Shoulder training tips and advice thread

Please crit my shoulder workout. I feel I can improve here and need some info, shot guys.

4 sets seated DB Press 8-10 reps
4 sets military press machine 8-12 reps
4 sets side raises
4 sets front raises
6 sets wide grip upright rows.


Any other tips to ignite massive shoulder growth?

Sorry for opening these threads, but im trying to figure out what makes me grow so i can use my cycle to enhance this further.
Thanks

what are you doing for posterior...? If you are looking for width start with side laterals.. Do that for a few weeks. Its quite a lot of volume you have there and you are hitting your anterior a lot..

Don't press on a smith for shoulders, rather use free weights,everytime I have injured myself has been doing smith machine shoulder press.

I do them with back. Think I should rather do them with shoulders?

I only started the high volume today and got a good pump and was drained after the workout. Thats why im wondering if this is good enough.

Thanks chapel.

Take out front raises and add in some reverse flyes as Chapel said. Also what about traps?

Why did it injure you dj?

I thought the form is more strict so there is less chance off injury.?

My scapular and my ac joint got injured from it. Free weight is always much better,makes you stabilizers strengthen..you will never be able to press as much doing free weight but you will also strengthen all the minor muscles as the weight is able to move forward and backwards.

Who stole my karma? :lol:

Thanks dj didnt know that, iMan traps with back also.

What about I swap front raises for reverse flyes? That look better?

gorilla wrote: Who stole my karma? :lol:

Thanks dj didnt know that, iMan traps with back also.

What about I swap front raises for reverse flyes? That look better?

To be honest do back with back, I absolutely love shoulders, so throw all the exercises in there, as DJ said free weights as much as possible, 2 Compounds, then the raises, reverse fly, traps. You should be broken with your back workout, upper and lower lats, lower back I don't see space for rear deltas in a back routine.

Great advice koe, thanks so much, will try that and let you guys know how it went.

save your shoulders - stay away from the 90 deg angle. That means behind the neck press etc.
Dont try to be a hero with the weight. Leave your ego at the door.
If you hurt your shoulder you are stuffed for a loooong time.

I do -
4sets front smith machine press
4sets back smith machine press
4sets side raises
4sets rear delt machine
4sets front raises

Finish off with 3 set side raises

Work well for me

Mine:

Barbell press 4 sets 6-8 reps. Do it with one of those small upright benches in the squat rack.

barbell front raises 4 sets 10 reps. Might change up and do upright rows/seated db presses now and then.
superset with
seated lateral raises. Seated side raises stop the cheating and lower back involvement.

Heavy db shrugs 4 sets 10-12 reps
superset with
standing lateral raises 4 sets 10 reps. These are done heavier than the seated sides obviously. some cheating.

Reverse flys facedown on an incline bench. 4 sets 10 reps

scap machine 4 sets 10 reps. might change up with facepulls if I need some variety. Just because I can.

Now before I get flamed, this does seem like too much but it works for me. No other day of mine has 5-6 exercises in. My shoulders are coming along really nicely and because I have 2 supersets, all of this only takes about an hour or so. A real tiring workout and one of my favourite days.

I do my usual warm up of all small muscles then start:

seated DB press 4sets 7-12 reps either with a back rest or without
Standing behind the neck press 3sets 7-12reps
Then my monster 'tri'-set,
lying face-down rear delts then standing side laterals then seated Light side laterals using just 50% of the downward motion.

On cycle this type of training seems to work well for me! Huge pumps and veins all over

I wouldn't do behind the neck ever, if your shoulders fail or grip slips that bar is right on your neck and can cause major damage.

DJ wrote: I wouldn't do behind the neck ever, if your shoulders fail or grip slips that bar is right on your neck and can cause major damage.

I love that excercise though.4sets front and 4 sets behind.

I think I'm going to try a bit of the Mountain Dog training ways for a while and see what happens.

VonD wrote:

DJ wrote: I wouldn't do behind the neck ever, if your shoulders fail or grip slips that bar is right on your neck and can cause major damage.

I love that excercise though.4sets front and 4 sets behind.

you take your shoulder into an un natural position, when you lift your hands up to do a shoulder pressing motion you lift your hands in front of your face naturally, you dont have your hands behind your head do you now?your fists are usually in line with your ears, the further back you put them the more stress you put on your shoulder. its my personal opinion but i wouldnt do it...

playing with fire when doing rear neck presses.. Its completely contraindicated. The potential damage far out weighs any profit imo. Besides, you can achieve what they will with most other shoulder exercises without the added stress

Will the following suffice?
4 warm-up sets seated db press
3 sets seated db press, 8 reps
4 sets side raises, 8 reps
4 sets upright rows, 8 reps
3 sets db shrugs, 8 reps
3 sets bb shrugs, 8 reps

not hitting your posterior, throw in some rear flys and its 100s

So my shoulders did def improve, but how can I target my caps specifically?

Its definitely hard. I have found it easier to bring up my posterior delts of all things than my medial deltoids, but in doing that it has given my shoulders much more cap.

As for the medial delts specifically - does your gym have this machine?


Mine doesn't but Claremont VA has it and I used it once and absolutely loved it! I'm even thinking of putting shoulder/push day on a Saturday just so that I can drive up there just to use that machine

Also try doing db laterals standing and leaning forward slightly with you chest supported my an incline bench. Lead with your elbows (watch Jay Cutler do laterals) and keep your pinkies higher than your thumbs. Shoot for your 10-12 rep max and then grab a 5kg plate in each hand and while standing up straight continue doing laterals with your arms out straight this time and your palms facing the floor. Keep your wrists stiff and locked in place. Do those with a 2 seconds pause at the top and a slow eccentric until your reach failure. Then grab the 2.5kg plates and rep out til failure even if it takes 30+ reps to get there.

My gym doesnt have that machine, Ill def try that routine stan thanks a mil!

Its such a great machine! It really gets under my skin that the good shit is across town
I trained at Green Point VA last weekend and they have Hammer Strength equipment for shoulders, chest and back. The shoulder press one was so comfortable for my shoulders I could just keep going on and on.