Shoulders

Well in this post we are going to examine 4 of the most popular deltoid builders out there. They are-
1. The overhead press
2. The bench press
3. The handstand push up
4. The push up

Lets start with the easiest one.

The bench press is a great anterior delt builder and is immensely popular. However, as anyone who has consistently benched will tell you, they wreck havoc with your shoulders. There are three reasons for this-
1. The shoulder blades are not allowed to move. This forces the humerus to rotate, which it can't because of reason 2.
2. Gripping a straight bar with the fingers around the bar does not allow the humerus to rotate. Because of the ROM involved in a bench press, if this rotation does not happen, your rotator cuff has to bear the brunt of the weight. These muscles are not as strong as the pecs and shoulders and therefore give out real quick.

Problems 1 and 2 can be solved by either pressing with dumbbells  or using a thick bar, which allows your hands to be open.
But problem three is deeper.

3. Elbows are flared out, which strains the ligaments and the rotator cuff.

The only way to make the bench press a completely safe exercise is to change the form entirely. Use dumbbells, tuck your elbows in and stop when the plates touch your chest. However, this particular form of the bench press is hard to set up, and very hard to load with heavy weights.

The next best thing is thick bar bench presses, performed with a narrow grip (about shoulder width), with the elbows tucked in and the shoulders screwed tightly into the joint, with a full second pause at the bottom. This makes the bench press a fantastic anterior deltoid and tricep builder, but takes away somewhat from its value as a chest builder.

The next exercise is push ups.

The biggest problem with push ups is that they are just too easy for most really strong guys. If you are working up to the one arm regulation perfect push up, this problem is solved. The greatest advantage of the push up is that the scapula is free to move and the palms are flat. This makes it an incredible exercise from a safety perspective. It is one of the few exercises that actually develops the rotator cuff. However it is still very stressful on the ligaments.

My experience is that push ups are used best as tricep and rotator cuff builders. Combine your bench press sessions with medicine ball push ups, each hand on a different ball, and you will effectively bullet proof your rotator cuff from injury. In my experience, if you want to build powerful ligaments, you have to work the stretched position thoroughly, with relatively high reps, done in a steady fashion. Simply perform your medicine ball push ups with a full second pause at the bottom, for more than 20 reps a set, and your ligaments will also be bullet proof. The second key to ligament and rotator cuff strength is full contraction, which we shall talk about in overhead work.

The next exercise is the Military press.

Now this exercise is probably the best exercise that exists for building massive shoulders, but must people do them wrong, and sooner or later, jack their shoulders. I will keep it simple-

1. Medium grip- Extreme grips hurt the shoulders. Close grip is not that bad, but only if the ROM is restricted. My advice is, if you want to do close grip pressing, do handstand push ups. The ROM is perfect there.

2. No splaying out the elbows.

3. Thick bar- This will allow the humerus and the scapula to rotate.

4. Full lockout- This emphasizes the medial delt and really develops the muscles of the back and the external rotators. It also works the scapula retractors and depressors. It is the key to healthy shoulders. This is the prime reason why guys earlier (Before the Bench) rarely suffered from shoulder injuries. They really worked the lockout of the overhead press, and performed presses that emphasized it, like push presses. In addition, the full contraction builds strength in the tendons and ligaments.

5. Restrict ROM- Cut out the bottom 3 inches of your press. This is the ROM that damages the rotator cuff, due to the inability of the scapula to rotate. Instead, pause for a full second in the bottom (chin level). This will build strength in that portion of the Movement.

The thing is, done correctly military presses builder healthy powerful shoulders. And yes, they must be done standing with NO cheating and tight abs, quads and glutes. Chest out my friend. Most people however, will take forever to perfect this technique.

Which is why I recommend mastering the handstand push up first.

It has all the benefits of the military press, with the added fact that the perfect form is kind of default. It is fairly impossible to perform handstand push ups any other way. All handstand push ups should be practiced against a wall, so that it is a pure strength exercise, not a balancing feat.

Thus I give the following 5 routines for shoulders that will make superman look small. Spend at least 2 months before moving to a harder routine. And please start from routine 1.

Beginner Routine 1-
Horizontal Day- (say Monday)
Warm up set of Shoulder Friendly Bench presses- 50% 1 R.M for 8 reps- 2 Sets.
Warm up set of Machine/ Bent over/ Chest Supported row to the upper abdomen- 50% 1 R.M for 8 reps- 2 sets

3 work sets of Bench presses with over 80% of your 1 R.M. Do not perform more than 4-5 reps.
3 work sets of rows with over 80% of your 1 R.M. Do not perform more than 4-5 reps.
2 Bench singles with 90-92% of your 1 R.M.

