Barbell workouts for the anterior deltoid involve upper-body pushing and pulling exercises, which strengthen the front of your shoulders. These workouts emphasize shoulder joint movements. The National Federation of Personal Trainers recommends that you emphasize compound exercises movements that articulate multiple joints. Compound barbell exercises help build functional strength, because they follow your body's natural movement patterns and you must control the movement.
Endurance
Barbell workouts that help you develop muscular endurance in your anterior deltoid involve performing more repetitions with lighter weights. Barbell workouts that involve sets that exhaust your anterior deltoid within 20 to 25 repetitions help build muscular endurance, according to the National Federation of Personal Trainers. Complete four to five sets of one or two exercises that target your anterior deltoid for each muscular endurance workout session. These workouts target the red slow-twitch muscle fibers in your anterior deltoid, which have more energy-producing mitochondria than other fiber types.
Strength
Performing fewer repetitions with heavier weights is the best way to maximize muscle growth and strength. Barbell workouts that help your anterior deltoid grow involve exercise sets that exhaust the muscles within four to six repetitions. Strength workouts target the white fast-twitch fibers in your anterior deltoids. These fibers have the most capacity for growth, because they contain more contractile elements than any other fiber type. However, they can sustain a contraction only for a short time, because they have the fewest mitochondrial elements. Complete four to six sets that hit your anterior delts for each strength training workout session.
Stamina
Building stamina in your anterior deltoid increases muscle energy and strength. Stamina is particularly important for athletic activities, such as swimming, boxing and basketball. For stamina, do sets that exhaust your muscles within 12 to 15 repetitions. These workouts target the red fast-twitch fibers, which have more contractile strength than red slow-twitch fibers and more mitochondria than white fast-twitch fibers. Perform six to eight sets that target your anterior deltoid for each workout session.
Exercise Movements
Barbell workouts for the anterior deltoid may include compound and isolation exercises. Compound exercises are multijoint movements that activate muscle groups that assist the primary mover. Isolation exercises require only a single joint movement. Compound upper-body pushing exercises that rotate your shoulder blades upward, such as the military press, behind-the-neck press and shoulder press, target your anterior deltoid while activating over a half-dozen muscle groups in your upper body. Isolation movements that target the anterior deltoids include shoulder flexion exercises, such as the barbell front raise and incline front raise. Perform compound movements before isolation movements during your workout.
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