T Nation

Lateral and Rear Delts for the Athletic Aesthetic Athlete.

Christian Thibaudeau Coaching
#1

Hey CT. I am on my 2nd week of the Customized Hypertrophy Training (Phase 1/3) from The Indigo Project ( http://www.T-Nation.com/img/photos/Hyper-1-1.pdf ). I have noticed that when I press (overhead or bench), my lateral and rear deltoids are not really stabilizing my shoulder girdle as much as I would like them to. My concern is that with this all of this daily pressing and moderate volume lateral delt work and zero rear delt work (at least so far), I may eventually injure myself because of the lack of stability.

My question is… thoughts?
How would you train these muscles so that my upper body pressing performance can only improve from where I am at right now (my best military press was 105lbs for 2 sets of 3 @BW of 145lbs and a 155lbs bench press for 2 sets of 3 at the same body weight)?

Thanks, and keep on lifting.

#2

In CT’s article ( http://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/look_like_a_bodybuilder_perform_like_an_athlete ), he talks about how he just trains the rear delts and other supportive muscles when he feels like he needs to, usually in between his main pressing sets.

Another question I had was: would you recommend doing this in between the sets of the High Frequency Strength Work (specifically in between pressing sets in the HFS section of the workout)?

Also, in that article, CT never mentions the lateral delts. My current understanding of them is that they definitely support the shoulder girdle, but do not get hit well enough during pressing or pulling movements to strengthen them significantly. Because of this, isolation work for the lateral head is usually done… but when to do them besides on the OHP Pattern Day?

If anyone else has any ideas or recommendations, feel free to comment as well. Thanks to everyone.

#3

if you do the specialization program for “thickening” the back, the face pulls also hit the rear but because of the three mechanical drops , you get to hit the rear, the traps. I would tie in rear with that and do those on SAturdays.

#4

I would love to do that! The only problem is that I train in my backyard, and don’t have a pulley system for that to work (as a result, I’ve had to switch up a few exercises, but not many). I did build this sled (http://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/build_your_own_sled) and absolutely love it. I can do face pulls with that, but the resistance ends up being at the bottom and middle of the movement, and holding at the peak does pretty much nothing unless I lean back until I almost fall over…

Any other suggestions? Maybe doing Snatch-Grip High Pulls in the morning with a neural charge workout? Just a few sets to fire up the CNS for the rest of the day?

Thanks for the reply.

#5

You could buy a band and start using that for face pulls and band-pull aparts etc.

#6

[quote]antic wrote:
You could buy a band and start using that for face pulls and band-pull aparts etc.[/quote]
That’s a great idea! When would you suggest doing these? I workout in the evening, so I could do them after that, or first thing in the morning. Does it even matter?

#7

[quote]Colbstar wrote:

[quote]antic wrote:
You could buy a band and start using that for face pulls and band-pull aparts etc.[/quote]
That’s a great idea! When would you suggest doing these? I workout in the evening, so I could do them after that, or first thing in the morning. Does it even matter?[/quote]

you could do them as a ‘normal’ exercise (3x10-12 etc) after pulling, or you could do a set of face pulls between sets on pressing days.

#8

[quote]lboro21 wrote:

[quote]Colbstar wrote:

[quote]antic wrote:
You could buy a band and start using that for face pulls and band-pull aparts etc.[/quote]
That’s a great idea! When would you suggest doing these? I workout in the evening, so I could do them after that, or first thing in the morning. Does it even matter?[/quote]

you could do them as a ‘normal’ exercise (3x10-12 etc) after pulling, or you could do a set of face pulls between sets on pressing days.
[/quote]
I like the second option. Thanks for the help!