I’m looking for a new strategy to attack my shoulders—any tips for me?
ANSWER
When I’m doing shoulders, I like to mix it up. There are a lot of options, including dumbbell presses, barbell shoulder presses, and Smith machine overhead presses. It’s important to hit the shoulders in different ways and work different angles. Little differences and unique exercises can have a big impact.
For example, you can do a hammer strength shoulder press forward and backward. Turning it around can make it into a different exercise. Plus, in terms of time, I like to hit as many exercises as possible in each spot. Why not do everything you can while you’re there?
After doing four sets facing forward, with your back against the seat back, turn around and do four more sets facing backward, with your chest against the seat back. Start with your range of motion from ear level at the low point to just short of lockout at the high point. You’ve got to focus on the shoulders, and if you feel other muscles being worked, then you can shorten the range of movement to bring them back out of it.
