Superset Shoulder Workout for Men

The classic weight-training regimen uses standard sets of exercises that combine exercises for complementary muscle groups. While this helps you slowly achieve long-term gains, it’s a routine that your body easily adjusts to, even when you progressively increase weight and take on more reps. Superset workouts flip the classic paradigm on its head, providing a regimen that is highly customizable, featuring short, intense sets that pair opposing muscle groups. For the shoulder, superset workouts are a little tricky, because the three portions of the deltoid all oppose each other to some degree.

  1. Superset Structure

    • The basis of a superset is combining two distinct exercises that target opposite muscles into one larger set, with no rest between the two exercises. Each exercise requires a higher volume of repetitions than you would use for classic sets, because you’ll only perform each exercise once during a workout. So instead of doing four sets of eight military presses, you would do 15 military presses, then follow immediately with 15 dumbbell shoulder raises. Since you only perform each exercise once, you will need to incorporate many exercises that work each of the opposing muscle groups for a particular body part, and each workout will combine multiple supersets each comprised of a different exercise.

    Opposing Shoulder Muscles

    • The deltoid contains three distinct segments: the anterior or front portion, the lateral or middle portion, and the posterior or rear portion. The lateral portion works mostly as a secondary muscle group for most lifts, so your two main targets will be the anterior and posterior deltoids. Each of these segments oppose each other. Numerous shoulder lifts work both portions, activating one as a primary and the other as a secondary. Because of this, carefully select and pair appropriate exercises for your supersets. For example, don’t pair military presses with shoulder presses, because they are too similar to be effective.

    Exercises

    • The pairing of exercises for supersets is crucial. For other muscles, a superset is clearer, because the opposing muscle groups are easily identifiable. For example, a superset arm workout pairs biceps and triceps exercises. Shoulder-focused supersets are all shoulder exercises. Pair presses that stress the anterior deltoids with raises that target the lateral and posterior deltoids. Once you select the anterior deltoid as the first exercise target of a superset, stick with it as the first target for each subsequent superset during the workout. For best results, shift your entire upper-body routine to supersets, rather than working standard sets of chest and triceps exercises, then shifting to an intense superset shoulder workout.

    Considerations

    • Keep in mind when structuring your workouts that deltoids are secondary muscles for numerous other exercises, including chest routines, triceps exercises, dips, pushups, deadlifts and others. Schedule your shoulder supersets for the same days that you work your chest and triceps to prevent overtraining. Rest at least one day between shoulder workouts, but for best results rest two full days to allow muscle regeneration. Ask a friend to spot you for barbell lifts like the military press, the overhead press or the behind-the-neck press.