Smaller shoulders- is it even possible?

phoolonkirani

Hi All! I know losing weight in a certain area is pretty much impossible but i am wanting to lose my broad shoulders a bit. I am aware that weights will help but should i up them to 5 x a week and focus on shoulders? Right now i do cardio 3 x a week and weights 3 x a week for 30-45 mins? Any insight would be super helpful friends!!

magnusthenerd

Working shoulders are just going to make them bigger. Best you could do with weights is probably build up other area to shrink shoulders in proportion.

MikePTY

What do you feel your broad shoulders are from? Are they from a large build/muscle or are they from fat? If it is fat, they should shrink as you lose overall body fat. Then you may want to work shoulders during lifting so they are better defined when they are revealed. But if you have broad shoulders from a broad muscle build, then lifting won't help reduce that. They will either stay the same or even possibly get bigger.

kshama2001

phoolonkirani wrote: »

Hi All! I know losing weight in a certain area is pretty much impossible but i am wanting to lose my broad shoulders a bit. I am aware that weights will help but should i up them to 5 x a week and focus on shoulders? Right now i do cardio 3 x a week and weights 3 x a week for 30-45 mins? Any insight would be super helpful friends!!

Do you need to lose weight and if so how much? If so, that should take care of it.

If you are already at your goal weight, would you mind posting a picture? I would just like to rule out distorted body image.

I have broad shoulders, but an overall large build, so am proportional, and it's not noticeable.

RunsWithBees

It might just be how you are structurally built. I have broad shoulders due to bone structure (they are slim though) so nothing I do will ever make them less broad.

magnusthenerd

MikePTY wrote: »

What do you feel your broad shoulders are from? Are they from a large build/muscle or are they from fat? If it is fat, they should shrink as you lose overall body fat. Then you may want to work shoulders during lifting so they are better defined when they are revealed. But if you have broad shoulders from a broad muscle build, then lifting won't help reduce that. They will either stay the same or even possibly get bigger.

I'd assume it is a build thing because I'm having a hard time imaging fat shoulders. It just isn't much of a storage space for fat. Muscle isn't very likely if she isn't already working out.

littlegreenparrot1

I feel you, I've always been a regular swimmer, and my shoulders are built accordingly.

When I lose weight I slim down all over, but they never go anywhere. Sometimes you have to make peace with it.

Maxxitt

Well, when I weighed 50# more than I do now, I had "fat shoulders" so it's quite possible that losing weight overall will make shoulders smaller along with the rest of the body. Working out has given me more definition so they don't look overly broad - they just "fit."

nowine4me

I’ve always have very narrow shoulders and am trying super hard to get them bigger. Mine barely hold a strap on a sundress. I think big shoulders are beautiful on men and women. Trade?

New_Heavens_Earth

Muscle mass can be changed. But if you naturally have a broader shoulder girdle I don't think it can be helped, it's bone.

kshama2001

littlegreenparrot1 wrote: »

I feel you, I've always been a regular swimmer, and my shoulders are built accordingly.

When I lose weight I slim down all over, but they never go anywhere. Sometimes you have to make peace with it.

Speaking of swimming, here's what Katie Ledecky has to do to get these shoulders:



http://www.espn.com/espnw/sports/article/17213524/2016-rio-olympics-katie-ledecky-training-regimen

Her normal weekly schedule included six days of swim practice and three days of dryland workouts. This schedule is based on a first practice at 5 a.m. ET in the 25-yard pool at Bethesda's Georgetown Prep, about eight miles (20 minutes with no traffic) from her home in Bethesda, Maryland.

4:05 a.m.: Wake-up. "She has had to wake us up a couple times, but we've never had to wake her up," her father Dave said.

4:15 a.m.: Ledecky eats two pieces of toast with peanut butter, plus a banana or apple. Dave drives her to Georgetown Prep for practice (5-6:30 a.m.) since Ledecky hasn't had a chance to get a driver's license yet. According to her coach, Bruce Gemmell, her usual morning load is 6,000 to 6,500 yards.

