@Frank_C, @flappinit I’m curious as to how you guys would go about making delts grow in my case?
Realistically, I get to go to the gym twice a week
A: Squat, Bench, assistance which revolves around
Single leg leg press, Pullups, wide grip lat pull downs, single arm rows, pec deck flyes, dips
B: Deadlift, BB OHP
After OHP I usually do light DB side laterals for 10-12 reps ss with cable face pulls for 10 to 12 reps, 3 to 4 sets and that’s it for shoulders. I don’t usually do front raises with the reasoning of I’m already hitting them in pressing movements.
Could it be as simple as adding the side laterals and facepulls on the squat and bench day as well?
This won’t do anything. If you do them light or heavy, side laterals aren’t going to do jack to your side delts until you take them to and/or past failure.
For hypertrophys sake I like doing them before pressing movements as a pre exhaust, but that will realistically take away from your pressing strength, so if you’re going to do them afterwards, you need to hammer your shoulders.
Some ideas for you:
Superset- Laterals superset with uptight rows
Giant set- Laterals holding DBs and band handles stepping on the band to failure, drop the band handles do the DBs to failure, drop the DBs pick up the band and do the band to failure
Superset- Cable Y Raises superset with cable laterals
Giant giant set- One arm cable laterals in front of your body to failure, behind your body to failure, cross body (like a one arm y raise) to failure, cheating cable laterals in front of body, cheating partial cable laterals in front of body. Do with both arms.
Or, good old fashioned stupid high reps beyond failure. I finished my back workout and my wife wanted to do 10 more mins of calves so I grabbed the 10s and did 100 reps rest-pause. My arms felt like they’d explode and I had to drop them and hold my shoulders like a wounded animal afterwards.
POINT BEING- a couple sets of laterals with light weight, sub maximally, will do jack and shit for your delts. They’re small- they can handle volume and recover quickly.
I’m not quite the volume junky that @flappinit is, but I’ll highlight the things I’ve done and liked.
Disclaimer: I don’t think my delts are anything to brag about and I’m still trying to make them grow.
These are awesome for feeling the delts burn out and definitely hitting failure.
I did these today for the first time and loved the combo. I think I might have come up with a way to make this similar to the Dirty 30 Cable Fly (but I didn’t do that today).
Here’s the biggest point. What can you do at home to get in a third or even fourth session per week?
The 6 way raises to failure require 2-5 lbs and can be done very quickly.
Lateral raise, move to front (like the finish position of a front raise), raise all the way up (like a ref signalling a made field goal), then reverse the movements slowly back to the start. I guess the 6 moves are:
lat raise
adduction to middle
front raise to overhead
down to 2nd position
abduction back to sides
lowering portion of lateral raise
You can do that to failure with cans of soup or something around the house.
@flappinit, @Frank_C , crap, should’ve asked you guys way sooner. Thanks for the ideas! I’ll learn the movements and try do add some in.
I’ve kinda always wanted to do Y raises. I don’t think I can manage good reps with the lowest stack on the cable machine though, which is 5kg. Also not sure how I’ll set that up with the cable machine we have. Will DB be ok? Also, when you do Y raises, do you do them with a palms facing down or like a thumbs up?
What the… Lol. I did try high reps a while ago though with side laterals. 5kg x 10, 2.5kg x 10, 2lbs x 10 straight. What’s the correct term for this kind of rep scheme? Needless to say, I did feel my shoulders burn
@Frank_C , got it. I’ll add in that 3rd and 4th “session”
@guineapig, no equipment, but as J said, cans of soup will do. So I really got no excuse lol
Drop set. “Regular” drop sets like this or mechanical drop sets like delt triads can get a real nice pump going. My best improvements on my (still weak) press came from dropping BBB style assistance and using extensive drop sets like:
Seated press:
55kg x 5
50kg x ~10
40kg x ~10
30kg x ~10
20kg x ~10
Y-raises @ 5kg x ~10
Y-raises @ 2.5kg x ~10
That’s one set. I would usually do 2/3 rounds. Everything after the 55kg was taken close to failure, but I’d usually find that was in the ballpark of 10 reps.
