Shrinking my shoulders?

ohmyshysamantha
ohmyshysamantha Posts: 138 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
My shoulders are my biggest problem area. And for the life of me I can not get them to shrink. I have a shake weight and I use it about 25 minutes a day. I'm getting really annoyed with the face that I should be able to wear an XL dress shirt/blouse because thats where my measurements say I should be but when I was looking for a new blouse last night (all my dress shirts are strapless and its getting too cold for them) I could only button the shirts I was looking at from the bottom up til the fourth button from the top and felt like that guy that sings "i'm a big man in a little coat"

Does anyone know of any exercises that I can do that will help me to decrease the width of my shoulders?

Replies

  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
    No exercise you do is going to decrease the width of your shoulders. Your only options are fat loss or muscle loss. So keep up the calorie deficit....or put your upper body in a cast so the muscles atrophy.
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
    Yup, keep up with the calorie deficit and exercise to help drop bodyfat. It's very likely your bone-structure just gives you wide-shoulders and you might not be able to change that very much. As people we can do a lot to manage our body composition and even size and contour but that's all within the confines of our structure. I feel your pain though. I have to buy bigger pants to fit my upper legs even though my waist is one to two sizes smaller than what I have to buy. Weight lifting hasn't helped that much either. LOL
  • DrMAvDPhD
    DrMAvDPhD Posts: 2,097 Member
    Your shake-weight might be counter productive to slimming in the shoulders. If you build muscle beneath the fat tissue, you are going to look broader. If the end goal is smaller instead of more toned/muscular, cut back on the shake-weight and do more cardio.
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
    Your shake-weight might be counter productive to slimming in the shoulders. If you build muscle beneath the fat tissue, you are going to look broader. If the end goal is smaller instead of more toned/muscular, cut back on the shake-weight and do more cardio.

    Honestly, the shake weight is a pure waste of time anyway. A healthy calorie deficit is needed, strengthen the shoulder with some over-head pressing, and some cardio will help.
  • DrMAvDPhD
    DrMAvDPhD Posts: 2,097 Member
    Your shake-weight might be counter productive to slimming in the shoulders. If you build muscle beneath the fat tissue, you are going to look broader. If the end goal is smaller instead of more toned/muscular, cut back on the shake-weight and do more cardio.

    Honestly, the shake weight is a pure waste of time anyway. A healthy calorie deficit is needed, strengthen the shoulder with some over-head pressing, and some cardio will help.

    I have no comment on the usefulness of the shake-weight, but I repeat if all the OP wants is SMALLER shoulders, she will not get that from any sort of weight training (including overhead presses). More toned and aesthetically pleasing, yes, but more likely broader not smaller.
  • Leadfoot_Lewis
    Leadfoot_Lewis Posts: 1,623 Member
    Your shake-weight might be counter productive to slimming in the shoulders. If you build muscle beneath the fat tissue, you are going to look broader. If the end goal is smaller instead of more toned/muscular, cut back on the shake-weight and do more cardio.

    The Shake-weight is counter productive period...
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
    Your shake-weight might be counter productive to slimming in the shoulders. If you build muscle beneath the fat tissue, you are going to look broader. If the end goal is smaller instead of more toned/muscular, cut back on the shake-weight and do more cardio.

    Honestly, the shake weight is a pure waste of time anyway. A healthy calorie deficit is needed, strengthen the shoulder with some over-head pressing, and some cardio will help.

    I have no comment on the usefulness of the shake-weight, but I repeat if all the OP wants is SMALLER shoulders, she will not get that from any sort of weight training (including overhead presses). More toned and aesthetically pleasing, yes, but more likely broader not smaller.

    When on a calorie deficit and doing cardio, especially if it's intense, you're not going to be on any meaningful amount of mass but it will help to improve definition as body fat is lost. If her bone structure is the issue, it won't matter how much bodyfat she looses because the width of her shoulder girdle will keep a certain amount of broadness. Now if she just wants to drop the body fat and have weak useless shoulders then she shouldn't do any strength training.
  • ohmyshysamantha
    ohmyshysamantha Posts: 138 Member
    I've always had huge shoulders. To the point of at birth the nurse informed my mother that I would never need shoulder pads (and he was right I have to cut them out of any jacket I buy that has them)

    I just want to slenderize my shoulders as much as possible but I dont want to be unable to pick up the stuff I have to pick up for work which i up to 100 pounds sometimes more.

    So what is the maximum I should lift for overhead presses? I've heard if you lift more then 15 pounds you thicken your muscles so should I stick to like 10?
  • 5tephoscope
    5tephoscope Posts: 32 Member
    Every fitness professional will tell you that you cannot "spot reduce" this is true whether you're talking hips, tummy, or shoulders. The way to reduce the size of your shoulders is overall weight loss. This is done by calorie deficit as other posters have stated. It's a slow process, mamacita, but YOU CAN DO IT!
  • JNick77
    JNick77 Posts: 3,783 Member
    So what is the maximum I should lift for overhead presses? I've heard if you lift more then 15 pounds you thicken your muscles so should I stick to like 10?

    Somebody really pulled a doozey on you, that's not even remotely true. Keep it to a weight that you can't do more than 5 reps and you should be fine. Hypertrophy gains aren't as great when using low-reps with maximal weight. That with a good calorie deficit and you should be fine. :)
  • breezedaze
    breezedaze Posts: 357 Member
    Can you see my shoulders on my photo? I'm very proud of them...I know they're not fitness model shoulder but they have slimmed a LOT....here is what did it for me. PUSHUPS. I do tons of cardio. I've reduced my body fat a LOT but the difference was proper pushups. Plank exercises with more pushups. Plyometrics with more pushups. Angled push ups.....Now I've been doing Insanity for a month...and holy moly...awesome for the shoulders...this pic was about 2 weeks into the Insanity. But you do have to lose fat..if you're able to pinch fat on your shoulders..there is fat on your shoulders. I still have some..another 8% lower bf will likely get me where I want to be looks wise. Good luck!

    Off too google what a shake weight is!

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