7 a.m.: On her way to pick Ledecky up from practice, mom Mary Gen has gone either to a deli in Bethesda to pick up a bacon-egg-cheese-tomato omelet with potatoes, to a bagel shop for a bagel with cream cheese and egg or to a coffee shop for yogurt and fruit (Katie Ledecky especially likes berries.) Ledecky eats in the car, washing it down with chocolate milk.

"We were told to always get some calories in Katie within 30 minutes of practice," Mary Gen said. Her mom chooses: "I know what she likes, and I try to mix it up."

8 a.m.: Gets home, takes a nap.

11 a.m.-12 p.m.: Goes to dryland training (three days a week) at a Bethesda health club. Before dry land, she eats yogurt, honey and granola with mixed berries, plus either an apple or pear. Her parents alternate drop-offs and pick-ups.

12:30 p.m.: After dryland, she returns home for a homemade lunch of pasta with chicken or a takeout Caesar salad with double chicken and an avocado.

1-2:45 p.m.: Watch TV, read or take another nap.

2:45 p.m.: 45 minutes before afternoon practice at Georgetown Prep, Ledecky eats a piece of fruit and sometimes more toast with peanut butter.

3:30-6 p.m.: Second practice. A normal afternoon training load is 7,000 to 8,000 yards of swimming.

6 p.m.: On the way home in the car, Ledecky eats yogurt -- key lime flavor is the recent favorite. And then she drinks another chocolate milk.

6:30 p.m.: Dinner. This includes a carb, such as pasta or white rice, or arugula with white beans, tomato, garlic and chicken or steak. Ledecky does not eat candy, ice cream, cake or soda. Although she did have a tiny piece of her mom's birthday cake in April.

Mary Gen says she has no idea what Katie's daily calorie intake is.

6:30-9 p.m.: After dinner, more reading or TV. "She has become a news nerd, especially the primaries, caucuses and debates," her dad said.

9:15-9:30 p.m.: Bedtime.

Although, her build is unremarkable when she is dressed:

RunsWithBees

kshama2001 wrote: »

littlegreenparrot1 wrote: »

I feel you, I've always been a regular swimmer, and my shoulders are built accordingly.

When I lose weight I slim down all over, but they never go anywhere. Sometimes you have to make peace with it.

Speaking of swimming, here's what Katie Ledecky has to do to get these shoulders:



http://www.espn.com/espnw/sports/article/17213524/2016-rio-olympics-katie-ledecky-training-regimen

Her normal weekly schedule included six days of swim practice and three days of dryland workouts. This schedule is based on a first practice at 5 a.m. ET in the 25-yard pool at Bethesda's Georgetown Prep, about eight miles (20 minutes with no traffic) from her home in Bethesda, Maryland.

4:05 a.m.: Wake-up. "She has had to wake us up a couple times, but we've never had to wake her up," her father Dave said.

4:15 a.m.: Ledecky eats two pieces of toast with peanut butter, plus a banana or apple. Dave drives her to Georgetown Prep for practice (5-6:30 a.m.) since Ledecky hasn't had a chance to get a driver's license yet. According to her coach, Bruce Gemmell, her usual morning load is 6,000 to 6,500 yards.

7 a.m.: On her way to pick Ledecky up from practice, mom Mary Gen has gone either to a deli in Bethesda to pick up a bacon-egg-cheese-tomato omelet with potatoes, to a bagel shop for a bagel with cream cheese and egg or to a coffee shop for yogurt and fruit (Katie Ledecky especially likes berries.) Ledecky eats in the car, washing it down with chocolate milk.

"We were told to always get some calories in Katie within 30 minutes of practice," Mary Gen said. Her mom chooses: "I know what she likes, and I try to mix it up."

8 a.m.: Gets home, takes a nap.

11 a.m.-12 p.m.: Goes to dryland training (three days a week) at a Bethesda health club. Before dry land, she eats yogurt, honey and granola with mixed berries, plus either an apple or pear. Her parents alternate drop-offs and pick-ups.

12:30 p.m.: After dryland, she returns home for a homemade lunch of pasta with chicken or a takeout Caesar salad with double chicken and an avocado.

