It was a rare, but welcomed, rainy day here in my newly adopted city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where we had just completed about three straight weeks of sunny, blazingly hot weather. At this point I think most everyone was looking for a little cooling down…well, all except for me that is! While most people were happy to stay at home and listen to the pouring rain drops rhythmically pound against their windows, I was looking to heat up my shoulders at the local L.A. Fitness with a little POWER, REP RANGE, SHOCK treatment!

It was about 5pm when I arrived, and by this time it was raining so hard I had to make a mad dash from my car to the gym! Luckily I don’t have a stitch of hair on my head, so no worries about getting my “do” messed up. Yeah, the perks of being bald!

Once inside I said a few hellos to some gym regulars, and then headed for the locker room for my “pre-game” warm-up. After a quick trip to the “little boy’s room,” I downed about 10 g BCAA’s, 5 g L-glutamine, and 2.5 g creatine mixed in water, which has become rather widely know as the “Body FX Cocktail”…Body FX being my screen name on many of the most popular bodybuilding message boards. I then grabbed my belt, towel, and straps out of my gym bag, cranked up my MP3 with a little Godsmack, and muttered to myself, “Ok, let’s go to war!”

As I was walking out of the locker room, I ran into a friend of mine whose name is Charles, however, I like to affectionately refer to him as “Up-Chuck.” And yes, it’s exactly what you are thinking! Every time I train with Charles he ends up in the bathroom stall, “praying to the porcelain God.” Great thing about Up-Chuck though, is that he keeps coming back for more! Yeah, we have put in some great workouts together, even when he is not “tossing his cookies!”

“Eric! What’s up playa?”

“Not much, just here for some deltoid detonation!”

“You’re training shoulders today? So am I!”

“Cool. Did you start yet?”

“No, I just got here. Can I train with you?”

“That depends…how close to the workout did you eat?”

“Oh stop! I won’t puke from shoulders!”

“You said the same thing about the arm workout we did together two weeks ago, and…”

“Ok, ok…but I came back and finished the workout, didn’t I?

“Yes, you absolutely did. You are a warrior bro!”

We continued our conversation as we walked out to the free weight area, where I started to warm-up my rotator cuffs with some internal and external rotation exercises (yeah, I’m getting old!), as well as a series of light lateral raises.

“So Eric, are you doing POWER, REP RANGE, or SHOCK today? This is my POWER week, but I will do whatever you are doing.”

“Well, I am doing all three!”

“Huh? I don’t get it.”

“This week I am working with what I like to call ‘Hybrid P/RR/S’ training.”

“Hybrid P/RR/S? Explain please.”

“With Hybrid P/RR/S we combine elements from all three training week protocols into one workout. It is something I like to add into the mix every 4-8 weeks, and it provides a very unique training experience. You will activate the anabolic machinery through every physiological mechanism possible, and stimulate the mind with the challenge you are providing it with.”

“So, how will this work with our shoulder training today?”

“Well, rather than me tell you, let me just show you! Let’s get to work!”

First stop was the seated military press station. The goal here was to follow the POWER week protocol, which means choosing a weight for your work sets that will allow for only 4-6 reps to concentric failure. Lifting tempo is 4/0/X. This translates into a 4 second eccentric rep, followed by a zero second pause, and then an explosive concentric contraction. Rest between sets for this particular movement would be about 4 minutes, to allow for maximum recovery, and synthesis of ATP and creatine.

“Eric, do you always start a Hybrid workout using the POWER week protocol?”

“Yes I do. This is because POWER training is best for stimulating the CNS, which will then carry over into the rest of the workout.”

“And by stimulating the CNS, the benefit is what?”

“More powerful muscle contractions and increased fiber recruitment.”

“Which means more growth potential?”

“Correct Up-Chuck!”

Luckily, when it comes to shoulders, Charles and I are of very similar strength levels. Thus we were able to follow the same warm-up and work-weight patterns, which ended up looking like this:

“Damn Eric, those felt great! I have been using your pre-workout cocktail consistently lately, and it has made a big difference.”

“Like with everything in this game my friend, the basics work the best!”

