Glute & Shoulder Training

I just returned from the gym, and today was a great training day.  Diamond’s Gym caters more to amateur boxers, policemen, and swarthy men rather than the matching-gym-outfit types – I mean, this is no social club.  The equipment is old, the same posters have been on the wall for a decade, the floor is duct-taped around the squat racks and ancient leg press, and there aren’t any fitballs or mats.  Bobby will change the music to suit his favorite people, no one bugs me, and iron is iron.  I pick it up and put it down in all sorts of ways.  The benches are clean.

Bobby tells terrible jokes.  About 8 years ago he was kidnapped and held hostage by the Mexican mafia; it made the national news.  The mafia killed everyone but him.  Bobby says he wasn’t entirely innocent, and he lives life gratefully.  I appreciate where he is coming from.  Not everyone does.  That keeps the gym membership in a comfortable range.

Today, there were a few men training diligently.  It’s Saturday so Bobby wasn’t there.  I had just come in from an hour hike with my dogs, so I was already warmed up and ready to go.   I don’t like to waste time in the gym, so I superset, tri-set, and quad-set depending on how I’m feeling that day.  Today I was into tri-setting (no rest between exercises and sets), and here’s what my workout consisted of:

GLUTES AND SHOULDERS

SET ONE: (I do this set 4 times.  The first set is for warming up my muscles, so I do 15 of everything with a lower weight, then move up the weight and drop the reps on each set)

Overhead Military Presses with dumbells

High bench step-ups (coming low, chest to knee at the bottom, and lifting the knee at the top for a full range of motion)

Ab curls on a steep incline

SET TWO: (4 times on this set, but no warm up set)                               

Shoulder Front Raise (alternate, steady form, tight core)

Deep Squats with a Low Pulley (knees stay over ankles, focus on glutes, use heavy weight)

Ab crunches with high pulley (kneeling)

SET THREE: (3 times)

Isolated Side Shoulder Raise (I hold onto a shoulder height bar with one hand, feet close to the bar and body angled away, raising the dumbell above my shoulder in an arc with the free hand, palm down)

Romanian Deadlift with barbell (heavy; only to the knees; glute emphasis)

Bicycle Crunches on bench

SET FOUR: (3 times unless you’re cooked)

Reverse Flyes (I hit my rear delts one at a time, so I can really focus on using them – kneeling on a bench with a supporting hand)

Short Lunges with heavy dumbells (back foot only inches from the front foot)

Basic Ab crunches

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Seb hangs out in a corner of the gym and keeps an eye on things.  He’s used to hanging out around iron and doesn’t get worried when I breathe hard or grunt.  When he gets up and strolls over to me, I know I’m done.  I don’t know how he knows it first, but he always does.

Happy Training!

Sheri Lynn