Round 5: Day 17: Diamond Delts

It's been a long time since I did this workout, and I'm not quite sure why. My shoulders are definitely one of my weaknesses, so it makes sense that I focus a little more on shoulder workouts to improve that area. I suppose that many of the resistance workouts incorporate some shoulder work into them, along with other body parts, so I've felt that it's important not to neglect the other body parts to focus specifically and exclusively on the shoulders. That's probably a reasonable compromise.

This workout is difficult in that it targets only the deltoids, to the exclusion of the other muscles in the arm. There is a little pump in the biceps and triceps, but that's really just a side benefit from working the shoulders, and not the point of the workout. Since only one body part is primarily worked, the shoulders get fatigued early and often, and I find it necessary to take mini-breaks to allow time for some recovery during the workout.

I like the pace of the workout, and today, I had a good attitude and good intensity. I was able to increase my weight, or repetitions, or both, on most exercises. I have a worksheet for this project, developed by a FaceBook friend, and have been using it to write down my results. The workout consists of 9 exercises, each exercise repeated, for a total of 18 exercises. My FaceBook friend included three additional blanks for 3 bonus exercises of my choosing. I'm a competitive person by nature, and am especially competitive with myself. When I arrived at the bonus moves, Tony was already in his cool-down stretches. Not me. I still had some gas left in the tank and decided to push out some additional pike presses, military presses, and side flys. Following two rounds of bonus moves, I felt sufficiently bagged to join Tony for a brief Shavasana, followed by some cool-down stretches. Needless to say, my shoulders are still burnt out at the time of writing this.

Great workout, and so far, it's been a terrific week. I'm really looking forward to Yoga tomorrow.