rears. Rear delts. A lot of people don’t have them and it’s because they don’t train what they can’t see. They don’t realize they have a rear, side, and front delt."

The anatomy of the shoulder will show that the delt has three major heads - rear, side, and front. Heath mentioned that bodybuilders often give very little importance to the rear head, which is important in shaping the shoulder properly:

"Usually, they train rears at the very end of their workout because they want to focus so much on presses, like I said, they tend to forget that small muscle but that small muscle helps, especially when you have big triceps, you got the trap, front delt, side delt, and the rear – you got to have some meat back there."

One big ambition among bodybuilders is the desire to have a '3-dimensional' physique. Phil Heath stated that this means working the muscles that are often ignored:

"If you don’t have some meat back there, you’re not going to be 3D. Everybody wants to talk about this 3D stuff, but you got to make sure you’re training to be 3D."

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Phil Heath on the importance of warming up

Before diving into the exercises for the day, the seven-time Mr. Olympia performed a few warm-up sets that are integral to his routine. He said:

"I start out doing exercises like this, it might be something you consider your workout, but it’s my pre workout. So, I’ll do these two, do some fronts with this rope, which is really cool because then I can do a set here, do the rope in between my legs like this, work the front delt. Then, I can get right into presses."

Phil Heath reiterated the importance of doing a warm-up regardless of the level you are at. He emphasized that the weights do not need to be loaded and one should focus on activation of the muscles:

"Some people consider that a pre-exhaustion movement doing those three exercises, but for me… my warm up is very very important. I don’t really have to also grip this, like a lot of people grip it. I can just use a couple fingers and just pull to my face."

There has been some speculation on whether 'The Gift' will return to competition this year, but no matter how long it takes, fans will always be excited at the prospect of his return.