How Professional Bodybuilders Tefani-Sam Razhi and Melissa Brodsky Build Shoulders with Trainer Joe Bennett

[Related: Personal Trainer James Smith Learns Why Male Athletes Should Do Pilates]

Lying cable side raises

The lying cable laterally raises the medial deltoids, which are responsible for abduction (raising the arm away from the body). Coach Bennett recommended keeping the shoulder externally rotated through its full range of motion (ROM) to limit posterior lip impingement.

Bennett placed the functional trainer’s cable pulleys at hip height, attached wrist straps and placed a weight bench in front of him. His practitioners wore the right strap around the left wrist and vice versa.

Brodsky lay prone on the flat bench with her feet facing the pulley. Brodsky’s arms were parallel at the bottom of her ROM. Limiting movement to the shoulders, Brodsky raised her arms laterally as high as possible to contract the medial muscles to their fully contracted positions.

Seated Cable Rear Delt Flyes

Targeting the hamstrings (the back of the shoulder that helps with external rotation), Bennett maintained the hip height of the cable pulleys from the previous exercise. However, he changed the flat bench for a shared bench. He grabbed the cables with opposite hands and sat on the bench resting his chest on the back cushion.

While holding her chest proud, shoulder blade pressed, and elbows slightly bent, Razi pulled her arms to her sides and paused at the maximum contraction. After reaching mechanical failure (where the form breaks due to fatigue), Bennett performed a few reps to further tone the target muscles. Bennett emphasized proper form when approaching failure to minimize the risk of injury.

Seated barbell press

The overhead press is a compound exercise that engages the anterior and medial deltoids. Bennett lowered the bar to his upper chest to the bottom of his ROM and stopped short of an elbow at the top.

Bennett advised keeping the elbows slightly forward of the midline to achieve greater ROM and reduce shoulder strain.

“It’s not that pulling the elbows back is bad,” Bennett said, “but the further back … the more people will have discomfort, pain and tightness as they try to push straight up and down.”

Bennett recommends performing three to four sets of eight to 12 repetitions for optimal hypertrophy results. This repetition range allows sufficient mechanical stress on the target muscles to stimulate growth. (1)

Delts generally respond to a slightly higher training volume than other muscle groups. This can be attributed to their smaller size and their involvement in various push and pull movements.

Incline facial pull-ups

The trio finished the workout with facelifts. Bennett favors face pulls toward the end of a workout, as they engage all three deltoid heads and help train external rotation.

Bennett placed the cable pulley at eye level and attached a rope attachment. He set up a 45-degree incline bench in front of the pulley, grabbed the ropes with an overhand grip, and placed his back flat on the back pad of the bench.

Bennett fully extended his elbows to the starting position. His hands and elbows were behind his midline at the peak of his ROM.

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bibliographical references

1. Schoenfeld BJ, Grgic J, Van Every DW, Plotkin DL. Loading recommendations for muscle strength, hypertrophy, and local endurance: A review of the repetition constant. Sports (Basel). 2021? 9(2):32. Published February 22, 2021. doi:10.3390/sports9020032

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