2 sets of Medicine ball push ups, done with perfect form, for high but comfortable repetitions. Stop 2-3 repetitions before your form breaks down.
2 sets of palms away pull ups, slightly wider than shoulder with, with a second pause at the top, with the chin completely clear of the bar. Stop 1-2 reps before your form suffers. 

Vertical Day (say Thursday)
Warm up set of military presses with a really light weight. 8 reps- 2 sets. (Perfect your Form)
2 sets of 3 palms facing you chin ups.

Pike Push ups- Feet on an object about knee height. Your torso should be vertical. It should look exactly like a handstand push up, except your hips are angled.
Perfect form, comfortable reps. Stop 1-2 reps short of concentric failure.
3 sets.
3 sets of palms away, slightly wider than shoulder width pull ups.  Perform with a full second pause at the top, with the chin completely clear of the bar. Stop 1-2 reps before your form suffers.

3 singles of controlled handstand negatives. Try to go as slow as possible, take as much rest as you need between singles.
10 reps with a 10 rep max weight of Rows to the upper abdomen.

Beginner Routine 2-

The routine is the same as the previous one, except you will no longer do Pike Push ups. You will do the deepest partial handstand push up you can handle for 4 repetitions. Also, handstand negatives will be replaced with power negatives. Basically you will pause for 3 seconds in the mid point, and 5 seconds in the bottom.

Intermediate Routine 1-

This routine is the Same as the previous routine except you will add 2 exercises. You will replace handstand partials with full handstand push ups. You will also replace power negatives with High Incline (60 Degrees), bench press. The form will be the same as the standard bench press. Use a weight that will allow you no more than 5 reps in good form. Perform 3 sets of 4 with that weight.

Intermediate Routine 2-

This routine is the same as the previous one, except you will increase the depth of your handstand push ups using blocks or weight plates (anything that allows you to keep the palms flat). In the bottom position, your chin and palms must be at the same level. Also, you will perform 2 sets of 10 incline presses, with a weight you could have pressed 12 times for 1 set.

Advanced

You will replace handstand push ups with military presses with a weight higher than bodyweight. You will replace incline presses with 2 sets of close/diamond grip handstand push ups, performed 1-2 reps short of concentric failure.

Throughout this entire program, you will have to keep varying the rep range and weights, to avoid staleness. Every 4th week cut the reps to about half in all exercises  and increase the weight slightly (max 10%) for that entire week. Then get back to the routine. This should prevent your strength from stagnating.

In this program, the only upper body muscle that is not worked properly is your pecs. Do not use a pressing variation to work your pecs, and do not work them along with the rest of the upper body. Work your chest using cable flys on the days you do your lower body and abs. If you are a real man, you will opt for the manly pursuit of nail and bar bending. Simply, get a nail, and bend it using your chest power. Wrap it with a towel first. Frankly any rod or bar will do. If you are more man than flys, but not man enough to bend nails, get one of those chest exercisers. They are not bad, they do a good job of working the pecs.

For the lower body, keep it simple. Olympic Barbell Squats and deadlifts. One day light, one day heavy. Or you could emphasize squats one day, deadlifts the other.

Come back to me after a year and show me those cannon ball deltoids.

The Secret of Ultimate Strength

I am going to tell you a little story.

This was about 7 weeks after my accident. I was on the hospital bed, lying down on my back, as I had been for the last 49 days without moving. By now, every muscle in my body, every part of me was intimately known to me. I could feel every muscle in my back under me, swollen. My skin was sore and felt like it was going to peel off. My entire body was writhing- silently. I was aware of everything in my body, my breathing, my organs, my muscles, my bones, my tendons, my nerves, my blood flowing- everything. I would think of a certain movement, and I could feel the entire machinery that would cause that movement in a few milli-seconds, get ready. I could feel it all.

My head had been propped up and my laptop was next to me. I was watching a movie. It was too painful to move my arms or hands, so I just kept watching. The movie was some MMA movie. Typical stuff, hot chick, bad guy, good guy must fight.

It got to the main fight scene. The protagonist gets kicked in the ribs. He screams in agony. I thought- "What the hell! He got kicked and he is wincing. That's it?" I felt nothing, no pain, no sympathy. If anything I felt it was stupid. That is when it hit me. The secret to strength. The secret to mind boggling, earth shattering strength. Do you want to know what it is?

There is no secret.

