Body And Fitness Blog

Friday - shoulders

I would usually do shoulders on a Thursday but I had too much stuff on yesterday to do my workout in the morning and was playing squash in the evening, so opted to move my workout to today which fits in well because I am working out with Dan tomorrow morning.

Next week, I’m going to shift some of the days around so that I do biceps and triceps at the end of the week, so they will have recovered somewhat from my chest, shoulder and back workouts.

I had a good mix of Motley Crue and Poison on my iPod today in the gym, beats the crap they were playing on the stereo in the gym anyway!

Shoulder press

I started off with a couple of warmup sets, just 15kg for 12 reps and then 25kg for 12 reps. Before any shoulder press workout I always do some windmills to loosen up the shoulder joint, it seems to help me avoid getting any shoulder injuries which is always a good thing in my book.

I do this exercise heavy duty style, or at least I try to follow the principles by making each set last for at least a minute, longer if possible. Today was no exception. I upped the weight a bit from my last workout, only 2.5kg, but my plan is to up it every couple of weeks, the theory being that by doing the exercise heavy duty, every couple of weeks I should have built up enough strength to increase the weight.

• 37.5kg x 10 reps, duration, 60 seconds
• 37.5kg x 10 reps, duration, 1:10 seconds
• 37.5kg x 12 reps, duration, 45 seconds (done deliberately quicker aiming for more reps)

Lateral raises

• 8kg x 12 reps
• 8kg x 12 reps

I should go up to the next weight on this exercise, but I fear that my form will get sloppy. I’ll see how I go next time.

Upright rows

• 14kg x 10 reps
• 14kg x 10 reps

This weight feels good, a few weeks of doing this weight will build some good strength and bulk in the shoulders.

Anterior raises

• 10kg x 10 reps
• 10kg x 10 reps

Lighter than my last workout, but the form was feeling sloppy, I guess my shoulders must have been more fatigued from shoulder press this workout compared to last workout.

Posterior raises

• 12kg x 12 reps
• 12kg x 12 reps

Think I may need to use a heavier dumbbell next time and accept a few less reps.

To finish off my workout I did some abdominal exercises:

• 12 x leg raises
• 45 seconds plank
• 95kg crunch machine x 20 reps

That was it for my workout