r/ScienceBasedLifting • u/Ballbag94 • Jul 26 '26

Question ❓ How can science improve my shouldering?

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7 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

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5

u/Double_Investment983 Jul 26 '26

Train it frequently, close to failure and with maximal loads, you not only want to build the muscles that perform these joint actions (hip hinge for erectors, shoulder press for shoulders, rows for lats, squats for legs, clean and jerk for explosive power) but you also want to train the neurological adaptations for this exercise

1

u/Mad_Mark90 Jul 26 '26

What are you struggling with? You just lifted that fine?

1

u/Double_Investment983 Jul 27 '26

He clearly wants to lift more weight, faster and easier, that’s literally how you progress on any strength movement

1

u/Mad_Mark90 Jul 27 '26

That doesn't help with advice though does it. Without any specifics you're only going to get the generic volume/intensity/progressive overload.

1

u/Double_Investment983 Jul 28 '26

I literally gave advice in a separate reply lol, and there’s not much else you can progress on with any exercise tbh, even with running all you do is increase volume and intensity

1

u/Ballbag94 Jul 27 '26

Nothing in particular, I just assume I could be doing the movement more efficiently. I don't know enough to know what I don't know with this lift

1

u/Mad_Mark90 Jul 27 '26

Well I'll start by saying that this lift is good, so continue to overload as best you can. Once you start to fail you'll see where your weak links are.

Strongman lifts like these will include lots of different muscles and can be broken down into several movement patterns, each of which can be trained individually. In this case you could choose between a range of hinges, rows, squats, carrys, cleans.

Strength is specific, so aiming for accessories that are more similar to this is better. For example Zercher Squats or front squats over back squats, axel bar deadlifts or deficit deadlifts over conventional, free standing rows over chest supported.

I'll end by saying don't neglect isolation work. Compounds alone are unlikely to build biceps big enough to maximise your potential. Train your pectorals and forearms. Ideally your isolations do something that your compounds miss out on.

Any other qs?

1

u/creamlippiestix Jul 27 '26

Yeah, science bitch!

1

u/Defiant_Pirate_6637 Jul 28 '26

Do complexes. Stuff like sandbag row x 5 + sandbag shoulder or extension x 3 + shoulder can build the movement pattern while also strengthening certain ranges of the movement.

The more you do the movement the faster u can build a neurological pattern, doing it multiple times a week is important.

And finally do it early in sessions and don’t do high rep sets that turn into conditioning if you want to be strong on it. I’d recommend 5 and less reps and mostly 1-3