You need a machine with two columns. You can adjust the height of the handles to change the resistance curve. You can also do them face down on an incline bench like @dagill2 said.
With the cables, I used a palm down grip. Back when I used to do them as part of YTWLI raises, I used a thumbs up grip. Try both and decide which one you like.
Broad Jumps 5,4,3 @mortdk thanks for the advice. Reps felt better and more consistent. Gonna add a little height next week
Deadlift 70, 80, 95kg
Reps weren’t that great on the topset. Wasn’t as patient about getting into the starting position compared to the 80kg set. I think I had a slightly better start position there. Still moving the bar around a lot. Definitely gotta work on that. Forgot to do GMs or that nordic hamstring curl, dang.
OHP 30kg x 5, 32.5kg x 5, 37.5kg x 10 (highest e1RM so far, so PR!!); FSL 3 x 5
Pullups 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 2 (19)
Cable face pulls 17.5kg, 4 x 10
Side laterals drop set 5kg x 10, 2.5kg x 10, 2lbs x 10; 3 rounds
Definitely felt my delts burn better here
Reset my grip on the 3rd rep…realized too late I wasn’t using hook lol
Not that bad DL, keep up the good work, your starting point are quite the same at every start and it looks pretty much the same.
About the broad jumps, I would just do 3x3 it’s a very explosive movement and i guess you’re doing it to prime the body for DL. To much jumping could impact the DL. But if you like doing 5 or more jumps and don’t feel to exhausted, then keep up the good work.
If you’ve been hitting conventional dl from the floor for a while may be worth changing variations to Romanian deadlifts from the top. Better back positioning this way and more gloots. Similar enough movement to be switched out
Thanks mort! I was thinking adding a little endurance component because in volleyball we jump a lot. Maybe when the lifts get heavier I’ll cut back on reps for the broad jumps. Thank you!
@guineapig, I’ll try RDLs next cycle. Thanks brah! Are RDLs just like GMs in terms of movement pattern? Just different bar placement?
A lot of overlap muscle and movement wise. Bar position will shift focus around a bit.
With the GM at the top the bar is over your centre of gravity so less load across the posterior chain. For RDL at the top load is in front of you so there is tension all across your back. RDL bigger fatigue load overall but more specific to DL
Thanks! I’ll see and let you guys know. Good news is, after doing that drop set, I have a little DOMS in my shoulders! It’s not that bad, but it’s definitely there!
Just some ground beef sauteed with red onions, salt and pepper, and cooked with diced potatoes and placed in an omelette. Obviously screwed up the omelette part. Can’t find the second picture where the omelette turned out more presentable. Pretty okay specially if you like ketchup.
Sauteed onions, diced potatoes, put in ground beef, added salt and pepper, cooked the omelette in a different pan, then transferred.
Korean ground beef
1 pound lean ground beef 90% lean
3 garlic cloves minced
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups hot cooked white or brown rice
sliced green onions and sesame seeds for garnish (not sure if green onions = spring onions, but that’s what I used)
Instructions:
In a large skillet cook the ground beef and garlic breaking it into crumbles over medium heat until no longer pink.
In a small bowl whisk brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, red pepper flakes and pepper. Pour over the ground beef and let simmer for another minute or two.
Serve over hot rice and garnish with green onions and sesame seeds.
Not sure if I can link the site where I got it. Put too much ginger in the initial sauce and just winged the measurements (trying to get away from that science experiment mentality where everything has to be measured). Good thing my mom salvaged it by lightly toasting the sesame seeds and added it afterwards. Definitely made it edible.
Note to self: never follow an American making a Korean dish and labeling it as Chinese cuisine.
Enjoyed it too much, I almost forgot to take a picture!!
Beef Bulgogi (Mom’s recipe)
Marinated beef strips in pre-made bulgogi sauce more than 24 hours
Lightly toasted sesame seeds (added towards the end)
Sauteed ginger
Added in the marinated beef
Let it simmer until soft (added water 1 or 2 times to not let it get dry as the beef was softening)
Added the sesame seeds close to the beef getting soft
Let it simmer some more to get a thicker texture
Serve with rice of course.
