I’m looking for a way to really develop
my shoulders. My problem is I can’t do behind
the neck barbell presses without aggravating my shoulders.
Any suggestions?
I tend to stay away from any movements that require
you to push or pull from behind the neck (Lat Pulldowns,
Barbell Presses, etc.) as I feel this puts the neck
and the shoulder in very unnatural positions that
invite injury.
One of the best and safest exercises I’ve found
for all-around shoulder development is the Seated
Dumbbell Press.
When doing seated presses for shoulder development,
you want to maintain the stress on your delts by not
locking out your elbows in the top position.
Locking your elbows out actually serves to take the
weight off your delts and thus gives them a momentary
break from the set. This break is clearly counter-productive
to growth and development.
By maintaining continuous tension on the delts, you’ll
dramatically increase the effectiveness of this movement.
You may have to drop your poundage down slightly,
but I’ve found that with most people shoulders
respond well to highly controlled, continuous tension
sets.
I’m interested in quickly getting as
muscular as possible. How many reps should I do for
each exercise?
While generalizations are often misleading, for adding
mass to the major bodyparts the following ranges seem
to work best for most people:
Chest & Back = 5-8 Reps / Set
Arms & Shoulders = 6-10 Reps / Set
Quads & Hamstrings = 8-15 Reps / Set
Calves = 12-20 Reps / Set
Again, as always it’s important to work variation
into your training program. In particular, I like
to periodically throw in some high rep training.
What exercises do you do to get the lower
ridge on your pecs, that real chiseled look?
I use a combination of Decline Presses with a wide-variety
of cable exercises to fully develop the lower ridge
of the pectorals and to burn the cut, striated look
into the muscle.
While not generally a big fan of Bench Pressing for
chest development, I’ve had some success with
Barbell Presses on the decline bench. Make sure the
decline angle is not too severe in order to prevent
the bulk of the stress from shifting over to your
arms and, in particular, your delts.
I like to use about a 35% angle on the bench here.
For best results use a shoulder-width grip and keep
your arms in close to your sides. Form is key.
I’ll occasionally mix things up by doing Decline
Dumbbell Presses in order to really stretch the pecs.
I like to use various Cable Crossover and Cable Fly movements
as finishing exercises for chest. The continuous tension
that cables provide is instrumental in developing a full
rounded chest. Be sure not to work against this continuous
tension by jerking through the exercise or by swinging body
momentum into the movements. Strict, smooth form will really
pay off here.
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