Q&A With Marc McDougal
by Marc McDougal

1. After nursing my shoulder back from an injury and postural imbalance using your advice, I’ve trained it to become as healthy as ever. Any advice for taking it to the next level? I’m looking to make both of my shoulders bigger, stronger, more stable, and basically bulletproof.

Keep a few things in mind when designing advanced programs for the shoulders:

1. Being a ball and socket joint that acts in a multiplanar fashion, the shoulder region requires more variety than muscles surrounding other joints. Not only for structural integrity, but also for strength and size.
2. When looking to satisfy multiple goals, employ multiple training techniques in each phase/week. Don’t just always train them heavy, or always train high reps, etc.
3. Compound is king. Avoid wasting time performing excessive single joint movements like lateral or front raises (especially since most trainees lack the discipline to avoid turning this into some weird hip-hop dance with dumbbells anyway).
4. Keep Frequency High. The shoulders are a relatively small muscle group compared to quads/hams/chest/lats, etc, so train them often. This works especially well when using a form of conjugated training as I’m suggesting below.
5. Train the external rotators. Just because your shoulders are healthy, doesn’t mean you can neglect these.

Here’s a sample program that should satisfy your goals:

I recommend training shoulders as part of a vertical push/vertical pull day, avoid any chest work on this day.

Workout 1 (Monday):
Warm Up:
Seated Barbell Military Press
1x6 @ 50% of weight you plan to use
1x4 @ 70% of weight you plan to use
1x2 @ 90% “ “
A1) Seated Barbell Military Press: 4x6
A2) Choose a vertical pulling movement and alternate (pull ups/pull downs, etc): 4x6
B) Seated DB External Rotation: 2x8 each

Seated DB Externatl Rotation Start

Seated DB External Rotation Finish

Workout 2 (Wednesday):
A1) Seated Dumbbell Military Press (1+1/3 reps*) 3x10
A2) Vertical Pull movement 3x12-15
*Lower the dumbbells to just barely above the shoulder, pause. Raise the db’s up 1/3 of the way (knuckles should be just above the head), pause. Lower the db’s back down to just above the shoulder, pause. Raise the db’s up all the way to the top. This is 1 rep.
B) Standing DB External Rotation: 2x12 each

Standing DB Externatl Rotation Start

Standing DB External Rotation Finish

Workout 3 (Friday):
Warm Up:
Barbell Push Press
1x6 @ 50% of weight you plan to use
1x4 @ 70% “ “
1x3 @ 80% “ “
1x2 @ 90% “ “
A1) Barbell Push Press: 6x4
A2) Vertical Pull movement: 6x4
Seated DB External Rotation: 2x15 each

Workout 4 (Monday):
A1) Dumbbell Bent Press: 2x12 each
A2) Vert Pull: 2x12-15
B1) Standing DB Lateral Raise: 1x15 (keep elbows bent to 10 degrees, angle arms slightly in front of the body. Do NOT bounce at the knees.)
B2) Standing Cable External Rotation: 2x8 each

Standing Cable Externatl Rotation Start

Standing Cable External Rotation Finish

Repeat these 4 workouts for a total of 4 phases (16 workouts), gradually increasing load each time.

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