"Spotlight" Exercise: Shoulders

I'm thinking of occasionally shining the proverbial spotlight on a particular exercise that I find fun and challenging and this is my test run.

In a perfect world, we wouldn't need anything other than the Press, Bench Press, Squat, Deadlift, and Bent Row (not counting bodyweight exercises), but we're human and we get bored!

This exercise is an example of Compound Training, which is basically a Super Set for a single muscle or muscle group, and is also referred to as a "Tri set" because there are three alternating exercises. The goal is to do 6 reps of upright row with the barbell, 8 reps of dumbbell lateral raises (each arm), and 6 reps of dumbbell side raises, without resting between exercises.

The Upright Row (images courtesy of ExRx.net)

In a controlled motion, raise the bar up to under your chin. Think of having strings attached to your elbows and pulling from there. This exercise is probably the best at targeting the lateral deltoid - that's the larger, central head. I use a closer grip than pictured in the example.

Front Raises

Keeping your elbow fixed, raise the dumbbell until your arm is parallel with the floor. Alternate arms until you have 8 reps for each. This will focus on the Anterior Deltoid.

Lateral Raises

Elbows slightly bent, and hips and knees slightly bent, raise the dumbbell to the side until it is shoulder height. This primarily works the Lateral Deltoid, but if you bend more at the hips it will focus more on the posterior.


This will have you pouring sweat after the 3rd set!

Enjoy, and let me know if this is a positive feature.

Sunshine-y Day :)

Oh, I feel fucking great! It's one of those days where I got up early and was outside while it was cold and the grass was wet, but then the sun starts to heat everything up and the grass dries; it was like the picture-perfect Fall/Spring day that you remember from being a kid.

The groin is a little sore, but not bad - I was only in the game this morning for a couple plays but did some good blocking. For some reason they like to match me up with the biggest guy on the other team, but after the first time he squeaked by I was all over him!

Diet (and by that I mean what I eat, not that I'm on a diet) is good so far today. I woke up late AND got paged for work so I just made a quick whey protein shake and drank that on the way to the game. Had over a quart of water so far today too. As I sit here I'm eating some scrambled eggs w/ spinach, onions, peppers, and a little salsa. For those cheese lovers out there, as I sure am, cottage cheese put on your eggs/omelette after it's out of the pan is pretty freakin great if you like the stuff. And the nutritional content is fantastic. Later I will probably eat either scallops or salmon with a spinach salad. I'm also cooking for the week. I basically make a casserole on Sunday that I container up for lunch everyday. This week I have ground turkey, white and pinto beans, kale, barley, and I'm gonna spice it up with some mexican seasoning. With that, I'll be eating eggs at breakfast, a whole wheat english muffin with peanut butter at work, and I also have a bag of apples and a huge jar of peanuts at my desk. That lets me eat about 5 times before I hit the gym at 430/445, and when I come home I either cook up some protein or have a protein shake. It's satisfying and it's tasty.

Looking forward to hitting the gym with thebryon this afternoon, his workout is a little different than mine and I like the variation. He splits up his chest and back days so he can train a little more and not have any issues with recovery. Yesterday was back (which I'm feeling!) and today is chest and tri's - looking forward to "blasting my pecs". For the next month or two I am still on full circuit until I get to the point where I need to hit muscle groups harder and want the extra recovery time. Before I give you the deets - just want to preface that the weights are pretty light but will be getting up there! My workout (generally tues/thur if I hit the gym on the weekend, with a day or two of just cardio in the week):

Hammer Strength Chest Press - 12x3 (currently around 35lbs per arm)
HS Lat Pull-down - 12x3 (I think 50 or 55lbs per arm)
HS Shoulder Press - 12x3 (30lbs per arm)
OPTIONAL - Leg Press - 12x3 @330lbs. I don't always do this b/c of iffy knees and timing

HS Incline Press - 12x3 (25lbs per arm)
HS Seated Row - 12x3 (probaby 45lbs, but don't remember - i'll check this week!)
Weighted bars, frontal raise - 9lbsx12, 12lbsx12, 9lbsx12 (not a lot, but i'm building endurance)
Wall Squat - 12x3 - lean against a big ball on the wall and do squats (sounds funny but it burns!)

That's all for now, got some laundry and some screwing around on the internet to do.

Do it right or don't do it.