Awesome way hit shoulders!

M

medic_man

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I just wanted to share part of my shoulder workout that I noticed extreme growth with in the past and I intend to incorporate this into my new workout as well. The exercise is the DB Lateral Raise and they can be brutal.

First off, you will grab 3 sets of dumbells with the heaviest being a weight you can barely to lateral raises for 12 reps. The next two following sets will be 5 pounds lighter cascading down. (ex. 30's, 25's 20's)

After you grab you dumbbells, get ready cuz you will be in some pain and breathing hard. I seriously have to think about it before I start one of these long hard sets. First pump out 12 reps with you heaviest weight...then put those down and grab your next dumbbells without a break. Pump out 12 more. By this time, you will be red and the face and wishing it was over. You may even be cheating slightly to get the last rep or two. After 12 of these are done, grab your lightest dumbbells and pump out 12. These will feel very light in the beginning but once you get to about 8 you are hurting pretty bad. Finally when you are done with that set....you really feel like you accomplished something. Go ahead and take about a 1 minute break....then repeat once more. This is one of my favorites because I notice such extreme growth with it.
 
I barely even work shoulders, and I have bigger delts then most.

If I do work shoulders, I rarely do an iso-movement such as raises.

Now a nice caloric surplus coupled with something like push presses. Now you are talking.
 
yeah those are just a part of my shoulder workout...i usually move military press or db shoulder presses then i do those. i dont have any before and after pics that i can think of off the top of my head but i have hundreds of pics on my external hard drive and i will check
 
My split doesn't allow for that kind of volume. Shoulders are relatively small and get blasted with many of the big lifts that AREN'T considered shoulder movements already. Adding in isolation would compromise my recovery abilities. I assume it would do the same for many in here.... especially dieters.
 
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you might be suprised. i wasn't dieting at the time i was bulking but sometimes you need to throw some volume in there to spur some growth. granted this isn't a fixture to every workout but when those shoulders aren't growing it may help. i am not suggesting others use this...i am merely stating what has worked for me.
 
medic_man said:
you might be suprised. i wasn't dieting at the time i was bulking but sometimes you need to throw some volume in there to spur some growth. granted this isn't a fixture to every workout but when those shoulders aren't growing it may help. i am not suggesting others use this...i am merely stating what has worked for me.
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I understand you are not suggesting others try this, really. No worries. And adding volume to a lagging body part is best accomplished by using something known as a specialization routine.

The place most go wrong is, they don't understand what a true specialization routine is comprised of.

If you have a lagging bodypart, you can certainly increase volume/intensity for that muscle. However, other muscles have to drop to maintenance. And the level of intensity and volume that maintenance requires is next to nothing.

If you don't do this, fatigue becomes an issue. And I am not talking about being tired. I am talking about neural fatigue. Inefficiency of the neuromuscular pathways. Not fun.

I find that using a specialization approach is the best approach actually. Best though, only for advanced physiques. MOST would be better suited to utilize a balanced routine consisting primarily heavy compound work with accessory work thrown into the mix with varying loads overtime, concentrating on adding weight to the bar.

Using a specialization routine prematurely usually leads to stagnation and/or poor OVERALL results.

Of course, all of this is assuming one is bulking.
 
What about Bradford presses. We do those like once a month at PL. Once or twice a month we do three way shoulders...but we rarely do iso's on shoulders.
 
Merciless said:
What about Bradford presses. We do those like once a month at PL. Once or twice a month we do three way shoulders...but we rarely do iso's on shoulders.
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I work Bradfords in every so often. I love them.

I've done a shoulder specialization, and that was the only time I included a lot of iso work.
 
Since starting Powerlifting (my powerlifting coach that writes my workouts is an absolute beast) I have come to learn alot of lifts I had never heard of.
 
Oh man...I forgot about those. When I played high school football, our strength coach smoked us with those... Adding them to my routine ASAP.
 
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