Sadik Hadzovic has quickly made a name for himself as one of the top competitors in the IFBB’s Men’s Physique division. One of the staples of his world-class physique? Wide, round shoulders, one of the most important areas of focus for anyone training to build the ultimate v-taper physique.
THE EXERCISES
DUMBBELL LATERAL RAISES
Every delt workout begins and ends with the same movement and Hadzovic alternates between doing them seated and standing. As a warm-up, he will use 30-pound dumbbells for 12 reps and move up 10 pounds each set, finishing up with 60s for six reps. And then at the end of the day, he will do the opposite— start off heavier and work his way down the dumbbell rack.
“When you do them seated, it’s more isolated. So if it’s efficiency you’re looking for, that’s the way to go,” he adds.
SEATED DUMBBELL PRESSES
Since he trains without a partner, Hadzovic prefers using dumbbells over a barbell for this movement, one in which he uses 45s, 70s, 90s and then back to the 70s.
“By using the dumbbells, I can still do a set to failure and have the option to drop them to the ground one by one. Going to failure with a barbell is a little trickier.”
CABLE LATERAL RAISES
This isolation movement can be done two different ways and Hadzovic takes advantage of both. He prefers to do them with the cable behind his body, which gives him a longer range of motion and is a more natural position to activate the medial deltoid. By switching the cable position and doing them in front of your body, you will hit more of the front delt.
REVERSE PEC DEC FLYE
Preferring to perform this movement on the reverse pec dec machine, Hadzovic also chooses to lean into it on an angle as opposed to sitting. “I always do drop sets for these,” he tells us. “The same weight for all four sets, too. I start out with 100 pounds for 15 reps, then drop it to 40 pounds and do 15 more.”