With a shoulder training day coming up, you might be looking for a great workout to try for yourself. It would also be nice if you could get some advanced tips and tricks to get the most out of this session.
Look no further as the sleeveless duo of Don Saladino and Frank Sepe can be your virtual workout partner. In this shoulder workout video, they're joined by Jordan "Muscle Doc" Shallow, who brought a wealth of knowledge and muscle to the gym.
Watch this video before your shoulder training day or save it to your smartphone to have on hand between sets. In the meantime, some of the cliff notes are below.
Standing Barbell Press: 5 sets, 6-8 reps
M+F Magazine
The trio begins the workout with a classic exercise – the standing barbell press. All three men start with the barbell below the chin and press the weight strictly up without generating momentum from the legs.
Saladino and Shallow complete their reps to full lockout before lowering the bar again. Sepe does a few reps in his sets, stopping just before the lockout, which keeps the tension on the deltoids and not the triceps. As Saladino demonstrates one of his sets, Sepe shared a tip that can help you get the most out of this exercise.
"That soft bend in your knees (points to Saladino) will take the pressure off your lower back," he said.
They also discussed hand position at the pole, with Saladino explaining that he likes to keep his hands just a little more than shoulder-width apart. Another important point that can help you figure out what's best for you.
"It will largely depend on how much you can externally rotate," he said.
Upright Row: 4 sets, 8-12 reps
M+F Magazine
All three men remain on the rack for the next exercise. Once again Saladino leads in upright ranks. Sepe went into how far you should bring the bar up for this exercise.
"Some take it all the way up (to the shoulders) but we stop around the chest," he explained, referring to himself and Saladino. "Change it based on your own needs." Shallow chose to take the bar much higher, sometimes even over his head.
"It works like a side raise for me," he told Sepe. "I go up until the upper arm is at least parallel."
Saladino tried Shallow's method and seemed to like it.
"That felt good."
One-arm cable lateral raises: 4 sets, 8 reps
M+F Magazine
The group moves up to Saladino's cable station, and Shallow decides to do a side raise for the next exercise. The cable keeps the lateral delts under constant tension, and as the grip moves in front of them, the range of motion is maximized.
Sepe added a few partials at the end of his set to ensure he fully fatigued the lateral delts.
Rear-delt Cable Flye: 3 sets, 8-12 reps
M+F Magazine
You complete the workout with another cable movement. This time, focus on the posterior deltoid. They choose to hold onto the cable itself instead of a handle so they can better engage the rear delts.
When Shallow executed his first set, he stepped away from the stacks to maximize range of motion. He also leaned forward slightly to help isolate the rear delts.
"Don't forget about the hamstrings, especially when you're competing," Sepe shared. "If you turn around to strike a pose from behind, they will be on display."
"Yes, mate," Saladino exclaimed in homage to Ronnie Coleman, who was also enjoying the exercise.
Test drive the four-movement workout for yourself to see how it works for you. Sepe and Saladino share workouts live on the Muscle & Fitness Instagram page and you can see more of their content by subscribing to the M&F YouTube channel.
Sleeveless training for shoulder training day
- Standing barbell press – 5 sets of 6-8 repetitions
- upright row – 4 sets of 8-12 repetitions
- One-arm lateral raises on the cable pulley – 4 sets of 8 repetitions
- Rear Delt Cable Flye – 3 sets of 8-12 repetitions