No I am not trying to be Zen and philosophical. Its just this,we keep looking for a secret expecting to find some magical answer. Ultimately there is only one KEY to strength. And its no secret.

Hard Work. Brutal hard work. Hard work that makes men out of boys. A level of intensity to make all previous levels seem small. Levels of concentration, focus and visualization  that can make even a reiki master feel ashamed.  

But it must be controlled. It must be done beautifully. With grace. With finesse. With insight. With understanding. You must work hard to the best of your ability and deal with every situation and overcome every wall to the best of your ability. You must know what your hard work is doing and where it is going. You must know where it is taking you. Your work must be honest. Honest hard work.

You must always know what is going on with you, know when to raise the intensity, know when to raise the volume, know when to cut back. You must deal with every situation to the best of your ability, and your solution must be tailored for you and the situation. It must be artistic.

Getting to that level is an ART not a science  Therefore there is no secret.  Just the fact that its a long hard road and you are going to have to find your own way along it. You must find the way that is best for you.

For this to happen you have to be training in another dimension. A dimension where you can see every step you are taking. This way you will know when you take a wrong step. You need ultimate awareness with your body and mind. You need to know what you are strong at, what you are weak in, how to fix it, why are you weak. You must be one with yourself. Only then can you practice the Art of strength.

That is the key. You must PRACTICE and PERFECT the ART of strength. I will leave you to figure out the rest.

The Greatest Anabolic

No its not protein or water. Its not even steroids. Its good sleep.

If you are serious about gaining strength and size, you are going to have to sleep well. Muscle is built, and strength increased only when you sleep, not when you workout.; And no matter how much protein you eat and how well structured your program is, if you are not sleeping, you are not growing.

First of all, the duration of your sleep must be enough to get rid of the sleepless hyper feeling you get when you have under slept. The second is the quality of sleep you are getting.

I myself am working very hard in order to figure out how to optimize sleep. I have a few ideas I wanted to put down.

1. Different parts of the sleep cycle heal different things. It is important to focus your mind and create an environment within which the phase you want to optimize, is given the most importance in that night's sleep. As a general rule of thumb, the phase in which you dream a lot, helps recover the endocrine and immune system. The Fully relaxed and empty phase heals the musculo-skeletal system. The nervous system recovers most during REM sleep. Its possible with intention to optimize your sleep. If you feel your endocrine system is thrashed, trying to think about dreaming a lot. You will wake up next day feeling juiced. Try to relax your body completely when your muscles are sore. Think of active sleep when you want your nerves to recover. I am still trying to understand all this.

2. If you are an insomniac who wants to gain strength, stop taking sleeping pills and go through immediate intensive Psycho therapy. Artificially induced sleep does not give the same benefit of balanced sleep cycles and hence has no anabolic value.

3. A lot of improvement can be made in the quality and duration of your sleep, simply by visualizing proper sleep. It helps establish what the body needs to do, and helps your mind get there.

4. Train in your sleep. Dream about exercise, see yourself achieving your goals. It gives your mind a very powerful indication of what to do to achieve your objectives. If you dream that you are doing one arm chin ups, you will be able to control and feel the motion in your dream. This way you will know what it should feel like and you will be able to correct your mistakes much faster this way. Plus your mind body connection will improve tremendously.

Sleep is also critically important for exercise performance. Short of exercise, its the most important thing you can do for improving your strength and size.

To Work Out Alone or With Training Partners

Before I get into the details of the debate, I would like to clarify my stand on the issue. I believe that a large chunk of your time must be spent training alone, but occasionally you must work out with training partners.

Lets us first of all detail the advantages and disadvantages of each method.

Training Partners-
 Advantages-
1. A positive environment is infectious. If you find a good place the first principle of success- a positive mental attitude, will be in the bad.
2. Your ability to exercise will increase when you see others working out.
3. You  will have spotters.
4. You will have people to monitor your form.

Disadvantages-
1. Its too easy to over train.
2. Unless you are incredibly advanced and have the focus of a zen master, you will not be able to keep focus.
3. You will not be able to listen to your body.
4. Its harder to find positive gyms than 22 inch arms.

The point is, I don't think there is any point training with people, unless you can find a genuinely motivated training partner/s.

Exercising Alone-

Advantages-
1. You ca n focus on every movement and every sensation in your body.
2. You will learn to  listen to your body.
3. You will develop a reverence for exercise that stays way beyond the energy of friends.

Disadvantages-
1. Its really easy to slack off.
2. If you are not motivated, you are doomed.
3. It requires great self control.

