DeFranco's Shoulder Shocker

Has anyone tried this or does this as part of their routine?

I’ve just started doing this, after heavy bench (with powerlifting form), and weighted chins and seated row (strict form). A link to Defranco’s shoulder shocker article was posted recently on another thread, and I thought I would give this a try because I have had a bad left shoulder for the last 6 years.

Anyway, I found this extremely difficult, even using super light weight I struggled to complete the three back to back sets. Just wondered if anyone else experiences difficulty getting through this even using very light weight?? I can do 3 sets of 16kg dumbbells on seated lateral raisers, but struggled to do this routine with just 6kg dumbells…

Thanks

Yeah its awesome i did it today when my shoulder was hurting and its great ill be using it more now again, i thought it was called the shoulder saver though?

Yep, same thing here. It’s hard!!!

I started doing this routine at home while I recovered from my vasectomy, since I could do it seated and used very light weights with no body english. Helped my shoulders and my balls since I really couldn’t do any other weights in the week after the surgery.

Loved the burn in the delts and now include it as part of my regular routine.

[quote]brian12 wrote:

Anyway, I found this extremely difficult, even using super light weight I struggled to complete the three back to back sets.
Thanks[/quote]

Yeah I think that’s one of the main points of it, to get as much tension on the muscles with as little weight as possible, to create hypertrophy with as little risk of injuring (re-injuring?) the shoulders as possible.

OMGZ!
I have a serious man-crush on Joe DeFranco.

So, yes I use the shoulder Shocker, and I absolutely love it.
I like them so much I’ll even throw them in on Legs days, just for fun.

Shoulder saver to me is Smitty Diesel routine, but this one is awesome too.

I started doing this a while back and it greatly improved my shoulder health/imbalance.

I think CT posted this a while back, he called it the Delt Triad. I did it for a while, crazy pump but I found I was unable to progress on it. I might put it back in my routine though. I just started lifting with a guy who’s done a few amateur shows. He paid a lesser known NPC pro for a few months for workout/diet advice and he’s got my buddy doing lots of high rep/volume stuff.

Close Grip Machine Press 12/12/10/10
Arnold Press 15/15/12/10
Cable Front Raises 12/12/10/10
Cable Lateral Raises superset with Dumbbell Rear Delt Flyes 12/12/12/12
FST 7 style Dumbbell Lateral Raises

Try that routine, my shoulders have never been so fucking sore in my life.

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What’s with his head and all the bobbing?

I did a variation of this that CT demonstrated on the Daryl Gee prep (last year iirc?). I was still able to do it as part of my weighted complexes even if I had injured a shoulder from ohp’ing.

when done correctly it is difficult when you’re in the middle of the second superset, and the third superset is pure murder. but it was near impossible to progress with increasing the weight, and difficult to progress with decreasing the time.

Thanks for all the comments.

How to progress with this was going to be one of my questions.

I was thinking of making progress in terms of number of reps. So now I’m using a 10kg plate and then 5kg dumbbells (sooo light, but as you all know, it hurts like hell). So I have started with 8 reps per exercise (24 total in one set). So progress will come in terms of additional reps when the time is right, and when reaching 10-12 reps (if that day comes), then upping the weight a notch and start back at 8 reps.

Does this sound logical?

Also, do you think that focusing on a powerlifting style flat bench, and good form seated rows, plus the shoulder shocker is sufficient for shoulder training? I am following the HCT12 program - basically an ABAB routine (upper then lower, day off, upper then lower). So I train chest and back - with shoulder shock - twice a week. I feel that this is enough. Thoughts?

Thanks!

I don’t see the benefit of using a plate over DBs, DBs offer great potential for progression

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Thib’s Delt Triad has worked extremely well for me and is now a mainstay in my shoulder routine.

Im going to probably change the front raises with dumbbell raises in a while and im going to change the reps every time i do it so sometimes il do 15 reps per other times 10, other times 6-8 etc and i think ill progress on it after a while

[quote]jp_dubya wrote:
What’s with his head and all the bobbing?[/quote]

I was about to post the exact same thing…

How many circuits? or is it just once?

[quote]Marzouk wrote:
How many circuits? or is it just once?[/quote]

Each round of 3 exercises counts as 1 set

[quote]overstand wrote:

[quote]Marzouk wrote:
How many circuits? or is it just once?[/quote]

Each round of 3 exercises counts as 1 set[/quote]

Ok… so 3/4 sets maybe?

yeah… thanks guys.