“Ok, what’s next?”

“Onto the reverse flye machine for rear delts!”

“And what style are we using here?”

“Bro, you have no style. I mean look at you, still wearing baggy clown pants from the 1980’s!”

“Yeah, yeah, and the chicks love me. Always smiling my way.”

“No bro, they are laughing, not smiling!”

“You are a real comedian huh? Are we using REP RANGE or SHOCK training for this movement?”

“REP RANGE bozo.”

The reverse flye machine is definitely my favorite exercise for rear delts. Although I will also use various dumbbell and cable rear lateral raises, I find I get the tightest contraction in my posteriors from the reverse flye.

Today we used a pronated grip, so the palms were facing toward the floor. I actually prefer this to the semi-supinated grip when performing this movement.

Because we were using the REP RANGE protocol for reverse flyes, the goal would be to get 7-9 reps on set one; 10-12 reps on set two; and 13-15 reps on set three. Again, we are looking for positive failure to be reached. Rest between sets was about 2 minutes, and lifting tempo was 2/1/2/1. This translates to a 2 second negative, with a 1 second pause before performing the positive portion of the rep in 2 seconds. The final number in the tempo refers to the contraction point. On movements that allow for a strong “peak contraction,” like this one, I will often add a one second pause here for even more muscle stimulating action!

Here is how our sets panned out:

“Man Eric, I am loving this! Going from 4-6 reps to 7-15 reps feels great! The pump is outrageous. I feel like someone just injected me in my delts with synthol!”

“God forbid bro! No, your delts look round and full…not distorted like synthol users!”

“You know what I mean you mad scientist! What’s next?”

“I am not sure. How are you feeling? You look a little pale.”

“Oh stop! I am fine! Bring it on!”

I must admit…when Up-Chuck told me to “bring it on,” I immediately became quite motivated to see him on his knees doing the “Technicolor yawn.” And what better way to accomplish this than with some SHOCK week techniques!

My exercises of choice for what would be a post-activation superset (compound movement followed immediately by isolation movement) were the wide grip barbell upright row and seated side laterals. This combo was meant to literally fry our medial deltoid heads. I am a great believer in paying the most attention to the side delts, as I feel that not only are they the most difficult to develop, but they also do the most to improve the overall look of one’s physique.

Being that we were about to engage in a SHOCK week protocol, the corresponding rules would apply: A lifting tempo of 1/0/1, keeping the up and down movement almost constant, and rest between sets would be the minimum amount of time it takes to catch your breath and mentally prepare for the next “assault!”

After I performed my first superset, I informed Up-Chuck that he was to add in X-reps partials to his side laterals. Yes, I was trying to send my friend “over the edge!”

“Wait, wait, wait Eric…you did not do X-reps after your laterals!”

“Nope, but you will!”

“Fine. I can take it.”

Our two delt-destroying supersets were as follows:

“Seriously Eric. Holy crap, my delts are torched! I can’t even lift my arms.”

“Yeah, Hybrid P/RR/S usually has that effect because the muscles and CNS are literally attacked from every angle!”

“So let me ask you. Should I work Hybrid week into my regular P/RR/S rotation?”

“For the past year or so I have generally done P/RR/S/H, and will occasionally do a full 4-weeks straight of Hybrid P/RR/S, but will change the workouts completely each week. However, remember that I have been utilizing P/RR/S for six years now. Being that you have been using my program for only the last 6 months, I would suggest you hit a Hybrid week every 7^th week in the rotation (P/RR/S/P/RR/S/H).”

“Cool man. This was an amazing workout.”

“I am glad you enjoyed it! And look at that, you didn’t even end up with your head in the toilet bowl!”

“True, true. Guess you have to stop calling me Up-Chuck bro.”

“Not so fast my often-vomiting friend…tomorrow is legs. Care to join me…”

Hybrid Deltoid Detonation Workout:

-Seated Military Press…3 x 4-6

-Rear Delt Flye Machine…1 x 7-9, 1 x 10-12, 1 x 13-15

-Superset: WG BB Upright Row/Seated Side Lateral…2 x 8-10 each