Getting in good shape is a marathon, not a sprint, so don’t get discouraged when you’re not seeing the kind of progress you want, especially when it’s just one muscle you’re having trouble with. Nine times out of ten, all you need to do is shake things up a little bit. If you’ve been doing the same routine, even if you’re kicking ass, it’s likely that your muscles have just gotten used to it so you’ve kind of stagnated. Remember, if you want change then you need to make changes. One muscle a lot of guys complain about is the shoulders. One of my readers even wrote in and said, “It feels like I’m making progress on every muscle except my shoulders which, for the life of me, I just don’t understand. I’ve gone up in weight. I’m blasting them. I don’t get it.” The truth is, there’s no magical answer as to why it’s his shoulders, it’s probably just a coincidence but we do have a quick routine you might want to throw into your workout regime once or twice a week to get things moving again as far as your shoulders go. It’s a quick workout but it packs a big punch because it’s a lot of work condensed into a short period of time. I’ve written about circuit training before and its benefits and I’m sticking by my guns. I think pound for pound there’s no better workout in existence and this shake up for the shoulders kind of echoes that.
This workout contains three main exercises which are done to failure, broken up by a set of dumbbell shrugs with very little rest in between. The three main exercises are standing dumbbell military press, seated straight bar military press, and lateral raises. The three main exercises should be done with a weight that can be done for a lot of reps. The shrugs are done in sets of 25 so you should be able to get through them but not go so light that it won’t feel the burn, you should have to struggle through those 25. Below is the workout written out with the amount of time you should take to rest in between exercises.
Shoulder Shake-Up Workout:
1 Set to Failure of Standing Dumbbell Military Press
(15 Seconds Rest)
25 dumbbell shrugs
(15 seconds rest)
1 Set to Failure Seated Straight Bar Military Press
(15 seconds rest)
25 dumbbell shrugs
(15 seconds rest)
1 Set to Failure Lateral Raises
(15 seconds rest)
25 dumbbell shrugs
This should really blast the muscles and get them out of their comfort zone so to speak and promoted growth. The almost non-stop motion will also be good for cutting and really get the hearty popping.
As with any workout or exercise plan you should consult a physician before starting.
Article By: Jon DaBove
