The kids were over again to bathe their dog Kingston in our outdoor shower. He’s a big, ferocious-looking Doberman-esque breed, but gentle as a teddy bear—even with our two terrier terrorists, one of which is a growling alpha nut job.
They are always ready for my go-to question (the kids, not the dogs): “So how are your workouts going?”
My daughter’s fiancé chimed in: “We’re really getting good results with the one-arm cable laterals for our side-delt heads. Shoulders are looking rounder. But we’re wondering about the front and rear heads.”
Me: “You mean if you should train them with specific exercises?”
“Yes, especially the rear head. I think the front gets some work with the one-arm cable laterals.”
“The cable laterals are working your rear head a bit, but not your front heads much. Are you still bench pressing?”
He paused and swallowed before answering: “Yes, I’m still doing some flat-bench presses. I know you hate it with a bar, but I like it.”
“Hey, if you enjoy it, I’m not going to reprimand you. I get it. The barbell bench press is everybody’s “watch-this!” exercise. Just remember that it isn’t efficient for building your chest, so be sure and do some dumbbell decline presses or cable chest presses too. And be careful benching. Avoid max singles if your ego will allow it. The reason I asked if you’re doing them is because the best front-delt-head exercise is a flat dumbbell press with arms next to your torso.”
“So with an under grip or a parallel grip?”
“Either will work—but because you do bench presses, you really don’t need it. I don’t even do any extra front-head work because I do dumbbell decline presses and close-grip bench pushups. Those pushups are almost identical to the flat dumbbell presses with a parallel grip.”
“Good to know. So I don’t need to add any front-head work. What about the rear heads?”
“Lay on your side on the floor or on a flat bench with a dumbbell in your free hand, the one not under you, of course. Keep your arm straight out in front of you and raise it from chest level in an arc to up over the side of your torso. That’s similar to a one-arm incline lateral raise, only your arm is perpendicular to your body, not traveling in line with it.”
“I get it. So the resistance is max at the start and is less as the arm moves higher. Perfect resistance curve. Should I add those?”
“You can. Or do the cable version standing—you just have to position yourself so the strength curve is right. You’re finished with the dog, so let’s go inside and you can do them in my gym.”
“I can feel them. Do you do either of those for your rear heads?”
“I don’t. Mainly because I include undergrip dumbbell rows as an add-on move for my back. Those work the rear heads pretty hard along with my lats and traps. As do scapulae retractions, my ideal exercise for mid back. My cable machine’s widest setting isn’t quite wide enough, so it’s somewhat of a row-plus-retraction hybrid move. I can feel my rear heads working along with my middle traps.”
“I do some T-bar rows and sometimes close-grip V-handle cable rows at the end of my mid-back workout because you said both are good for stretch overload—like Arnold used to do.”
“Well, Arnold probably relied too much on those two exercises for back development, but the heavy stretch work did give him results. If you’re doing either of those rows, you probably don’t need to add rear-head work to your shoulder routine—unless you want to do one of those moves to get an ideal-strength-curve exercise in your routine. Some ideal rear-head work can help round out your shoulders.”
“Thanks. I learned a lot—and I don’t have to add anything to my shoulder routine. Sweet.”
“Glad this old dog could be of some help to you young pups.”
New: Get the ideal exercise for each muscle, the best add-on moves for ultimate mass, complete 35-minute workouts, exercise start/finish photos, and details on building muscle fast and efficiently in Old Man, Young Muscle.
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Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
www.X-Rep.com
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