Shoulder hypertrophy as therapy, thoughts?

[Dastardly]

I have always had problems with my shoulders, severe impingement & painful minor (but common) subluxations.

This was one of the main things which attracted me to strength training, I thought adding strength & mass would surely remedy it.

last year I was doing a lot of dips, presses, pull ups & extensive specific rotator cuff work.

I managed to increase ROM by a lot and reduce impingement so I could press comfortably. However, bench press was always a bit temperamental due to the shoulder subluxing & impingement.

this year Ive been doing purely SS. My right shoulder has got to the stage where it no longer causes much problems for me, but left shoulder still shifts about and "catches" on tendons, causing a bit of inflammation/soreness.

Anyhow to get to the point, after about 15 months of training there is still no "meat" on my shoulders. They are little bony stumps. My triceps & pecs have grown a plenty (and continue to) but it just does not seem like I have any more deltoid than a 9 year old girl which has not changed since day 1.

My press stalled indefinitely during my first few months of barbell training and hasnt really moved since. I just go through periods of resetting or just lifting the heaviest weight I can handle, sometimes it goes up, often down. Never really progresses.

I cant help thinking that my lack of shoulder musculature is what is holding me back. I feel it is the weak link on my bench too.

I was wondering what you guys think about trying to make shoulders grow in a bid to increase strength and stability.

I know the normal equation would be, strength = size. But im thinking for my shoulders perhaps size = strength ?

Would focusing on this through higher rep back-off sets on the press or other stuff, interfere with progression on bench pressing?

My standing press is not progressing anyway.

[hatmanii]

This thought process is similar to what goes on in rehab situations after shoulder injuries (at least it did for me). They had me doing a lot of dumbbell front/lateral raises in the 12-15 range. I'd say to give it a shot, the more muscle you have encapsulating the joint the better, IMO.

-Hat

[BigJavs]

I try to do some "bodybuilding" type of shoulder movements every bench workout because I figure the bigger my shoulders the more stable when under heavy loads. I dunno, but it makes sense to me.