O Brother Where Art Thou Shoulders

O Brother Where Art Thou Shoulders,  is what I felt like crying when filming this workout! Its a toughie 🙂

It was a long drive at almost 5 hours for my relocation from the Costa Del Sol, but I am now back where I consider home on the sunny Costa Blanca. Once settled,  I was itching to get to the gym however was in a bit of a pickle about where to join! As, the gym I had been a member of and usually trained at in Santa Pola is now a bit far from where I live to travel to for frequent training.

Before I moved down to Marbella though, I had heard a new building and facilities where under way for a local gym to me in Ciudad Quesada. Luckily the facilities are now finished also and not too bad either.

I must say I am a bit of gym snob and find it takes a lot to impress me when it comes to gyms.

The new gym I would say is still a work in progress and I am sure in time will improve. It has more of a community feel about it and is quite old school so back to basics for me! The machines are still old despite in a brand new building! It’s all about good technique and effort though when it comes to training not machines!

This workout involves pretty much just shoulders apart from some core work towards the end. Below the video, I have detailed below the exercises performed and the muscle groups targeted.

O Brother Where Art Thou Shoulders

Press Behind Neck (smith machine ) : Normally I would not recommend this movement to a novice  as it has a higher risk of injury due to the rotator cuff in the shoulder. As long as you don’t go too heavy and decrease the range of movement, the risk should be greatly reduced. The muscles targeted within the press behind neck are the medial deltoid (middle of shoulder). This is one of my favourite exercises.

Parallel Press : The parallel press can be either performed on a machine or with free weights. The machine simply ads stability to the movement. Both have there pros and cons, so for variety its good to mix up free weights and resistance machines. The parallel press works mostly the anterior deltoid (front of shoulder) and triceps.

Pike Press (bodyweight) : You might notice these are more so “attempted” in the video, as this is exactly what they are. If you are ever feeling confident in what you are lifting, try switching your training up a bit as there is nothing harder than a simple bodyweight exercise to bring you crashing back down to earth!  These are so hard and work the anterior deltoid and triceps. Practice makes perfect as the saying goes…

Cable Face Pull : What looks as if it should be simple is not. The name describes the movement, which is to pull the rope towards the face keeping the elbows high. Muscles worked in this movement are the posterior deltoid, upper trapezius, rhomboids.

Cable Upright Row : The beauty of using cable movements is the tension created as it is constant throughout the movement. I initially found these okay and kept increasing the weight with each set. Again this is a favourite of mine. The exercise can be made harder by adding in iso holds. The muscles groups worked are the medial deltoid and upper trapezius.

The reason for the mixture of exercises is because the shoulder comprises of three deltoids – the anterior, medial and posterior. The anterior is worked in most pressing movements, it is therefore beneficial to work the medial and posterior deltoids along with work to the trapezius for all round shoulder development. So many times I have seen guys with over developed anterior deltoids, from too much pressing. Don’t be that guy.