Bentover Dumbbell Raises

Great shoulders look fantastic from any angle.  Shoulders are comprised of Frontal, Medial and Rear Deltoids.  Bentover Dumbbell Raises work the Rear Deltoids.  These are the muscles that give your shoulders a full appearance from the side and back.

Start by sitting on the end of a flat bench with your feet planted well out front and knees bent at 90 degrees.  Grab a pair of dumbbells.  Bend over onto your thighs and hold the dumbbells together underneath your hamstrings.

Now, raise the dumbbells up as high as you can. Leave a slight bend in your elbows.  Try to bring your hands forward as you raise the dumbbells.  This exercise mostly hits posterior or rear deltoids but also works Rhomboids and Traps to a lesser extent.  Go for 3 sets of 12 reps.  This exercise can be part of your overall shoulder routine.

Tom

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Get Ready for the Beach

Now is the time to start getting ready for summer.  That layer of winter weight may not just melt off as fast as it used to.  Just because there are plenty of overweight people at the beach doesn't mean that you have to be one of them.  Its April - you can get in much better shape by July...if you start now.

Weight Training

Ridiculous

You want muscle.  Lean, healthy, calorie-burning muscle tissue.  Being totally fat-free without any muscle is just wrong.  To get muscle you need to jack iron or find some other way to overload your muscles. 

Leg Work
Currently, I really like the Decline Leg Press.  I blast my clients' legs with this machine and use it heavily myself.

This exercise blasts quads, glutes and hamstrings.  This is the foundation exercise to get your beach body.  Do a few warm-up sets with light weight and then start stacking on the plates until you're down to tough sets of 6 reps.

Standing Calf Press

Calf work is next.  Hit your calves with 4 sets of 15 reps on the Standing Calf Press machine.  These will burn...and they will pay off.

Chest Work

Incline Dumbbell Press is a nice exercise to develop your pecs.  If you've been doing flat bench press all winter, this exercise will fill-out the upper chest area.  Grab some moderate weight dumbbells (at least 20lbs).  Rock back onto an incline bench and pump out 4 sets of 10 reps.

Back Work

Seated Cable Row works the lats nicely.  Lats are important to tone and shape the back.  Pictured above is the less common single-handed cable row.  Below is the more common double handed cable row.  Try both for variety.  Go heavy - 3 sets of 8 reps.

Shoulders
Great delts are critical to any physique.  The foundational shoulder exercise is Military Press.  You can use a barbell or dumbbells for this exercise.  Keep your back straight.  Lock your elbows out at the top.  Do 3 honest sets of 12 reps.

The Big Guns

Biceps are fun to work and usually get a lot of attention.  Here is one of my favourite bicep exercises; the Concentration Curl.  One of my clients, Bridget, hates this exercise because she feels like a douchebag doing them.  Frankly, they have made her biceps grow more than any other single bicep exercise that we have used in her training.  Give them a shot.  3 sets of 10 reps.

 



Triceps

The Dumbbell Kickback is a fantastic exercise for triceps.  Aim for 4 sets of 12 reps.  Go nice and slow so that you can really feel it in the muscle.

Abs
Try Knees to Elbows.  This is a wicked ab workout.  Hang from a bar.  Now swing your knees up to touch your elbows.  10 reps should be enough for you.  Keep trying to add one more each time you work out.

Cardio

Cursed cardio.  So hard to get started...so necessary.  Get moving and sustain the motion for about 30 minutes.  Run, swim, bike.  Do something that will get you breathing hard and sweating (that you can sustain for 30 minutes).  This complements your weight training but is not licence to gobble pizza. Do cardio 3-6 times a week depending on how much fat you need to lose.

Nutrition

Your diet is the single most important factor in how you will look on the beach.  Be frugal with what you eat.  Eat clean.  Fresh fruit and vegetables.  Lean meat.  No crap.  No pop (even "diet" pop).  Eat less than you really think you can.  Make peace with hunger.  Drink water.  Lots of water.  Eat lots of fibre. 

Tom

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Shoulder Workout

Training Your Shoulders

The key muscle group of the shoulder is the deltoid.  Deltoid has frontal, lateral and rear heads.  The frontal head of the deltoid gets a lot of work during normal bench press.  The lateral and rear heads of the deltoid are the ones that really require special attention.

Basic Shoulder Exercises

The musculature of the shoulder region is generally powerful but the joint itself is delicate.  Shoulder work demands a methodical approach and some light-weight sets to warm-up.

Military Press

The Military Press is a superb shoulder building exercise.  You can use dumbbells or a barbell.  Some machines do a good job of replicating this move too.  Stand with feet wide apart.  Clean the bar up to your collar-bone.  Press it straight up overhead.  Elbows should be fully extended.  Lower it back to the collar bone.  Repeat.  Engage your core when you do this exercise or you may feel discomfort in your lower back.  This exercise mostly hits lateral delts but also uses frontal delts to a lesser extent.  This should be your first deltoid exercise if doing multiple exercises, due to the remote risk of dropping the weight on your head.

Dumbbell Side Laterals

This exercise is excellent for hitting the side or lateral delts.  These muscles need to be worked if you're going to add width to your shoulders.  Ladies - this exercise gives your shoulders that nice definition that looks great in a sleeveless dress.  Using light to medium weight dumbbells and a slight bend in the elbows, raise the dumbbells up to about ear-height.  Just as the model in the photo is doing - tip the front of the dumbbells down.  Just like you're pouring a bottle.  This slight move really focuses the work onto the lateral delts.  Lower slowly and repeat.  I like to start with the weights together in front of my body.  This creates a little work for some of the rotator-cuff muscles.

Bentover Dumbbell Flyes

This exercise works the often-neglected posterior or rear delts.  This muscle is vital for many sports and manual labour as well as giving you a square-shouldered appearance.  You can sit on the end of a bench or lie down prone on the bench to do this exercise.  Some people do this in a standing position.  If that's comfortable for your lower back, I'm not going to stop you (unless you're my client).  Dumbbell in each hand, slight bend in elbows...raise the dumbbells up as high as you can.  There's no risk of going too high!  Don't raise your chest up.  Keep hands well forward (you should be able to see the dumbbells in your peripheral vision).  Lower.  Repeat.

Basic Shoulder Routine

Try this after a decent warm-up:

Military Press: 3 sets of 8 reps

Dumbbell Side Laterals:  3 sets of 10 reps

Bentover Dumbbell Flyes:  3 sets of 10 reps

Tom

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