Sample Shoulder (and Ab) Workout

I have decided to leave off the weights I use in my workouts from now on – I think it will do you all more good to just see the workouts and exercises for what they are, without the specific weights I used for each set.  I can always go back to including them if you prefer, but to me it feels more organic this way and easier to customize for all of you – I want you to focus on actually incorporating these exercises without worrying if you are using the same weights I did.  It doesn’t matter how much you are lifting, just that you ARE lifting and that you are using a weight that challenges you, while still being able to keep good form!

This was the workout I did Tuesday night for shoulders and abs – I usually train abs 1-2 times a week and focus mostly on strengthening my whole core – not just doing countless amounts of crunches.  All the crunches in the world won’t compensate for a poor diet and training routine – sorry!

I started with standing dumbbell lateral raises to warm-up: 4 sets of 12

Superset Seated Dumbbell Military Press & Toes to Bar:
Press: 1 warm-up set of 10, 4 working sets of 8
Toes to bar: 4 sets of 10

Superset Standing Cable Face Pulls & Standing Dumbbell Front Raises:
Face Pulls: 5 sets of 8
Front Raises: 4 sets of 8 (each side)

Superset Standing Barbell Military Press & Hanging Leg Raises:
Press: 1 warm-up set of 16, 4 working sets of 10 **When I do these, I alternate each rep in front of my head and behind my head – if you want to try this please make sure you use a significantly lower weight than you would for standard barbell military presses!
Raises: 4 sets of 15

Superset Peck Deck Rear Delt Flys & BW Dips:
Flys: 4 sets of 10, plus a drop set at the end from the heaviest weight I used to the lightest on the stack
Dips: 5 sets of 10

Superset Hammerstrength Shoulder Press & Front Plate Raises:
Press: 4 sets of 10
Raises: 4 sets of 10-12

Drop-set Dumbbell Lateral Raises:
“Run the rack” for these – I do 3 big drop sets (I will use the weights I use for this because it’s easier to explain): I started with 25’s for 10, then immediately dropped to 20’s for 8, then 15’s for 8, 10’s for 8, and 5’s for as many as possible.  I did that twice, and for my third set I skipped the 25’s and started with 20’s for 10, 15’s for 10, 10’s for 10, and 5’s until I thought my shoulders were going to fall off :-)

Superset Handstand Push-ups (against a wall) & Sprints:
I did 4 sets of 8 handstand push-ups (I am obsessed with handstand everything right now) and ran sprints in between each for some cardio.

And that’s it – I think this lasted about an hour and 15 minutes maybe an hour and a half – the sprints/handstand push-ups at the end took the longest – I needed a LOT of recovery time between sets – my cardio isn’t exactly the greatest…   I tend to do most of my workout at a pretty fast pace, but I do allow more rest time for the big moves (like my presses) so that I can use a heavier weight and still get the amount of reps I aim for.

If you ever have any questions about any of the workouts I post – please let me know!  I would be happy to clarify anything for you :-)

And a picture, because the idea of doing an entire blog post without a single picture kind of freaks me out…