Shoulder and Squat Focused Upper/Lower Routine

Training
1

Hi guys,

ok so i’m the typical guy that doesn’t train legs (at least not consistently) but reading all the great articles on T Nation i’m going to suck it up and squat.

i go through sporadic bursts of leg training, so i have fairly good stiff dead / high bar squat technique…

I’ve always run a 1 day split, training 3x a week. my main aesthetic goal is actually to create more shoulder width -i have a 48inch shoulder measurement on 150lb frame (5’8), which is maybe slightly above average? its for personal reasons -i looove shoulder training and admire well developed delts…

my second, equally important goal is increasing my squat (along with some welcomed leg size).
i’m happy to keep chest and back on maintenance.

in a nutshell: build delts further (arms second priority), increase squat and leg size.
ok so i want to run an upper/lower split, focusing on squats and shoulder work… please feel free to critique the following :slight_smile:

Upper (Mon/Thurs)

1a) High Incline Press (75’) 4x6-8
1b) Rear Lateral Raises 4x10-12
1c) Seated Lateral Raises 4x12-15

2a) Hammer Grip Pull-Ups 3x10-15
2b) Chest Dips 3x10-15

3a) Cable Curls 3x10-12
3b) OH Extensions 3x10-12

Lower (Tues/Fri)

1a) High Bar Squats 5x4-6 (ramped to max weight: 5,5,5,5,4-6)

2a) Stiff Deads 3x8-10
2b) BB Roll Outs 3xF (same weight as 2a)

3a) Leg Press 3x12-15
3b) Calf Press 3x12-15

so there it is! i know the deltoid volume may seem excessive, but i’m used to high frequency/volume approaches for them… i dont train traps directly because they grow just by thinking about shrugs!.. high bar squats over normal squats because its the only way to target my quads properly!

-also i choose dips over bench because of a shoulder injury from sport.

please please help me out! i feel its quite a structured approach and i’ve tried to follow T Nation advice as much as possible…

thanks guys,

2

meh, looks ok, would benefit from a row though. That first tri-set thing you’re doing is going to ruin you after a couple of sets.

I personally give my shoulders extra attention by doing a bit of lateral delts with chest, a bit of rear delts with back, and then beasting shoulders on their own day.

there’s no real need to keep your chest and back on maintenance.

3

thanks, thats helpful!

a guy i know who also runs an upper/lower split likes to hit the anterial and posterior delts on the upper day, and the hammer out lateral raises for the middle portion on his lower day (not much cross over). what would you think about that? i suppose i could focus on more chest/back work on the upper days then…

4

also, choosing high incline press over military press helps me isolate the anterior portion well… couple this with strict form on the rear / lateral raises means each head is isolated properly, and as they are all secondary/auxillary moves, its actually not that taxing… does anyone think the overall shoulder volume is too much?

5

I second what rds said. You need to incorporate some more rowing/upper body pulling movements. I would also add in some more hamstring work, such as leg curls.

6

thanks for the info!

i chose pull ups because they pair well with dips… incline dumbbell benching is ok on my shoulder… maybe i should do the following for chest and back instead:

Hammer Pull ups / Chest Dips 2x6-8
DB Rows / Incline DB Press 2x10-12

(lower volume for maintenance)

does this seem more balanced? also am i ok with the 24 shoulder sets a week do you think?

7

oh, and i dont do much direct hamstring work because they react well to most compound leg movements… they actually get hammered pretty hard in leg presses and stiff deads… i’ve always been able to deadlift over twice my bodyweight for reps even though i’ve never trained it consistently… wish my shoulders were the same!

8

[quote]lhuse23 wrote:

so there it is! i know the deltoid volume may seem excessive, but i’m used to high frequency/volume approaches for them… i dont train traps directly because they grow just by thinking about shrugs!.. high bar squats over normal squats because its the only way to target my quads properly!

-also i choose dips over bench because of a shoulder injury from sport.

please please help me out! i feel its quite a structured approach and i’ve tried to follow T Nation advice as much as possible…

thanks guys,
[/quote]

If you were truly “follow[ing] T Nation advice as much as possible,” you wouldn’t be trying to make up your own routine as a beginner. You would either do something like 5/3/1 or KingofBeef’s routine.

9

If you can deadlift double your body weight for reps, then how are you using the same weight for your barbell rollouts that you are using for your SLDL’s?