I treated myself to a massage over the weekend, and apparently it was desperately needed. The therapist told me, in not so many words, that the front of my right shoulder has more knots than a six-year-old's shoelace. (I'm a sucker for cheesy similes, if you haven't noticed.) This wasn't news to me - between my fifty-pound gym bag (sadly, I'm only half kidding) and my near-neurotic passion for delt training, I'm somewhat surprised that I haven't completely ruined my shoulders.
That being said, I'm pretty stubborn. Since shoulder days are the pride and joy of my training routine and I'm not technically injured, I decided to alter this week's press- and raise-fest to help even out my upper body.
My objectives:
a) To shift my focus to unilateral and alternating sets in the hopes of evening out my strength differences and
b) To perform more exercises for my rear delts, as I tend to lay it on thick when it comes to the front and lateral aspects.
Intrigued? Here is yesterday's exercise line-up, but first one quick note: I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV; this is my own routine, and while I hope it will inspire you, if you are having issues with your shoulders or any other part of your body, get your bad self to a doctor ASAP. (Seriously, go now...but feel free to finish reading this entry first, of course.)
Superset One (performing one set of each move back-to-back, then resting for one minute)
Alternating dumbbell shoulder presses; 12 reps each arm
Alternating dumbbell front raises; 12 reps each arm
Three supersets total
Superset Two:
Unilateral dumbbell lateral raise, sweeping toward the front, then lowering; 12 reps on right arm, then switch to left
Bilateral standing dumbbell bent over rear-delt flyes (wow, that's a mouthful); 12 reps
Three supersets total
Finisher move:
Cable face pulls (perhaps better known as high rows) with rope attachment*; 15 reps, four sets, 30 seconds rest between
*Here's how: Standing in front of a high pulley with the rope attached, stagger your legs for balance. With hands together, pull the rope toward your head, opening your arms and retracting your shoulder blades until the middle of the rope is only a few inches away from your nose. Slowly reverse and repeat; switch forward leg with each set.
And that, friends, is how I spent my lunch break. How are you going to move today?
For Valentine's day my massage therapist honestly gave me a look of pity when it was over. hahaha. I've been doing yoga for a while but recently I've been trying to undo years of damage sitting at a desk hunched over, and I'm very conscious to keep my shoulders pinned back the entire class, and all day long. So he spent all 60 minutes between my blades. It was miraculous, but the look on his face was priceless.
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