Dave D. from Copper Cliff, ON, sent us his program to critique. Below is his shoulder routine. We graded it and provided a revision.
Overhead Press Sets: 4 Reps: 8–10
Lateral Raise Sets: 4 Reps: 8–10
Front Raise w/Weight Sets: 4 Reps: 8–10
Reverse Flye Sets: 4 Reps: 8–10
M&F Rating: B
New Workout: Make Room to Grow
Our Advice: The problem here isn’t so much this workout as the overall workload in your week. You’re training five days per week, back to back, with an average of 20 sets per session. Unless you’ve already qualified for the Mr. Olympia, that much training is going to be tough to recover from. We suggest knocking the volume down by about half—try 12 sets per workout—and training four days per week. As for your shoulder routine, you’ve picked appropriate exercises and volume, but avoid redundancy. Your front delts get worked by all presses, so the front raise is only adding extra stress you’ll have to recover from. The lateral raise is ok, but a better option is to do it with a cable. This will keep tension on the muscle even in the down position (where it normally rests in conventional lateral raises).
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