How to spend three times less time training your shoulders, but still win?
TRADITIONALLY, DELTA TRAINING looks like a massive bombardment: first bombard all three heads of the delts as a whole with heavy presses, and then iron each of them individually with several isolation exercises. Of course, this method guarantees that the deltas will be 100% in the growth zone, but… it results in almost an hour of grueling training, after which you will only have enough strength to travel home.
Considering that time is something we are always short of, we have developed a blitz delt workout that takes a maximum of 20 minutes, but its effect is like injecting red pepper directly into the delts.
So, we traditionally start with impact presses, but not with a barbell, as is usually customary, but with heavy dumbbells. Unlike a barbell, dumbbells distribute the load almost evenly across all three heads of the deltas.
This is followed by supersets: dumbbell lateral raises (middle delts) plus dumbbell bent over raises (rear delts). The superset should total 24 repetitions (12 for each exercise in the series, performed one after the other without stopping). The break between supersets is 1 minute.
That’s the whole training. Even though it will really torch your delts, you’ll still have energy left over for at least 40 minutes of moderate-paced cardio.
SEATED OVERHEAD DUMBBELL PRESS
2 light warm-up sets + 4 working sets of 10, 6, 8, 8 reps. Rest between sets is 1.8-2 minutes.
START: Sit on a bench with a vertical backrest and press your back firmly against it. Raise the dumbbells to ear level. Both hands are on the heat plane. The angle at the elbows is straight, palms face forward.
TECHNIQUE: Press the dumbbells in a wide upward arc until they almost touch each other overhead. You should not fully straighten your arms at the top point – this will only ease the load on the deltoids. Smoothly lower the dumbbells to the starting position.
STANDING DUMBBELL FLIES
START: Stand straight, place your feet shoulder-width apart and slightly bend your knees. The arms are slightly bent at the elbows. Hold dumbbells with a neutral grip (palms facing each other) in front of your thighs.
TECHNIQUE: Without bending your elbows, lift the dumbbells from your sides to shoulder level, and then smoothly lower them to the starting position.
DUMBBELL FLOW-UP
START: Bend forward so that your torso is parallel to the floor and bend slightly at the lower back. Bend your legs slightly at the knees and bend your arms at the elbows. Hold dumbbells with a neutral grip (palms facing each other) directly in front of your shins.
TECHNIQUE: The torso, legs, elbow joint are fixed until the end of the set. The entire movement occurs only with the shoulder joint: smoothly spread the dumbbells to the sides, trying to lift them as high as possible. At the top, pause and tighten your rear deltoids even more. Smoothly lower the dumbbells to the starting position.
