If this was anyone else...

[Marvin Martian]

**broken link removed**

2nd at the Olympia in 09

This why it's hard to criticize the man. I would never advise anyone to train the way he did; but he sits in a very elite category of men.

That’s one of the best pics I have seen of Branch. He looks incredible in that shot. I met him back in mid nineties - he was a light heavy I think but had a great physique

 

[concreter]

Back in my Hey Day it was my favorite exercise, besides Strait Bar Curls.
I hit 385lbs while only benching 365.
225 x 12, 275 x 8, 315 x 6.
I did not tear A shoulder till my 40's, reppin 50's on extensions at the end of my workout!

 

[Bio-hazard]

Lol i love the guys in here thinking if they can't rep 315 then no one can lol clowns.

Anyways, he's an elite athlete and in a category with probably only Jonnie and Ronnie. But indeed it does work for him so it wasn't a knock, just a matter of fact statement.

 

[biglizard225]

If you look at the videos of him doing these you can clearly see his shoulders are firing extremely hard. Branch trains everything like this. It works for him and Johnnie. I train like this sometimes maybe a little more controlled just because I like to really feel what I'm working but if your a good presser than 315 for reps is very doable. I do 315 seated military to the front for 12 fairly strict reps. I've done 405 for 2 before fairly sloppy bouncy reps. I regularly go up to 365 and do it for a clean 5 then throw some body English in there to get a couple more.

Behind the necks which I love for overall mass I regularly do 225x22, 275x12, 315x6

But I'm very careful and I'm a natural presser. Do I have the most developed delts out there? No but on a strength scale it is what it is. I think Branch probably used to train with better form but over time has loosened up because of his joints. Loosening for while keeping weight high I think was his strategy

 

[mk86]

definitely a nice one xD

 

[Equalizer]

This is what Branch thinks about people criticizing his training.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyumPbu8-84&t=5s"]BRANCH WARREN responds to haters about his training style - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Alzadosghost]

I can with no hesitation say that both my destroyed rotator cuffs one if which I’m 5 months out of surgery and the other one to be done after this one is healed all the way. The only thing that has ever fucked with me or caused any injuries was upright and incline pressing. Lots of heavy behind the neck stuff. It does cause a lot of damage if yourcskeketal structure is not built for it.i was fine until around 40. Well I had lots of shoulder injuries but never tire anything off the bone where I needed surgery. Knowing I built more shoulder size doing high rep low weight lateral variations makes me believe I could have built delts without even pressing much at all. Hindsight

 

[maldorf]

315 behind the neck

Not common of course, but I have seen several guys at gyms doing this much. It isn't as rare as you might think. Both of them were on the smith machine like this. This guy gets 8 reps.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNlrbkblhpA"]Behind the neck shoulder press 315 - YouTube[/ame]

 

[maldorf]

Branch doing that movement here

at about 2:50. Where that shot was taken from. Strong guy for sure!


[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhPAzOVmL1M"]Branch Warren Shoulder Workout | 2012 Road To The Arnold - YouTube[/ame]

 

[rmtt]

I never had any issues with behind the neck presses....but I would only go down to about the middle of my ears and then back up. I think a lot is dependent on your body's structure and how everything lines up.

Heaviest I think I ever did was 2 plates for reps....but I weighed 200lbs.

But I stopped doing them in my mid 30's just in case, and now stick to standing overhead pressing with a barbell....and dumbbell work.

Sent from my LG-H871 using Tapatalk

 

[biglizard225]

I can with no hesitation say that both my destroyed rotator cuffs one if which I’m 5 months out of surgery and the other one to be done after this one is healed all the way. The only thing that has ever fucked with me or caused any injuries was upright and incline pressing. Lots of heavy behind the neck stuff. It does cause a lot of damage if yourcskeketal structure is not built for it.i was fine until around 40. Well I had lots of shoulder injuries but never tire anything off the bone where I needed surgery. Knowing I built more shoulder size doing high rep low weight lateral variations makes me believe I could have built delts without even pressing much at all. Hindsight

A lot of people can and do build shoulders without even really trying. I for one am not one of those so I actually when I was a teenager studied up on everything shoulder related to what Branch did. Talked to Brian Dobson and watched Branch talk about shoulders on numerous occasions, read all his MD articles and pretty much mimicked what he did for a while. After building my strength I started tightening form and doing different things. I can say shoulders for people who don't have good shoulders take time and consistency out of everything. I now train them twice weekly one full volume day and about 10 sets after chest to get a pump in them and they've been responding really well to this

 

[concreter]

I could bottom out at the Traps, just felt like A perfect Groove!
I've always been shoulder Dominate. Bench was always more delt than chest.
Again I could incline 20 more pounds as well.
I mostly contribute My Delts to Upright rows as I did these 2-3 days a week back then.

