Ox-yoke delts: make them pull their own weight

At last year's USA Championships, when I won the super-heavyweight title, I was 26 years old and, of the top six super heavyweights, I was the youngest by seven years. So, time is on my side. For this past year, my plan was to let my body become one year bigger, one year harder and one year more mature; in other words, one year better. That's what I've done. I will come into this year's USA Championships in Las Vegas over the July 16-17 weekend a whole lot better.

I'll be about 15 pounds heavier at 250-255. But my objective was not size. It was to be a lot harder, fuller and much more complete, with not one detail overlooked. Many bodybuilders talk about "the complete package," but somehow they end up acquiring only the package, without its details.

Let's face it: At the highest level of bodybuilding, everybody is a good bodybuilder, so it's really a matter of who has the fewest flaws. That's what I am trying to create. I'm not trying to become the biggest bodybuilder, but the one who is put together best. Witness Chris Cormier: He has no overwhelming bodyparts, but that's what makes him so great. Everything flows together proportionately.

For example, what makes a good delt is an equal amount of muscle on all three heads. To stay on top of that for myself, I've always concentrated on keeping my medial and rear delt heads up to par with my front delt heads so that from side-chest, side-triceps and quarter-turn positions, everything is proportionate and singularly enhanced.

I carry this out in my training by approaching each muscle in my shoulder complex as if it had its own workout. In other words, the exercise for that muscle is, at that moment, the most important exercise for my body. This allows me to concentrate harder on that individual muscle--thus, generating deeper, more localized intensity. The result is greater separation and fullness.

Before getting into my working sets, I warm up with two sets of shoulder and arm rotations, moving them full range. Remember: The shoulder is a very mobile joint and, therefore, very vulnerable.

EXERCISE 1 DUMBBELL LATERAL RAISES

My first exercise is always a medial-delt movement, but the manner in which I perform it involves each entire cap, as well as the trapezius. The exercise is the classic dumbbell lateral raise, either seated or standing, but the relevant issue in this case is the placement of the dumbbells in reference to the shoulders. Whether sitting or standing, I lean forward ever so slightly at the waist and raise the dumbbells backward, with my little fingers higher than my forefingers and my elbows above my wrists: the old pouring-water-out-of-a-pitcher description. This ensures that I'm isolating the medial heads. At the top of the movement, the traps get into it, also, but if you have well-developed delts, that ends up being a good thing. It emphasizes the deltoid-trap insertions, like Kevin Levrone's.

My medial delts are dominant, so I forgo heavy weight with my dumbbell laterals and seek, instead, a burn and pump, using pyramided sets. This carves the separations even deeper. My first set is for 15 reps, close to failure; then, without rest, I immediately grab a pair of dumbbells 15 pounds heavier for 12 more reps. Again, without rest, I grab a pair of dumbbells another 15 pounds heavier and do 10 more reps. I then repeat that three-set sequence two more times, for a total of nine sets.

EXERCISE 2 INCLINE REAR-DELT LATERAL RAISES

My rear delts are now ready for direct and maximum work, so I lie chest-down on a bench that is slightly inclined and do more dumbbell lateral raises, this time pulling as high as I can using only my rear delts. Since I'm at a slight incline, the dumbbells move not vertically but somewhat backward, through a plane perpendicular to my body. At the top, I get a peak contraction, then maintain tension all the way through the set. These sets are pyramided up in weight through 15, 12 and 10 reps.

EXERCISE 3 VERTICAL PRESSES

Having pre-exhausted my rear and side delts, I next want to hit my front delts without unbalancing the rest of my delt caps. For that, I go to the best total-mass-balancing exercise: vertical presses. In order to build an additional ridge of muscle on the inner edge of my front delts, above my clavicle, as well as bring out my upper chest, I lean backward slightly against a bench and press straight upward. Again, I do three sets, pyramided, for 15, 12 and 10 reps. I also alternate, using dumbbells one workout and a barbell (always military presses to the front) the next. When I was a kid, I did nothing but behind-the-neck presses, but that's the quickest way to destroy your shoulders. I'm older and wiser now.

CHRIS COOK'S TRAINING SPLIT

Day 1  Hamstrings, quads
Day 2  Triceps, deltoids, traps
Day 3  Rest
Day 4  Biceps, chest
Day 5  Back, traps
Day 6  Rest

EXERCISE 4 SHRUGS

I cannot overstate the value that traps add to shoulders, particularly from a back view. The image is seared into my mind from one Mr. Olympia film, where the camera is behind Dorian Yates as he's walking up the steps leading to the stage, and his traps are so darned big, it's like "Oh, my God!" The meat on those things must be four inches thick. And now we have Ronnie Coleman. I want that, too, so I do at least four sets of really heavy shrugs at the end of my delt routine, going down to maybe eight reps. I do everything with free weights, either with a barbell or dumbbells. I very rarely use a machine for anything.

Here, too, I lean slightly forward at the waist, so that I squeeze not upward toward my ears but vertically, to the back of my head. I do this because about 90% of the traps are behind you, not on top of your shoulders. Only a small portion is on top of your shoulders, and that will be hit, anyway, with the pull of the heavy weight.

Basically, I go as heavy as I can. Regardless of how prepared I am for supporting that amount of weight, I want to feel my traps straining even before I start my reps. Still, the focal point must be on a full range of motion. I don't go so heavy that I'm moving my shoulders only a half inch. At the bottom, I let it stretch and pull, then try to wrap my traps over the back of my head with the contraction. Moving the weight is what builds the muscle.

That's the principle for every exercise I do, but even more so for shoulders. Some muscles can be pounded into submission, but shoulders are the spoiled brats of the body. If you don't treat them exactly as they want to be treated, they'll sulk and balk and remain restive forever, so it pays to shower them with attention. Control the weight, and you'll control your shoulder muscles. Don't let the weight control you, keep your ego out of it, and massive ox-yoke shoulders with bowling-ball delts and Quasimodo traps can be yours--with time, of course.

CHRIS COOK'S SHOULDER WORKOUT

EXERCISE                          SETS  REPS

Dumbbell lateral raises           9     15-10
Incline rear-delt lateral raises  3     15-10
Vertical presses                  3     15-10
Shrugs                            4-5   15-8

BY CHRIS COOK

2003 NPC USA SUPER-HEAVYWEIGHT WINNER

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS LUND

COPYRIGHT 2004 Weider Publications
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