Extreme Shoulder Workout

Building large boulder-like shoulders is a long and arduous process that requires you to perform extreme shoulder workouts. Extreme exercises, such as the clean and press and one-arm shoulder overheard press, are movements that you need to include in your routine. In addition, you must implement extreme training techniques such as rest-pause to force your shoulders to grow and get stronger. Warning: this shoulder workout is not for the faint of heart.

  1. Shoulders 101

    • Before diving into your workout, get a basic overview of the shoulder musculature. The largest and most prominent muscle of this region is the deltoideus, or simply the deltoids. This is a three-headed muscle group that has a front, side and rear part. All three parts work together so you can move your arms in all directions -- front to back, side to side and up and down.

    Compound Exercises

    • There are four exercises that should make up the meat of your shoulder routine, two compound and two isolation exercises, meaning multi- and single-joint, respectively. Begin with your two compound exercises. The first exercise in your routine should be the barbell clean and press. To perform this exercise, lift the barbell off the ground up to your front shoulders (the clean phase) and then raise the barbell overhead (the press phase). This exercise blasts your deltoids, along with other muscles, such as your triceps. After you do this exercise, move on to the one-arm overhead press. For this exercise, you use one arm at a time so you work both sides of your deltoids evenly. To perform the one-arm overhead press, grip the dumbbell, position it by the side of your shoulder and then raise the dumbbell overhead. This extreme exercise also heavily engages your core muscles, such as your rectus abdominis.

    Isolation Exercises

    • After performing the compound exercises, move on to your two isolation exercises to better pinpoint your delts -- the standing dumbbell side raise and the bent-over dumbbell side raise. For the first exercise, stand holding a dumbbell in each hand by your sides and then raise the dumbbells outwards until your arms are parallel to the ground. This exercise mainly works your side delts. To better work your rear delts, perform the bent-over variation. Hold a dumbbell in each hand and stand with your knees slightly bent. Lean forward at the waist until your back is parallel to the ground and then raise your arms outwards until they're about parallel to the ground.

    Training Techniques

    • Do four sets of eight to 12 repetitions for each of your compound exercises using the max weight possible. For the two isolation exercises, do two sets of eight to 12 reps and then two additional sets of rest-pause sets. Rest-pause is a technique in which you rest for 5 to 10 seconds once you reach muscular failure and then try to squeak out as many reps as you can. Do a total of 15 to 20 reps using rest-pause for the dumbbell side raise and the bent-over variation.

    Safety

    • Perform a 5 to 10 minute warm-up and cooldown on the treadmill before and after each workout. You can also do your warm-up and cooldown on an elliptical machine, or by jogging outside or jumping rope. Always do this or a similar warm-up and cooldown to prevent injury.