The Program

The purpose of this program is to help you increase strength in your shoulder and the rest of your body while keeping it safe from injury. The program is yours alone, the results will be yours alone - but you’ve got to put in the work! Ideally, you’re doing 3 workouts per week. Feel free to add a 4th after you’ve done the program for 4 weeks and if you feel ready to add a 4th. If you’re really sore after the first 2 weeks of this program, do a week of lighter weights. Soreness isn’t necessarily a sign of muscle building and it can prevent us from using good form, so ease up if you’re really sore. (No soreness is also ok!)

Structure

This program is set up in supersets (2 exercises performed back to back with good form until both have been completed 3x each). This helps you get the most bang for buck in terms of time spent in the gym. Your rest time is the time it takes to complete the opposite exercise. If you need more breaks, take them! You’re trying to build strength, not burn yourself out. Working sets should have you working hard (WITH GOOD FORM) while keeping 1-2 reps in the bank (ie. you could do 1-2 more if you were trying to work to failure). Working to failure (for some exercises) is something to work towards after this program is complete - this one is meant for base strength building and learning to use your body in a smaller range of motion to keep it safe.

Remember

Your body wants to use a huge range of motion, but we’re trying to reduce that, so keep these cues in mind for everything:

• pre-contract the muscles you’re going to be using before starting the movement

• for upper body exercises and anything else where you’re holding a weight in your hands, keep the scapula down, don’t shrug the shoulders (think about anchoring the bottom part of the shoulder blade to the opposite hip without lifting the ribs in the front)

• breathe