building deltoids

[Matthew Bradshaw]

Hi. I know this question is somewhat misplaced on this forum, but here goes anyway. I'm looking to build my shoulders up as quickly as possible with handstand push ups as they are seriously lagging. I can barely manage a 45 second HS hold against the wall and around 2 handstand push ups at max. How would you suggest I train handstand push ups to gain deltoid mass as fast as possible in terms of volume and frequency? I don't have access to weights. Thanks for your time. I appreciate it.

[Keilani Gutierrez]

what I've noticed from HS(talking about the Course here)  is that most of the growth in my Delts has come from Dislocates and planche work. Handstands specifically have beefed up my delts, triceps but especially my upper and middle back, same with planche. most of the growth has been in these places though, not just Delt or Delt intensive.

so far, something specifically highlighting my delts as the primary weakness hasn't come up.

 

to get a better feel of the question, why do you think it's the delts in your case? are you concerned about size or performance here? because Delts for HSPU or HS holds wouldn't be my first go to.

[Matthew Bradshaw]

My goal in this case is definitely size. I just feel my shoulders are quite small compared to the rest of my upper body.

[Douglas Wadle]

Of course we all have our own goals and vanities; however, I would focus on well-balanced all around strength.  It is much more useful, and it will get your shoulders bigger.  keep in mind also, if you focus on deltoid strength at the expense of others, like your rotator cuff muscles and your scapular stabilizers, this will give you impingement, and then you will get much smaller shoulders!    Take care.

[Toni Laukkavaara]

My goal in this case is definitely size. I just feel my shoulders are quite small compared to the rest of my upper body.

If its the looks you want just do some weighted lateral work

[Rod Joost]

Maybe work on some negatives? You could do the 2 HSPUs you can handle, very slowly, controlling the movement all the way up and all the way down. Then after you're too fatigued to do more of your regular sets, you could jump against the wall as you'd do for your HSPUs, and just do the negative part of the movement, very slowly as well. Over time, you'd build enough strength in order to be able to do more reps on your HSPUs, and one day you could handle proper sets of anywhere between 6-12 reps and work on some hypertrophy. Remember that to build mass it doesn't just come down to how many reps you can do, but many other factors are in play, like how you execute the movement, smart programming and your diet.