How to This well-known dumbbell exercise may be hindering your shoulder progression without you realizing it

The shoulder is a very complicated muscle group to train because, as there are so many muscles, there are several movements and exercises that we have to do so that they grow harmoniously and, of course, without any risk of injury. Among these exercises, we find the military press with a barbell or dumbbells for the anterior deltoid; lateral raises for the lateral deltoid; and dumbbell flies for the rear deltoid. Also, among these exercises, we find the Arnold press, which is like a kind of military press with dumbbells but, when lowering the dumbbells, a turn is made inward and then another outward while they return to raise the dumbbells, but this is not efficient at all. Why is it not efficient? It must be remembered that for there to be muscular hypertrophy, there must be an adequate stimulus in the target muscle, which in this case is the shoulder and triceps if we count the synergizes. When we perform that rotation during an Arnold press, we are losing a lot of strength and when it comes to doing the exercise, when we execute the concentric phase, we will have to load, and weigh quite a bit. Lowering the weight also means the intensity will be lowed, so the hypertrophic adaptations will be lower as well. So if you want to get a good shoulder workout, you're much better off doing a regular military press, either with a barbell or dumbbell. Personally, I prefer to do it with dumbbells because the force to be applied is the same in both arms, unlike the bar, which when pushing with both arms, it is possible that one pulls more than the other and there are long-term imbalances. This is the number of different exercises you should do per muscle, group if you want to gain muscle The modification of training variables is one of the fundamental principles to promote the increase in muscle mass. Throughout a strength training program, changes occur in one or more variables, such as intensity, volume, or exercises performed. Exercise selection should be planned to stimulate all regions of the different muscle groups and optimize muscle growth. How many exercises are recommended per training session, and when do we have to vary them? Variation of exercises to increase muscle mass The exercises we do are a fundamental part of our program. It is the practical part of planning and what makes a program effective or not. There is a long list of exercises for each muscle group, so we must vary them over time. The main question is how often we should modify them and if that will affect our muscle gains a lot or a little. The most effective strategy is to choose a few good exercises that are the basis of our program and vary them after a while with similar exercises. How many exercises are recommended per session to increase muscle mass? Eric Helms proposes in his book "The pyramids of training" that we perform one or two multijoint exercises for each muscle group, and one to three isolated exercises for each muscle group. Per session, he recommends performing between two and five exercises for each muscle group. The variation of exercises must be performed precisely When we vary the exercises of the training program we must look for different stimuli. If the stimuli are redundant, the variation of the exercises will not serve to enhance the increase in muscle mass, since we will be doing the same thing, but with different materials or different positions. The selection of exercises is one of the most complex variables, since it requires a deep knowledge of biomechanics. To choose biceps exercises, we have to know that if the elbow is glued to the side, it will be different than when the elbow is in front of the body. So it is with every muscle group. The pectoral is stimulated differently depending on the portion of fibers that we stimulate the most, although we always work with the entire muscle. An incline bench press will increase upper fiber activation to a greater extent than a flat bench press. How often is it recommended that the exercises be modified? We can vary the exercises from session to session, or after a long time. The programming should focus on attacking the entire muscle as a whole, but a high frequency of change can make muscle hypertrophy difficult as we need to continually adapt to that change. The idea is to choose the different exercises of our program in such a way that each one of them supposes a different stimulus, and not be in any hurry to modify them. We can spend months with them without changing them. What we will vary will be the load we move and the repetitions we perform. If we modify the exercises frequently, our system will use its energy to adapt to this new stimulus and not so much to increase muscle mass. By choosing two to five well-selected exercises, we can build on them and use that energy to grow muscle. Being a long time with the same exercises allows us to know the weights that we move and the repetitions that we perform. We will thus focus on progressive overload, that is, on lifting more weight and doing more repetitions in the same exercises. Some general data to take into account, Helms presents some reference data that we can take into account to have something to start with. In his book "The pyramids of training" he explains that a maximum change of 15%-20% of exercises between weeks could be established. That does not mean that we have to do it yes or yes. He raises it so that we do not overcome it, since, as we have seen, an excess of exercise variation would be counterproductive. After a megacycle (a set of weeks of training) we can make a change of 30%-50% of the total exercises. Depending on the number of exercises performed by each muscle group, these percentages will make us modify more or fewer exercises. Our recommendation is to focus on a few well-selected exercises for several weeks and modify at most half of them after that cycle. Ways to vary exercises to increase muscle mass Muscular adaptations occur heterogeneously along the length of the muscle, so there is regional hypertrophy. Scientific evidence suggests that depending on the exercises performed, increases in muscle mass can be promoted in different muscle regions. Therefore, the exercises have the ability to stimulate certain regions within the same muscle to a greater or lesser extent. Several articles in the scientific literature have observed how we increase muscle mass more using a mixture of several exercises than just one or two. By including various well-selected exercises in our muscle-building program, we attack every part of our muscles. If we only use a few, or if we use many but are poorly selected, we will leave parts emphasized. The main aspect that we must take into account when selecting the exercises and varying them is the way in which we train the muscle groups. The explanation for this section is complex and is the main cause of the differences between knowing or not planning a routine to increase muscle mass. To easily know if an exercise is similar or different from another, we will feel how difficult it is for us at the beginning of the movement, in the middle, or in the final part. That difference in sensation is telling us that the most stimulated part is one or the other. To vary the exercises, choose different angles in the exercises, such as a flat bench press and an incline bench press. Also choose different force vectors, which you can achieve using free weights, pulleys, or machines. Examples to understand how to stimulate an entire muscle group In different Vitoria, articles we have been describing tricks to fully stimulate a muscle group. You can use them as a guide when selecting the exercises and varying them. These are different examples that you can consult: Selection of exercises for biceps Selection of exercises for triceps Selection of shoulder exercises Selection of chest exercises Selection of exercises for glutes Selection of exercises for calves Different angles and force vectors.