My son-in-law-to-be was back from his firefighter academy, and he and my daughter were over to wash their dog again in our outdoor shower…
He is a thick dude with good bodybuilding potential, but he’s always looking to broaden his shoulders. Genetics gave him somewhat narrow clavicles, so the only way to get wider is to build shoulder mass.
“I stopped overhead presses, and my shoulder joints quit aching. That’s good, but I feel like I’m missing that overhead function of the muscle.”
“Glad you stopped the presses. I’m pretty sure those contributed to my annoying shoulder problem. Now I can’t do a few exercises because of the pain. Even dumbbell curls hurt from the downward pull.”
“Both of mine were aching, but I think they’re good now. So do you do anything else other than lateral-type exercises for the side heads?”
“Funny you should ask, because I saw a recent shoulder photo that Mike Neveux took years ago, and it put an idea in my head for a new add-on exercise.” [I show him the photo on my phone.]
“Wow, that’s a gnarly shoulder. Whose is it?”
“I think it’s Skip La Cour. You see all those lateral-head fibers all spread out. To me it seems as if a lateral raise might not get at all of those and you need a slightly different angle of attack.”
“But it looks like he’s doing an overhead press.”
“He may be. Keep in mind that it’s the downward drive of the weight on the shoulder joints that can be damaging. My solution is a one-arm cable front raise—although it’s not directly up; it’s with the arm at a 45-degree angle.”
“Oh, so at the top your delt is in the position shown in the picture.”
“Exactly—your hand is above your head but the arm is angled out, like the top of a wide-grip barbell press. Here’s a photo of it.”
“Awesome. Do you step back away from the cable, or do you stay in close to the machine?”
“I’ve tried it both ways, but I like to stay fairly close so the resistance isn’t too difficult at the very top.”
“I’m going to try those. I can’t wait for my next shoulder day.”
“My shoulders began pumping up much bigger when I added those—and if an old fart can get a big pump, that’s saying something.”
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Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
www.X-Rep.com
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