Take a good look at your shoulders at this point in Operation Aesthetic. It’s important to see if all the heads of your delts are coming in about the same. If your front, rear, or lateral heads are lagging behind, then you can prioritize one over the others.
To do this, move the exercises that target that delt head earlier in your workout. One strategy is to perform your warm-up sets for standing dumbbell presses, then go immediately to the isolation exercise for your lagging delt muscle. After that, you’ll perform your working sets for standing dumbbell presses.
The key is to find solutions that bring up your weaker muscles within a group as your body burns stored fat.
OPERATION AESTHETIC NOTES
*Lower the weights slowly for moves such as standing dumbbell presses. This will not only force your shoulders to work harder, but it will also help prevent injury as you get leaner, and potentially weaker.
*You may have noticed that I’m using plates rather than dumbbells for my rear-delt flyes at the end of this move. Choose whatever allows you to feel these small muscles contract at the top—that’s how you’ll get growth and definition from them.
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Early morning cardio
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1
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25 minutes
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Don’t think about it; just get to your cardio ASAP—you can shower and check your phone later.
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EXERCISE
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COMMENT
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Standing dumbbell presses
You can use rest-pause if needed, holding the dumbbells at your shoulders for a couple seconds before you perform the next rep.
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6 SETS / 12, 10, 7, 3, 15, 15 REPS
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Dumbbell lateral raises
Really focus on the negative, slowing the weight as you lower it for this move.
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5 SETS / 12, 10, 7, 3, 15 REPS
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Dumbbell front raises
Notice that I use a neutral grip for this move rather than one where my palms face the floor as I raise the weight.
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4 SETS / 12, 9, 6, 15 REPS
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Standing military presses
This is a great move for a drop set if you can’t pyramid up in weight at this point in my program.
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5 SETS / 12, 10, 7, 3, 15 REPS
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Barbell shrugs
SUPERSET: Make sure you have your dumbbells ready to go as soon as you finish your barbell shrugs.
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4 SETS / Burnout*
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Rear-delt flyes
SUPERSET: Turn your wrists inward to better target your rear delts.
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4 SETS / Burnout*
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Post-Workout cardio
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1
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25 minutes
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Get this in any time of the day, but it’s best immediately after your weight-training workout.
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*Choose weights that allow you to get in about 12–15 reps for each set, reaching failure for both exercises in all supersets. Reduce weights as needed.
TIP: CreaClear® is a creatine supplement that helps you fuel workouts, including between set recovery. CreaClear can help your body create ATP, the energy source that helps you perform more reps with heavy weights.
