WORKOUTS
Muscle-Building 12-Week Workout: Week 7
 |
DAY 4: INCREASED WEIGHT - EXERCISES FOR SHOULDERS
New! Track Your Workout Progress with Before and After Pics
New! View Other Members Who Are Tracking Their Workout Progress
Muscle-Building Workout Participants Forum
Workout Program Overview
Frequently Asked Questions
What Are Supersets?
Week 1 Workouts
Week 2 Workouts
Week 3 Workouts
Week 4 Workouts
Week 5 Workouts
Week 6 Workouts
Week 7 Workouts
Week 8 Workouts
Week 9 Workouts
Week 10 Workouts
Week 11 Workouts
Week 12 Workouts
New! View Other Members Who Are Tracking Their Workout Progress
Muscle-Building Workout Participants Forum
Workout Program Overview
Frequently Asked Questions
What Are Supersets?
Week 1 Workouts
Week 2 Workouts
Week 3 Workouts
Week 4 Workouts
Week 5 Workouts
Week 6 Workouts
Week 7 Workouts
Week 8 Workouts
Week 9 Workouts
Week 10 Workouts
Week 11 Workouts
Week 12 Workouts
| WEEK 7, DAY 4 EXERCISE VIDEO DEMOS |
| Superset | Exercise | Muscles | Weight (Goal) | Set 1 Reps (Goal) | Set 1 Reps (Actual) | Set 2 Reps (Goal) | Set 2 Reps (Actual) | Set 3 Reps (Goal) | Set 3 Reps (Actual) | Set 4 Reps (Goal) | Set 4 Reps (Actual) |
| WARMUP | |||||||||||
| Begin Superset | |||||||||||
| S | Cable Side Rotators | Shoulders (rotators) | Light | 20 each arm | 20 each arm | 20 each arm | N/A | N/A | |||
| S | Stability Ball Push-ups | Chest, Triceps, Shoulders (deltoids) | N/A | 16 | 16 | 16 | N/A | N/A | |||
| WORKOUT | |||||||||||
| Begin Superset | |||||||||||
| S | Dumbbell Lateral to Front Raises | Shoulders (front/middle deltoids) | Rep Max | 15 | 12 | 10 | 10 | ||||
| S | Single-Arm Dumbbell Presses | Shoulders | Rep Max | 15 | 12 | 12 | 10 | ||||
| Begin Superset | |||||||||||
| S | Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Presses | Shoulders | Rep Max | 15 | 12 | 12 | 10 | ||||
| S | Dumbbell Lateral Raises | Shoulders | Rep Max | 15 | 12 | 12 | 10 | ||||
| Headstand to Handstand Push-ups | Shoulders | N/A | 15 | 15 | 12 | 12 | |||||
| Begin Superset | |||||||||||
| S | Reverse Flys on Pec Deck | Shoulders (rear deltoids) | Rep Max | 15 | 12 | 10 | N/A | N/A | |||
| S | Reverse Dumbbell Raises | Shouldrs (rear deltoids) | Rep Max | 15 | 15 | 15 | N/A | N/A | |||
| EXERCISE DESCRIPTIONS IN BRIEF | |
| Exercise | Overview |
| Cable Side Rotators | Stand erect next to a cable system machine with the cable set at stomach level and your body facing perpendicular to the machine. Attach a single-handed grip to the end of the cable. Roll a towel in the armpit of the arm farthest away from the cable system machine, and then grasp the single-handed grip in the hand of that arm. Hold your elbow at a right angle to your body with your arm flat across your stomach. Next, with your elbow held at a right angle and your arm flat against your stomach, slowly move your hand from your stomach towards the outside of your body. Use your upper arm as the pivot point and be sure to keep your forearm at a right angle to your body. Keep your wrist flat throughout the movement. Move your forearm as far out as you can go without compromising your form. Reverse the motion, and slowly bring the your hand back across stomach. After you have completed a set, switch sides and repeat with your other arm. |
| Stability Ball Push-ups | Place both hands on a stability ball and position the rest of your body like a plank. Your abdominals should be held in so that your stomach does not dip, and your back should be flat so that your buttocks do not come up. Keep your feet hip-width apart for stability, and, if needed, put the ball against a wall for support. Next, perform a push-up, lowering your chest until it almost touches the ball. Your elbows should come out to the side as you drop down, and your shoulder blades should come together. From the bottom of the push-up, reverse direction and press yourself back up to the starting position. For a more difficult version of this exercise, perform the push-ups with your hands on the ball and your feet shoulder-width apart on top of a flat bench. This will crank up the intensity of the 'hands-on' pushup 10 fold. For an even more advanced version of this push-up, place your feet on a stability ball as well and perform the push-ups. |
| Dumbbell Lateral to Front Raises | Stand on the floor with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding dumbbells at your sides with your arms extended downward. Your knees should be slightly bent, and your palms should face in toward your hips. Lift both arms out to the side from the shoulder, keeping your elbows straight as you do so. Though you are lifting from the shoulders, you don’t want to raise your shoulders toward your ears; think instead of feeling your hands rising away from your sides. Continue to raise your arms until the extend straight out to the sides at shoulder level, with your palms facing the floor. From the extended position, bring both arms forward until they extend straight in front of you, still with palms facing down. Throughout this motion, your elbows should stay straight and your arms parallel to the floor; don’t let them droop, or climb toward the ceiling. Hold the forward extended position for one full second, then reverse your arms back to the side extended position, and from there reverse again down to the starting position. At no point in this sequence should you bend your elbows. |
| Single-Arm Dumbbell Presses | Take a dumbbell in each hand and stand upright with your feet roughly hip-width apart. Keeping the weights near your body as you maneuver them, bring both hands just above your shoulders, with palms facing forward. Your elbows will be bent to the sides and down, so that, as nearly as possible, you have a vertical line from your elbows through your shoulders to your hands. Next, press your right hand straight up toward the ceiling, using your shoulder muscles to push the weight upward, until you reach full flexion with your arm nearly vertical above your head. From the fully flexed position, lower your arm back to the starting position, resisting the downward motion throughout, and being careful to bring your hand down in a fairly straight line—try not to swing your hand wide. Again from the starting position, repeat the dumbbell press with your left arm, while your right arm waits in the starting position. Continue to alternate throughout the set. |
| Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Presses | Sit at a flat bench with your feet shoulder-width apart and pointing forward and dumbbells held at your shoulders with your palms facing inward. Keep your head and back straight, knees slightly bent and the core of your body tight, while relaxing your chest. Next, extend your arms by straightening your elbows directly over your head to full flexion of your shoulder muscle. Keep your elbows slightly bent at the top of the movement to avoid locking your joints. Without stopping, and while maintaining the flexion in your deltoids, keep your arms wide and slowly bring the weights down until your arms are bent at nearly 90 degrees and the weights are back at shoulder level. |
| Dumbbell Lateral Raises | Stand on the floor with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding dumbbells at your sides. Your knees should be slightly bent, and your palms should face in toward your hips. Next, raise both dumbbells up from each side and away from the body, keeping your elbows straight. Keeping your trapezoid muscles relaxed, continue raising your arms until they are horizontal with your shoulders. Slowly lower the arms back to starting position and repeat. Bent-arm variation: After you exhaust your shoulders using the straight-arm form described above, move immediately on to the bent-arm lateral raise. To do the bent-arm lateral raise, bend your arms at a 90-degree angle at the elbow so that your are holding the barbells out in front of you with your palms facing in toward each other, then continue as many reps as possible with same weight. |
| Headstand to Handstand Push-ups | Begin in piked-up position on the floor, with your hips in the air, your palms flat on the floor a little more than shoulder-width apart in front of you, your legs as straight as possible, your feet hip-width apart with heels slightly off the ground, and your body supported by your hands and the balls of your feet. Keep your neck in line with your spine throughout this entire movement. The more you are able to keep your hips up high over your shoulders throughout the movement, the easier it will be to progress to the more advanced variations of the exercise. Next, slowly lower down your body into a push-up until your the crown of your head completely touches the floor. Reverse the motion and push your upper body back up to the starting position. Your shoulders should do the majority of the work. Variations: As you build shoulder strength over time, try these variations to build up closer to the true handstand push-up: First, try lifting one leg up behind you before you go down into your push-ups. Be sure to touch your head completely to the floor with each descent. This will increase the amount of weight on your shoulders. For an even more challenging variation of the shoulder push-up, try putting your feet on a flat bench and your hands on the floor. Lower down in a push-up and touch your head to the floor. This will put even more weight on your shoulders. Finally, when you've mastered those variations, try combining them by placing your feet on a flat bench and lifting one of your legs up before going down into the push-ups. Once you've mastered these, you're probably ready for full-fledge handstand push-ups. |
| Reverse Flys on Pec Deck | Stand or sit facing a rear pec deck machine or a reversible pec deck machine. Adjust the seat, or, if you're standing, spread your legs apart enough so that your arms are parallel to the floor with slightly bent elbows when you reach out and grasp handles of the pec deck Keep your abdominals on the backboard and sit completely upright with good posture so that your chest is not hunched forward onto pad and your head and neck are in line with your spine. Next, with your arms slightly bent, use your rear deltoid and middle/lower traps to move your arms outward and backward in a reverse fly motion. Move your arms and the handles back until your elbows are even with the plane of your back, while keeping your arms slightly bent. Be careful to keep your core engaged and in the same position throughout; a common mistake is to thrust the head and chest forward to try to gain an extra inch of pull. When you reach the fully flexed position, reverse the motion and bring your arms back in front of you to starting position in a slow and controlled manner. |
| Reverse Dumbbell Raises | With a dumbbell in each hand, sit straddling an incline bench facing the elevated end. Adjust the incline so that, when your chest is resting on the bench, your upper body is bent forward at a 45-degree angle. Your knees should be bent and your toes resting on the floor behind you for balance. Extend your arms toward the floor with palms facing each other. Next, angle your hands slightly by bringing your thumbs up toward your wrists, so that you lift with your pinky as you raise your arms. Keep your back flat as you raise both arms straight out to the side, until they are parallel with the floor. Your elbows should be soft as you do this—avoid locking the joint. Be careful not to “shrug” your shoulders by raising them up toward your ears; instead, raise your arms using the back of the shoulder. From the top of your lift, maintain the same angles through wrist, elbow, and back as you lower your arms back to the starting position. |
| EXERCISE IMAGES |
 |
Photo Credit: Nicolas Smith
