Bennett guided pro Wellness and Figure bodybuilders through a shoulder routine.
Last updated on March twenty eighth, 2024
On March 25, 2024, Joe Bennett, often called the Hypertrophy Coach, published a video on his YouTube channel wherein he led Wellness pro Tefani-Sam Razhi and Figure pro Melissa Brodsky through a hypertrophy-focused shoulder workout.
Bennett believes many athletes have underdeveloped rear delts, leading to deflated-looking shoulders. To address this, Bennett prioritizes medial and rear delts during training to cultivate the coveted 3D look.
Joe Bennett’s Delt Workout for Hypertrophy
Here is a summary of the training session:
Check out the whole video below:
Lying Cable Lateral Raises
Lying cable lateral raises bias the medial deltoids, that are accountable for abduction (lifting the arm away from the body). Coach Bennett really useful keeping the shoulder externally rotated throughout the range of motion (ROM) to limit rear delt engagement.
Bennett positioned the functional trainer’s cable pulleys to hip level, attached wrist straps, and placed a weight bench in front of it. His trainees wore the precise strap across the left wrist and vice versa.
Brodsky lay supine on the flat bench together with her legs toward the pulley. Brodsky’s arms were parallel at the underside of her ROM. Limiting the movement to the shoulders, Brodsky raised her arms laterally as high as possible to contract the medial delts to their fully shortened positions.
Seated Cable Rear Delt Flyes
Targeting the posterior delts (on the back of the shoulder that helps with external rotation), Bennett maintained the cable pulleys’ hip height from the previous exercise. Still, he switched the flat bench for a utility bench. He grabbed the cables with the alternative hands and sat on the bench together with his chest against the back pad.
While keeping her chest proud, scapula depressed, and elbows barely flexed, Razhi pulled her arms to her sides and paused at peak contraction. After reaching mechanical failure (where form breaks on account of fatigue), Bennett performed partial reps to further stimulate the goal muscles. Bennett emphasized proper form when approaching failure to attenuate the chance of injury.
Seated Barbell Overhead Press
The overhead press is a compound exercise that biases the anterior and medial deltoids. Bennett lowered the barbell to his upper chest at the underside of his ROM and stopped just shy of elbow lockout at the highest.
Bennett advised keeping the elbows barely in front of the midline to realize greater ROM and reduce shoulder strain.
“It’s not that pulling the elbows back is bad,” said Bennet, “however the further back…more people may have discomfort, pain, and tightness as they fight to press straight up and down.”
Bennett recommends performing three to 4 working sets of eight to 12 repetitions for optimal hypertrophy results. This rep range allows sufficient mechanical stress on the goal muscles to stimulate growth. (1)
Delts generally reply to a rather higher training volume than other muscle groups. This might be attributed to their smaller size and involvement in various pushing and pulling movements.
Incline Face Pulls
The trio concluded the workout with face pulls. Bennett favors face pulls toward the tip of a workout since they engage all three deltoid heads and help train external rotation.
Bennett positioned the cable pulley at eye level and secured a rope attachment. He set an incline bench to 45 degrees in front of the pulley, grabbed the ropes with an overhand grip, and positioned his back flat against the bench’s back pad.
Bennett fully prolonged his elbows within the starting position. His hands and elbows were behind his midline at the highest of his ROM.
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References
- Schoenfeld BJ, Grgic J, Van Every DW, Plotkin DL. Loading Recommendations for Muscle Strength, Hypertrophy, and Local Endurance: A Re-Examination of the Repetition Continuum. Sports (Basel). 2021;9(2):32. Published 2021 Feb 22. doi:10.3390/sports9020032
