After your lats, your shoulders are the most important muscle to train to have an aesthetic physique, and achieve that broad torso look. Your shoulder has three heads, and you need to train all three effectively to get that full 3D look. Your shoulders are easy to injure, and easy to train wrong, so you need to be precise and optimal in your training.
The first head of your shoulder is your front delt, which sits on the front of your shoulders, the area where your arm meets your collarbone. Do not fall for the overtrained front delts propaganda. Your front delts assist in flexing your shoulder joint, which help move your upper arm in and out, meaning they are used in any form of chest press movement. Despite this, you should still be doing a regular front delt isolation, like a shoulder press. You do not risk overtraining, and the look of a well trained front delt is worth the extra two sets. Remember to train the front delts in the top-half range of motion, where your elbows form a 90 degree angle with your torso. Going any deeper will train the side delts more.
The next head, and arguably the most important head, is the side delt. This is the muscle that gives you broad shoulders, and makes your physique wider overall. All you need is one lateral raise variation, whether its cables, dumbbells, or a machine. Upright rows will also work if you really enjoy them, but they are essentially an inferior lateral raise as you get less range of motion. Remember not to shrug during any side delt movement, as that will take tension off your shoulders and engage your traps.
The last head, and the most neglected head is the rear delt. It is actually better to hit rear delts on the same day you train back, instead of with your other shoulders, as your front and side delts are push movements, while your rear delts is a pulling movement. Unless your rear delts are super underdeveloped, you should be fine doing some form of upper back row, to hit your traps and rear delts. However, if you do want to bring up your rear delts, you might benefit from an isolation exercise, like a reverse fly or face pulls. Make sure your arms aren’t bent, as that causes your shoulder blades to retract, leaving you with more trap activation than rear delts.
Remember that when it comes to lifting, your recovery is just as important. Make sure your sleeping 7-8 hours and eating 0.8-1g of protein per pound of body weight, to stimulate muscle growth. Remember to stay consistent and follow this advice, and your shoulders are guaranteed to grow.
