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Shoulders
The shoulders (delts) are a smaller
muscle group consisting of the front, rear, and side head. The
shoulders get worked a lot when doing your chest workout
so you don't have to spend a great amount of time in the gym
on shoulder day. Many people will work chest
and shoulders on the same day which is not a bad idea if you
have the time. You could easily do your full chest
routine and then throw in 3 shoulder exercises at the end. We
are going to hit the shoulders with 8-12 reps just like the
other body parts to get some mass and strength. There
will be times when we get into more advanced
training where we cycle into a higher rep workout
pattern but generally we will stay consistent with
the 8-12 reps.
The military press is to the shoulder
routine what the squat is to the leg routine. The
military press is great for building good shoulder strength
and muscle mass. After a quick warm up set I would do 3
sets of the military press for 8-12 reps. Then we need
to hit the side head of the shoulder with the side lateral
raises. You can do these seated or standing and I prefer
the seated variation because it is a more strict movement.
Pick a weight for the side lateral raise that enables you to
perform the movement in a controlled smooth motion with no
jerking or throwing the weight up. Form is important
with this movement.
The push press is something I started using
years ago when I read one of Arnold's books and he raved about
it. This movement is called the push press because you
are allowed to cheat and push the weight up with your hips and
legs. The idea behind this front shoulder movement is
that you are using a weight that you cannot do if you were not
to "push" it up without a little cheating. This move
will really build your front delt if done consistently.
If the push press is not for you then I would do standing
front lateral raises to hit the front delt.
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Beginner Shoulder Routine |
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Warm up with 2 sets of military
presses for 15 reps each set
Seated military press - 3 sets for 8-12
reps each set
Seated side laterals - 3 sets 8-12 reps
each set
Standing push press - 3 sets 8-12 reps
each set
Military Press
Side Lateral
Raises
Standing Lateral
Raises
The Push Press
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Shoulder
Articles Coming Soon |
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