 

[malcom young]

**broken link removed**

2nd at the Olympia in 09

This why it's hard to criticize the man. I would never advise anyone to train the way he did; but he sits in a very elite category of men.

It’s been a while since his abs were that tight,...he looks Great!

 

[cal]

Lol i love the guys in here thinking if they can't rep 315 then no one can lol clowns.

Anyways, he's an elite athlete and in a category with probably only Jonnie and Ronnie. But indeed it does work for him so it wasn't a knock, just a matter of fact statement.

Actually no cares...what you can lift in the slightest ...

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[Turkishexpress]

When I see Branch train I'm reminded of Ronnie. Actually I'd say Ronnie trained smarter than Branch. Then I remember everything Ronnie has been through for the past 5 years. Give it time.

 

[Lene28]

The first time I trained at Meteoflex was a few years ago and it was 3 weeks before the Arnold Classic. As me and 2 of my friends got out of our car Branch was was getting out of his car. We were parked right next to each other and began to get our gym bags out of the trunk. I asked Branch if we could get a quick picture to which he replied “NAW MAN IT’S TIME TO TRAIN!!!!”

Best answer ever lol!

I had a booth at his show a few months later and asked him about it. He had absolutely no recollection of it. I laughed so hard; I guess it’s not uncommon for him to yell at people in the parking lot of the gym.

 

[Mike Arnold]

you do not need to do them. drop them.

Do this drop them out of your routine for six months and see what happens to your delts.

do they grow - dont put them back
do they stay same - dont put them back
do they get smaller - put them back in.

Option 3 will NOT happen u will see...
I promise you.

Make sure u are doing variations of side laterals of all sorts and Go HEAVY like as if it was squats.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

See bold above: Great advice. Way too many people treat laterals like fluff movements. They do high reps, use light weight, go for the burn, etc. That's all bullshit. If someone wants to build truly monstrous delts the ONLY way that is going to happen is if they treat their side and rear laterals like they were a major compound lift, such as squats, bench presses, or deadlifts.

A bodybuilder must get enormously strong on side and rear laterals in order to build maximum size. There is no way around it. We wouldn't do only light pump sets to train chest, back or legs, so why should we treat the side and rear delts like they are any different?

Strength is relative, but progressive resistance should form the foundation of side and rear delt work, just like it does for our larger muscle groups.

The only difference between laterals and other mass-building movements is that I believe the reps should be a little higher for best results. While 6-8 reps may be fine for some upper-body muscles, I have found that side and rear delts respond best to sets of 8-15...and sometimes even as high as 20. However, these sets should be gut-bustingly hard sets to failure or damn close to it.

 

[devenidas]

See bold above: Great advice. Way too many people treat laterals like fluff movements. They do high reps, use light weight, go for the burn, etc. That's all bullshit. If someone wants to build truly monstrous delts the ONLY way that is going to happen is if they treat their side and rear laterals like they were a major compound lift, such as squats, bench presses, or deadlifts.

A bodybuilder must get enormously strong on side and rear laterals in order to build maximum size. There is no way around it. We wouldn't do only light pump sets to train chest, back or legs, so why should we treat the side and rear delts like they are any different?

Strength is relative, but progressive resistance should form the foundation of side and rear delt work, just like it does for our larger muscle groups.

The only difference between laterals and other mass-building movements is that I believe the reps should be a little higher for best results. While 6-8 reps may be fine for some upper-body muscles, I have found that side and rear delts respond best to sets of 8-15...and sometimes even as high as 20. However, these sets should be gut-bustingly hard sets to failure or damn close to it.

Thanks for chiming in Mike. Love your inputs as always.

Reps range 8-15 -20 is perfect and what works with Heavy ass wt with good form.

Bbers need to pause for a sec and ask themselves when was the last time you proper psyched yourself for doing front raises and side raises of some sort, cable-barbell-dumbbell like you were about to attempt some heavy ass sqwaats ?

If you haven't. Try it


Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

 

[concreter]

Going Heavy, 15-20 Reps, Good Form!
Seems like an Oxymoron!