My Shoulder Routine

I had my left shoulder operated on about 4 years ago. I thought at the time, it was the worst thing to ever happen to me. I used to be 310lbs (Dorian era), and I would do behind the neck presses with 365lbs easy and a few with 405 lbs. My shoulders were very strong. All this caused damage to the joint. Funny thing was that my chest sucked big time. Anyway, a couple years after pouting and losing size, I decided to go at it again but obvious I couldnt do what I did in the past. Everything I lifted over my head hurt. I started using isolating techniques and really going light and I learned to actually FEEL the muscle working. So basically, the surgery taught me a valuable lesson.
Ok, now the nitty gritty and its nothing special:
1. Ankle cuff attatched to upper forearm for cable laterals. I stand a little crooked and bring it up slow and down slow. I concentrate and go up in weight slowly. If you feel your traps in any of the movment, then your going to high. I exhasut these puppies good. I will super-set these bad boys to the extreme.
2. Dumbell over head press. I dont go very heavy, I dont lock out or come close, I keep constant tension and your can really feel the burn,..please dont lockout. I do about 3 sets
3. Wide grip upright rows. I got this from "The Dude". Im not totally sold on them yet and am playing with the grip and motion but Ive been doing them for about six months. I like the results but you gotta find your sweet spot. Go light and learn the movement here.
4. I start hitting the rear delts. I like the 3D look, especially in clothes when your rear delts are "popping". It really rounds out the shoulder. Please dont neglect these. I hate doing them but I lay on a bench that has about a 30 degree angle and bring my elbows up to parralel and they burn like hell. I will do one set then go back and do anther lateral set or wide grip to keep the blood going. Do about 4 sets for rear delts. Do them like you mean it. Its easy to cheat on these.
5. I dont do much for the front delts bc they get soo much from benching and other lifts. Maybe once per month, I will do a couple sets of military press. I found that my chest got fuller when I stopped doing front delts.
*** laterals, laterals and more laterals. Go heavy but work up slowly and as Dorian would say, "SQUEEZE". Keep constant tension and work the negative. I have got a good mind-muscle on a couple groups but not all. Its a learning process for sure.
Good luck brutha's. Hope I helped.
Rep

Great post man, thanks for the advice. When you say wide grip upright rows, just how wide of a grip are we talking about here? I usually place my hands just inside shoulder width apart. My pinky is usually the only part on the knurled part of the bar.

Im about 6'2" and Im fairly broad so I use my index finger on the "ring" knurl. Again, Im still playing with this exercise. I got it from "Dude". Play with it and find your sweet spot. I have also been experimenting with upright rows using dumbells. My main thing here is LATERALS and REAR DELTS are king, NOT front delts. Most people exhaust front delts and barley do laterals and thats a huge mistake

Thanks for posting bro . I wanted to see what it looked like

Rep said:

Im about 6'2" and Im fairly broad so I use my index finger on the "ring" knurl. Again, Im still playing with this exercise. I got it from "Dude". Play with it and find your sweet spot. I have also been experimenting with upright rows using dumbells. My main thing here is LATERALS and REAR DELTS are king, NOT front delts. Most people exhaust front delts and barley do laterals and thats a huge mistake

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I'm 6'2'' as well. I will try moving my hands a little wider on the bar and see how it feels next shoulder day. Thanks bro.

I always have to incorporate seated front hammer raises, my favorite, and prolly strongest area (when compared to others via percentage) for shoulders

This is an excellent post! I remember in my younger days I would hit 315 behind the neck. Now I wouldn't even try yet my shoulders are 3 times the size. I train only the sides and rears. My only "mass movement" is the wide uprights. This is another example where people hammer the free weight compound movement as best for development yet we are getting much better development from different forms of lateral training.

The one thing I've noticed about going too wide is that it starts to kill my wrists, but if I let the weight hang in my fingertips, I'm fine