ing a right hook or a football, the power behind it will equal
success. Strong and powerful shoulders also benefit your ev-
eryday life. From mowing the lawn to hauling bags of cement
mix, you need a good set of shoulders.
The Exercises
Bench Press – Begin lying on a bench with your feet on
the floor and place your hands just outside of the knurling
(about shoulder-width apart). Engage the muscles in your
arms, back, chest and shoulders, and grip the bar tightly as
you unrack it with straight arms. Drive your chest upward
and pull your shoulder blades back as you move the bar right
over your chest. Take a deep breath, plant your feet, squeeze
your glutes, tighten your hips and lower the bar to your chest
while keeping everything in line and your chest puffed out.
Return the bar to lock out to repeat one rep.
Standing Military Barbell Press – Grab the bar with your
palms facing down and shoulder-width apart then bring it
just above your collarbone. Soften your knees, inhale and
press the bar overhead to lock out your elbows. Return the
bar to the starting position. That’s one rep.
Bent Over Barbell Row – Start with the weight on the floor
then hinge at your hips and push them back as far as you
can. Soften your knees and keep pushing your hips back till
you can grab the bar. Keep your chest at a 45-degree angle.
Grab the bar with a palms-down, shoulder-width apart grip.
Pull the barbell just a couple of inches off the floor and let it
hover then pull the bar up towards your chest by moving your
elbows back in the direction of your hips and squeezing your
shoulder blades together. From there, you should return to
the starting position. Make sure you fully extend your arms
after each pull.
Farmer’s Walk – Grab a heavy dumbbell, barbell or kettlebell
in each hand. Your palms should be facing your body. Stand
up straight, chest out, shoulders tight and make sure your
back and hip are inline. Take small steps forward, then turn
and go back to your starting point.
Hang Clean and Press – Stand up straight and hold a
barbell at waist level with a palms-down grip. Slightly bend
at your knees and use the power of your legs to explode the
bar upward, flip your wrist and rest the bar on the front of
your shoulders with your elbows facing outward. From this
point, soften your knees and use the power from your legs
once again to explode the barbell overhead to lock out your
elbows.
The Workout
With these power moves, you’re going to be lifting heavy
for three to five reps with each set. You might have to play
around a little with the weight to find your sweet spot. If you
find you can easily lift the weight more than five times, it’s
too light. If you can’t quite make five reps with good form,
then you have too much weight on the bar. Be sure to rest for
one to three minutes after each set of an exercise.
Start with a few light warm-up reps. That’ll improve your
lifts and ready your muscles for the exercises. Don’t forget:
You never want to jump into a heavy lift with cold muscles.
Warming them up first makes them more pliable and will
increase your range of motion for each exercise.
The exercises chosen for this workout are all compound
movements. This means that they’ll be working more than
one muscle group at a time. Why not isolate the shoulders
for a shoulder workout? To build power and muscle, you
need to be using heavy compound movements bringing your
whole body into these lifts. It cannot be done with isolation
exercises. Those types of movements don’t allow for the
heaviest of lifts.
Bench Press 5 Sets X 3-5 Reps
Typically thought of as a chest exercise (and it is), the bench
press is also going to target your anterior deltoids, triceps
and back.
Standing Military Barbell Press 5 Sets X 3-5 Reps
This will directly target your deltoids, along with your triceps.
By standing while pressing, you are also going to be engag-
ing your core muscles and legs at the same time. They will
act as stabilizer muscles.
Bent Over Barbell Row 5 Sets X 3-5 Reps
You’ll not only be bringing your back, triceps and biceps into
this move, but also targeting your rear delts. That’s the part
many people forget to work on, as they tend to do a lot of
pushing instead of pulling exercises. This will give you all-
around big and defined shoulders.
Farmer’s Carry – Walk as far as you can, rest and repeat 4
more times
This may look like a simple exercise, but when you pack on
the weight, you are going to really feel every muscle in your
shoulders burning in a good way. The farmer’s walk also
incorporates your upper back muscles, and uses your core
and legs for stabilizers.
Hang Clean and Press 5 Sets X 3-5 Reps
This is literally a full-body movement that incorporates every
muscle from the ground up, but places much of the focus on
the delts. With this three-step move, you’ll be sure to work
your shoulders to the max.
After you’ve finished this shoulder-busting workout, be sure
to cool yourself down and stretch your shoulders out. Hold
each stretch for at least 30 seconds. Stretching will increase
your range of motion during these types of exercises, which
makes them that much more effective.
ironmanmagazine.com | SEPTEMBER 2017 65