Exercise #4 – Overhead Flyes superset w/ Crucifix Holds
Deltoid Blaster
This one I picked up during my time with Josh Bryant. This is another deltoid blaster and one that I absolutely hate with a passion. Forget about any kind of plate or dumbbell raise for isolating the anterior deltoids – These two exercises, together or separately, are the king ding-a-lings as far as time under tension goes.
These two exercises are great accessory exercises for those looking for an increase in volume. For trainees that need to bring their front delts up, this is the ticket. Add these in towards the end of your training day (everything else remains the same). If you are running the superset, two total sets are all it takes and I guarantee you’ll experience buyer’s remorse for adding these in within 24 hours LOL.
The key is to take it light. You do not want to start off using the 40 lb dumbbells for sets of 5-7 reps! Yes, it needs to be said unfortunately. For the flyes, look towards keeping it in the higher 12-15 rep range. Keeping your arms slightly bent, bring the dumbbells down as far as possible stretching the holy hell out of your delts and back up. If you are using them as a standalone, slow down your cadence and focus on that mind-muscle connection. As a superset, I prefer to pick up the pace because you don’t want to be smoked by the time you get to the holds.
The crucifix holds should be thumbs up w/ your arms slightly bent. Using your legs, push your body into the bench (trust me this helps!). Be sure to use a stopwatch because you cannot rely on counting while under extreme duress LOL. What I do is to press start on my timer and place it on the deck in front of me. Just go when you’re ready.
Progression: As a standalone, any increase in weight will be the last consideration. If you’re using 3 sets of 15 reps, look towards decreasing your rest between sets. Increase another 5 lbs and continue. Once you find yourself down around the 10 rep range, start holding the weight over and build your reps back up. If you need to increase your rest in order to do it, do so. Every week look towards lowering rest again. As a superset, it’s okay to hold everything static for an extra week or two while increasing the time of each crucifix hold by 5-10 seconds.
Sample progression:
Week 1 – OHF 25′s x 15 ss w/ CH 15′s x 30 sec. (RPE 8)
Week 2 – OHF 25′s x 15 ss w/ CH 15′s x 40 sec. (RPE 9)
Week 3 – OHF 25′s x 15 ss w/ CH 15′s x 45 sec. (RPE 10)
Week 4 – OHF 30′s x 12 ss w/ CH 20′s x 30 sec. (RPE 9)
* RPE 9 = 1-2 reps left in the tank
* RPE 10 = Max effort and/or missed rep