MuscleSports.net Logo

Shoulders of a Warrior: Bodybuilding Workout

Advanced Hardcore Shoulder Training for Elite Bodybuilding!

Jack Factory PowerBuild
Shoulders of a Warrior: Bodybuilding Workout!
Author Writter Image By: MuscleSports.net

- Bodybuilding Articles -

“A warrior always has a battle plan. You must learn to draw up a plan, implement your plan, overcome adversities!”

Ronnie Coleman 8 x Mr Olympia Pressing a pair of 160 Lbs. Dumbbells for reps on set #4!

Ronnie Coleman
8 x Mr Olympia

Pressing a pair of 160 Lbs. Dumbbells for reps on set #4!

Warriors rise with the sun. For the Warrior, there's only one goal in life: To be stronger than your previous day. The warrior has a constant battle with complacency and weakness. All Warriors must first conquer the struggles from within himself. He then must proceed to destroy all thing that standing his way. These are the battles that make up the larger war.

Winning a war like this requires a inner strength of "I will" not "I will try". The true warrior does not try he battles till his just desire is achieved. No excuses, No regrets, No reflection. The warrior is absolute in his quest that failure is but an obstacle to be overcome. There are no limits I can not reach, and no one or thing will impede my progression FOR I AM THE WARRIOR!

Into Battle We Ride!

Warriors always have a plan of battle before they ever step into the arena. The plan is implemented, adjusted for circumstances, maintained under countless stresses and forward to victory. To design a strategy for building a warrior set of shoulder we have to have a plan that is based on exercises that produce the maximum amount of muscle in the shortest amount of time. The weight used must be heavy and the movement basic. The growth must be seen by all advisories from the moment of implementation.

Exercise #1 Standing military presses: .This is the all around shoulder builder of all time. We are going to due a slight variation of this and move it behind your head. This puts your shoulder into a different plane of motion that for some will be very awkward. Ease into the movement as it takes time to build up to using very heavy weights with safety. Unlike the old timers of yesterday we never let the bar travel to far down past eye level as this is where most of the internal rotation of the shoulder starts and thus the problems with behind the neck presses. Your elbows should hit slightly below parallel then right back up. You say why not press to the front, well when your press behind the head you activate more front delt and less upper chest. You also hit the side delts allot more and touch a little rear delts as well. 5 set of 6-12 reps pyramid down to your heaviest sets.

Exercise #2 Seated Dumbbell Presses: Now on the menu are seated DB Presses. You say why didn't we lead with these, because of all the reasons stated above. This exercise touches primarily the front deltoid and upper chest, no side or rear delts. For those very reason it sits second as a heavy front shoulder exercise. As you began to get heavier in this exercise you may find that you need a partner so don't be afraid to ask for assistance. Again we have 5 set of 6-12 rep in pyramid fashion starting at 12 reps and working down to 6 on your heaviest sets.

Exercise #3 Standing Side Lateral Raises: Third is as you guessed side lateral raises, but we are going to do them correctly. First we are going to what not to do. Your arms should never be straight. The dumbbells should never go higher than your shoulder. You should never be standing straight up. Lastly if I see someone flapping like a bird and tell me they are working their shoulder I might just loose it and do something I may regret. Enough of me, back to how to do a side lateral that works your delts. Grab a pair of dumbbells that you can perform 15 reps your way. First thing is to lean your torso slightly forward about 10°. This should put your shoulders directly over the dumbbells your holding. No bend your elbows like you have you hands in your pockets, but keep the dumbbells facing each other. Now initiating the movement not from your hand but your elbows, bring them up to shoulder height and ever so slightly backward. If you look to the side you should see your upper arm is straight out to the side of your shoulder and your side deltoid is fully contacted. Any high and the tension leaves you delts and transfers to the traps. 4 set of 10-15 reps with ever increasing weights. A slight bit of cheating can be allowed but stay as strict as possible even on your heaviest sets.

Optimum Nutrition BCAA 5000

Optimum Nutrition
BCAA 5000

Mixes easier and stay in solution longer.

