Workout Finisher: Shoulder Drop Sets

Build and define your shoulders with this 3-part shoulder drop set.

You’ve done your foam rolling. Actually spent time warming up with movement prep. Banged out heavy sets of deadlifts. Crushed the bench press, pull-up bar and leg press machine. You even managed to fit in a few rounds of high intensity intervals on the rowing machine. All that’s left is for you to shower, grab your protein shake and head on home. But wait, if you haven’t included a “finisher” - usually a brutal one to two set single-exercise or circuit protocol - you aren’t really finished with your workout.

Finishers are great because they don’t only add volume to your training sessions (rep ranges are usually quite high in finishers) they also test your mental toughness, challenging you when you are already fatigued. Add them to your program to drive up your results and test your limits.

3-Part Shoulder Drop Set Finisher

Shoulders are one of the only muscle groups that are comprised of mixed fiber-types. Meaning they respond well to a combination of heavy strength work and strength-endurance rep ranges. This finisher focuses more on strength-endurance and is the perfect way to end your shoulder and arm day with a serious, steady burn.

Step One: Choose a pair of relatively light dumbbells (We recommend starting with 10s or 15s the first time you try this).

Step Two: Perform 15 reps of lateral raises, followed immediately by 15 reps of front raises, followed immediately by 15 reps of overhead press.

Finisher Notes:

The first rep of the overhead press will feel weird and awful but stick with it as it gets better with subsequent reps. This type of finisher utilizes what’s known as a mechanical drop set -- rather than reducing the weight, you change the movement to put you at more of a mechanical advantage (the front raise is more mechanically advantageous than the lateral raise and the overhead press is more advantageous than the front raise).

Step Three: Rest for 90 seconds after the first round is complete and try to do the entire circuit one more time.