1-2:45 p.m.: Watch TV, read or take another nap.

2:45 p.m.: 45 minutes before afternoon practice at Georgetown Prep, Ledecky eats a piece of fruit and sometimes more toast with peanut butter.

3:30-6 p.m.: Second practice. A normal afternoon training load is 7,000 to 8,000 yards of swimming.

6 p.m.: On the way home in the car, Ledecky eats yogurt -- key lime flavor is the recent favorite. And then she drinks another chocolate milk.

6:30 p.m.: Dinner. This includes a carb, such as pasta or white rice, or arugula with white beans, tomato, garlic and chicken or steak. Ledecky does not eat candy, ice cream, cake or soda. Although she did have a tiny piece of her mom's birthday cake in April.

Mary Gen says she has no idea what Katie's daily calorie intake is.

6:30-9 p.m.: After dinner, more reading or TV. "She has become a news nerd, especially the primaries, caucuses and debates," her dad said.

9:15-9:30 p.m.: Bedtime.

Although, her build is unremarkable when she is dressed:

IMHO her shoulders don’t even seem broad to me, just muscular. And her routine shows that it takes a lot of work and dedication to achieve this, she looks great. I guess “broad” is in the eye of the beholder 😄

RunsWithBees

Katie Ledeky’s shoulders don’t seem broad to me at all, they look muscular but normal. In contrast, my shoulders are W - I - D - E and to me this is what “broad shoulders” means. I’m surprised I fit through doorways sometimes 🤣 I have accepted that this is how my bone structure is though so nothing I do could change that. I’m also 5’11” so I really feel like a linebacker sometimes 😣 In clothing it’s camouflaged a bit but I have learned to love my shape anyway 😁 OP if there’s nothing you can do to change the size of your shoulders then just learn to work with the only body you’ll ever have, try different clothing styles and camera angles. I’ve also found that posture is very important as well 🙂

phoolonkirani

Thanks everyone! Maybe its time to embrace them. I have a small face, sider shoulders and heavy chest. And i was hoping losing weight would help but i seem go be losing inches on the waist mostly. I measure werkly and so faf mo change with shoulders. Thanks for the words of wisdom!

yirara

Hey, losing on the waist is cool! I'm sure you look brilliant with a nice waist and wider shoulders. That's very feminine. And if you rock wider hips to that: whoa! Trust me, it took ages for me to accept these looks (plus very slim face) and I still want to look like a stick without curves sometimes. Oh well.. we can't just cut bone off, right?

Silentpadna

magnusthenerd wrote: »

Working shoulders are just going to make them bigger. Best you could do with weights is probably build up other area to shrink shoulders in proportion.

If you are not eating in a surplus, weights won't generally make anything bigger - you need a surplus to add muscle tissue, unless you are an untrained novice and obese - and even then you would have to be in a progressive overload situation. If you have fat to lose, your shoulders should become smaller and more defined over time.

Phirrgus

phoolonkirani wrote: »

Thanks everyone! Maybe its time to embrace them. I have a small face, sider shoulders and heavy chest. And i was hoping losing weight would help but i seem go be losing inches on the waist mostly. I measure werkly and so faf mo change with shoulders. Thanks for the words of wisdom!

How close are you to your weight goal? I, and everyone I know, just lose fat where we lose it. I believe genetics has everything to do with this, but if you still have more than just a little to lose, then your proportions are going to change a bit as you do lose. give it time

sharondesfor935

Phirrgus wrote: »

phoolonkirani wrote: »

Thanks everyone! Maybe its time to embrace them. I have a small face, sider shoulders and heavy chest. And i was hoping losing weight would help but i seem go be losing inches on the waist mostly. I measure werkly and so faf mo change with shoulders. Thanks for the words of wisdom!

How close are you to your weight goal? I, and everyone I know, just lose fat where we lose it. I believe genetics has everything to do with this, but if you still have more than just a little to lose, then your proportions are going to change a bit as you do lose. give it time

And afterward, as well! I lose weight very quickly (and gain just as quickly). But it can be hard to tell, because it then takes months for my weight to redistribute.