Exercise #4 Inclined Dumbbell Rear Lateral Raises: Now we move to the back of the shoulders, the read deltoid. No little cable exercise here just more heavy weights as direct muscle stimulation. We love the old seated rear lateral but find that the heavier you go the more chest compression you get so we put these on an incline bench to get rid of just that. Set an adjustable incline bench at between 30° - 40°, Grab your fist dumbbells and down face first on the bench with top hitting you about mid to upper chest if possible, or just place a towel on the bench to protect your face from germs. The incline should be such that like with the side lateral your dumbbell in hand should be directly below th targeted muscle group. Like before we initiate the movement with the elbows and not the hands. pull your elbows up, out and slightly back, squeezing the rear delts at all times. This movement is direct and very intense so maximum focus is need to get through all 5 set of 8-15 reps.

Exercise #5 Close Grip High Pulls: Now we come to exercise #5, on of my most favorite movement for adding width and silly thickness throughout the shoulder region. Doing this exercise for a year straight will have people thinking your a strongman or powerlifter turned bodybuilder because of the thickness it brings to you delts, traps and oh yeah neck area. First thing I want you to do is go to Google and look up high pulls so you get a since of what the movement is and how the are preformed. These are a cross between high pulls and up right rows in the sense that instead of the bar traveling 8-12 inches in front of you its going to be allot closer like 2-3. Your grip is going to be slightly wider than shoulder width - about one hand spacing on each side. As with high pulls this movement is initiated from the hips, but you not coming up on your toes but pulling through your shoulders and traps until the bar reaches slightly high than your shoulders. The movement itself is very explosive and should be brought along slowly until you have become accustomed to it. 5 set of 6 reps of increasing weights with each set.

Exercise #6 Power Shrugs: Last on the agenda are Power shrugs. Power Shrugging is a technique of doing shrugs to maximize the weight used, muscle contraction, muscle stimulus for growth. First you going to need a power cage preferably and some chalk and straps. Set the pins so the bar rest about 2-3 inches below your shrugging height. We are going to do about 5 set in total with the last 2-3 set being the one where we place the power shrug technique on. If your max shrug weight is say 405 and you tend to do 1-2 set at that weight for about lets say 8-10 reps then your power shrug weight are going to be 405x8, 465x8, 525x4-6. Sound heavy because it is, what we are doing is 15% to your max weight than 30%. How to preform a power shrug - You nee a firm grip on the bar so straps and chalk are necessary. Your going to do one rep set the bar down for 2 second do another rep and repeat until all required reps are preformed. Do not stand there with the bar in hand do all reps at once. If you can do that then the weights are to light and need to be adjusted. We got 5 set with 3 at the top end in power shrug style.

Battle Plan Assessment

Now you've made it through the first day of live fire and survived by the skin of your teeth. Now you adjust what need to be adjusted. Rest times, weight, equipment, what ever it is that needs adjusting you do between sessions. If done to its max you will need 4-5 days between workouts. Eat, sleep and recover to battle another day, that is the way of the Warrior!

Warriors Plan

  1. • Standing military presses: 5 set of 6-12 reps pyramid down in weight down to your heaviest sets.
  2. • Seated Dumbbell Presses: 5 set of 8-15 rep pyramid down to your heaviest sets.
  3. • Standing Side Lateral Raises: 4 set of 10-15 reps pyramid down to your heaviest sets.
  4. • Inclined Dumbbell Rear Lateral Raises: 5 set of 8-15 reps pyramid down to your heaviest sets.
  5. • Close Grip High Pulls: 5 set of 6 reps of increasing weights with each set.
  6. • Power Shrugs: 5 set of 6-12 reps. Last 3 sets at the top end in power shrug style.

Tags: Workout Programs Shoulders

Bulldog
Train Hard or Go Home!
Bulldog… ..

Thank You...
Team MuscleSport.net

Send Us Your Comments:
Shoulders of a Warrior: Bodybuilding Workout - Comments


Related Articles

 

Sponsored Products:

BPI Sports 1.M.R

BPI Sports
1.M.R

Energy, Vascularity & Strength!

Kaged Muscle Outlive 100

Kaged Muscle
Outlive 100

Organic Greens & Superfoods!

G.A.T. Flexx EAAs

G.A.T.
Flexx EAAs

Advanced Essential Amino Acids!

 

Comments:

 

 

Bodybuilding

Bedrock Training - Beginning bodybuilding Training Manual Kelso's Shrug Book - Paul Kelso expands the shrug principle with dozens of variations that improve muscularity and the competitive lifts. Steve Reeves Bodybuilding Journal: An Analysis
MuscleSports.net Logo