I personally feel that by spending 50-60% of your time working out alone, you get the best of both worlds. Even if you go to a poor gym the rest of the time, the feeling of being stronger than everyone else will pump you and motivate you.
Once you are motivated, there is no stopping you when you are alone. Then, as you mature as a lifter, you will learn to listen to your body and you will understand your body. This is critical, as only than will you be able to apply individuality to your workouts. Also, the focus aspect of training is more important than most people bother to realize.

You must understand that even the most ardent proponents of training partners have succeeded because they were capable of intense concentration despite  training with people. Than training with others juiced them up to no end. Arnold, Savacs, Pyrros Dimas, Johnathan Horton, hell even Tiger Woods 4 years ago- all of them  have that unique ability to focus even in the midst of utter chaos.

Must people are not born with that attitude. Therefore it must be learnt the hard way. Workout with people to motivate yourself and workout alone to learn this fine art. Slowly, over time, learn to apply it when you work with others, until you reach the ultimate stage in focus. Even then, I think it is important to have an occasional workout alone, just for the soul, just to understand how much you have changed.

Objectives

In this post, I just want to write out the exercises for which I go to the gym, and want to set standards for them, so then when I achieve them, I can switch to the bodyweight alternative I want, and carry on from there.

1. Weighted Pull Ups-
Sets of 8 with 20 kgs (25% bodyweight), on both major movements
To be replaced with- Uneven Chin Ups and close grip overhand pull ups. Also the rowing variation that will be added will cover all sides (once the bent over Row standard will be achieved).
Which brings us to-

2. Bent Over Rows-
Sets of 15 with a pause at the top, with a set performed with hands wide, with 80 Kgs (bodyweight).
To be replaced with- Backward leaning, overhand grip, pull up to lower abdomen, to be performed with an overhand grip.

3. Military Press-
Sets of 9 with 64 kgs (80% Bodyweight)- STRICT.
To be replaced with headstand push ups.

4. Lying Leg Curls-
Sets of 8 with 10 plates on the stack.
To be replaced with ham Glute Raises

Updated routine

No I am not changing my routine again, just making a few tweaks so that its fits in my schedule and flows naturally.

I going to have 4 workout templates-

1. Upper Body 1
Section 1.
Over hand Pull ups And close push ups- super sets
2 super sets of 4-9- Pull Ups, 8-15- Push Ups
Underhand Pull ups and Close Push Ups- Super sets
2 super sets of 4-9- Pull Ups, 8-15 Push Ups
Close Grip Underhand Pull Ups and Dips- Super Sets
1 super set of 5-10 Pull Ups and 8-15 Dips

Section 2-
3 Sets of Hanging Leg Raises- 8- 15
Standing Calf Raises and Pinch Grip Plates- Super Sets
3 Super sets

2. Upper Body 2
Section 1-
Standing Military Press and Bent Over Row- Super Sets
3 sets of 6-9 military press, 8-15 Bent Over Row
Standing Military Press and Military Barbell Curl- Super sets
2 Sets of 3-6 military press, 6-10 Curl
High Incline Bench Press and Military Curl- Super Sets
1 set of 8-15, 6-10 curl

Section 2-
3 sets of Hanging Leg raises- to be performed along with the following
Bent Over Row- 2 Sets ( 1 Wide, 1 narrow)- 4-8 reps

Section 3-

Standing Calf Raises 3 sets

3. Lower Body Workout 1-
Section 1
Pistol Squat Progression, lying leg curls and Cross bench Dumbbell Pull Overs- Super Sets
4 sets of 15-50- Pistol Squats, 4-8- Lying leg Curls, 10-20- Pull Overs

Section 2-
Bridges- 3 sets of 8-15

Section 3-

Standing Calf Raises and Pinch Grip Plates- Super Sets
3 Super sets

I am thinking of the following basic 14 day template-
1. Upper 2
2. Lower
3. Upper 1
4. Rest
5. Lower
6. Upper 1
7. Rest
8. Upper 2
9. Lower
10. Rest
11. Upper 1
12. Lower
13. Rest
14. Rest

On rest days I will perform active recovery- cycling or jogging.

Consistency is The Key

What is really important in order to make progress is to SHOW UP!

Just go to the gym, to the workout you were supposed to do, and try to beat your expectations. Even if you make only a 1% improvement every time you go, if you do 100 workouts a year (most people will do more than this), you would have doubled your power in 1 year.

Yes periodization is required, but it must be natural and not too dramatic. It is important to stick with a certain approach for as long as you get good gains from it.

That's it.