Inside Look At Training With The Body Spartans: Part 3, Shoulder Workout

If you’ve ever wanted to train with the Body Spartans, this is what it’s like to do it for a shoulder workout

Kevin Minello and Patrick Nelson had a rare opportunity to not only meet Body Spartan Founder, Gabe Tuft, but also to train with him. The two of them contacted Gabe directly and asked if they could get a workout in with him. They flew out from Pennsylvania and got exactly what they had hoped for – a two and a half hour shoulder workout unlike anything they had ever experienced.

 

 

The T-Reks Shoulder Workout

Gabe “T-Reks” Tuft’s most recent shoulder workout is a high volume training session that burns so bad, the devil himself refused to try it. The goal with this shoulder workout was to first, show Kevin and Patrick a style of training that most people have never experienced; and second, force massive amounts of blood into the muscle cells to get a pump so huge that they could feel their skin stretch.

There is a method to this madness though. With shoulders, it doesn’t take a ton of weight to get a pump and make them burn. It does take a ton of reps though. Weight helps but the weight comes in time, and in slow increments. More than anything during this shoulder workout, you’ll hear Gabe asking Kevin and Patrick, while they are in the middle of their sets, “Why are YOU here?” and “Why did you come all the way from Pennsylvania for this?”. He’s reminding them of their “WHY” – their driving force, their reason for being in the gym. Sometimes all it takes is for someone who is more advanced than you are to show you exactly what you are capable of. By getting inside their heads and asking all the right questions, Gabe was able to push these two guys beyond their own personal limits.

They worked harder than many of their predecessors and walked away with a grip of new training tactics and knowledge. Never once did they quit. I mean, would you quit if a 6′-3″, 270 lb beast was yelling right in your ear? I know I wouldn’t. Gabe’s only two rules are (1) give a 100% of your effort while you’re there and (2) If you quit, walk out the door and don’t come back.

Have you got what it takes? 

Seated Lateral Side Raises

Set	Super Set	Reps	Rest
1	No	30	2 minutes
2	No	28	2 minutes
3	No	24	2 minutes
4	No	20	2 minutes
5	No	18	2 minutes
6	No	16	2 minutes
7	No	14	2 minutes
8	No	12	2 minutes

 

Wide-grip upright barbell rows

Set	Super Set	Reps	Rest
1	No	30	2 minutes
2	No	24	2 minutes
3	No	20	2 minutes
4	No	16	2 minutes
5	No	12	2 minutes

 

Cable front raises with rope

Set	Super Set	Reps	Rest
1	No	20	2 minutes
2	No	20	2 minutes
3	No	20	2 minutes
4	No	20	2 minutes

 

Hammer strength shoulder press

 

Set	Super Set	Reps	Rest
1	No	30	2 minutes
2	No	24	2 minutes
3	No	20	2 minutes
4	No	16	2 minutes
5	No	12	2 minutes

Bent over rear delt dumbbell flies on a preacher bench

 

Set	Super Set	Reps	Rest
1	No	30	2 minutes
2	No	24	2 minutes
3	No	20	2 minutes
4	No	16	2 minutes
5	No	12	2 minutes

Shrugs using Hammer Strength machine

 

Set	Super Set	Reps	Rest
1	No	40	2 minutes
2	No	30	2 minutes
3	No	25	2 minutes
4	No	20	2 minutes
5	No	20	2 minutes

Shoulder workout summary

A few final thoughts on this shoulder workout. Be sure not to rush any of the reps. Each rep should be controlled at a moderate tempo and you should try to squeeze and hold for about half a second at the the top of every repetition. This will tremendously increase the pump. You will fatigue faster so be prepared to drop the weight.

Also, be sure to bring your BCAA’s with you so that you can stay in an anabolic state the entire workout. We recommend Scivation Xtend BCAA’s due to the quality and price. You can grab them on Amazon for a decent price by clicking the image below. We’ve linked an entire search for the BCAA’s that will show you all flavors and all sizes.

We also highly recommend using lifting straps for heavy shrugs. There’s a big debate among people regarding this but we are advocates of doing forearms on a separate day and focusing on traps (or your back) when you’re doing traps. You won’t have to worry about your grip giving out at 20 reps and still having 20 more to go.

Now, go crush this shoulder workout, down your post-workout shake, come back and leave us a comment about how you did!