yeah man, the one with the chest support. i am a strong guy so i can put alot of weight on it and really squeeze my shoulder blades together, really works. as for the behind the head pulldowns, i used to do them all the time but for some reason never went back after seeing progress with the conventional in-front-of head pulldowns. i am going to try these next week and report back!
i'd love to hear what you think of my shoulder and abs workout atm.
1.heavy dumbbell shoulder press 2.face-pulls on pulley 3.Side raises (45d angle and from hips) 4.front raises 5. shrugs
ABS: superset lower and upper ab exercise, usually leg raises to weighted crunches, 5 sets to failure
well i'll say again if it works for you then keep at it, i personally think that's too much for shoulders though. that's where everybody's different comes into play though. my shoulders grow just fine with very minimal work, just getting hit on chest and back days indirectly, so i'll just do some overhead presses on chest day to fatigue them, maybe some rotator cuff work, real light. i do shoulders on my chest/tris day since a)they're already getting hit and i like as much rest as possible inbetween working those same muscles again and b) the shoulder is such a small muscle group i don't see the sense in giving it a seperate day, spending 30-45 minutes on them when that's what it takes me to do a larger group like chest, back or legs.
with that said, i also don't know the volume you are training with, you didn't list sets or reps or the percentage of your 1rm you are using. now if you're spending 15-20 minutes on those bad boys and 30 minutes blasting your abs i see no problem with a seperate shoulder day, especially if you've got the size and now you're working more on shaping movements. here's how i would tweak your shoulder workouts though, maybe give it a try.
dumbbell shoulder press - go heavy (which you said you're doing) since it's a compound movement. too many people have gotten away from the overhead press whether it be barbell or dumbbell. did you know the overhead press was once a lift in i believe either the olympics or powerlifting meets, i forget which one. it was discontinued though since it was too hard to judge. great movement. one shoulder day i would do dumbbells, next i would use barbell. same movement basically but that way you're getting to switch it up, and i believe that will keep you from plateauing longer. seated or standing doesn't matter since we're focusing on the shoulder but i prefer standing barbell overhead presses, may be weaker than sitting at first but over time is great for the whole body. i also prefer to do a hang clean and then press it up rather than lift it off a rack.
face pulls - i've never done these but plan on it next back day. i may be wrong but i thought this was a back movement? more for upper back, i mean sure the shoulders will be hit but i wouldn't call this a shoulder movement.
side raises - love these for an assistance exercises. i like to use the 5x5 method on heavy compound lifts and 2x8 or 3x8 on lifts like these.
front raises - i personally don't do these anymore because they kill my rotator cuff, even if i go light. if you enjoy them though, i would switch these out with lateral side raises every other workout. basically the same exercise but hitting the same heads from a different angle. so yeah i would switch these up.
shrugs - some people do them on shoulder days, some on back. i do them on back. i don't feel they are part of the shoulder as much as the back and they get hit doing other back exercises such as dead lifts or bent over rows. it may not feel like it but they do, so i do them on back days. believe it or not a lot of big deadlifters don't do shurgs at all and are yolked as fuck.
great exercise you're not doing...... upright rows. awesome exercise to go heavy on, i don't bring the bar above my nipples. working your shoulders almost the same as side lateral raises but you can go much heavier. i would do shrugs on back day and replace them with these on your shoulder day. 5x5 on your overhead presses, 5x5 on upright rows. 3x8 light to moderate weight on the rest. switch out exercises that are similar and this shouldn't take you more than 20 minutes tops. also a good exercise to think about maybe warming up with every week are rotator cuff exercises on the pulley cables (i don't know the exact name of this exercise). no need to go heavy on them, i like to use them as a warm up, stretch em out and get the blood flowing in there before i start pressing heavy ass shit over my head. really helps with your bench too.
abs - i wouldn't use any type of weight on any ab exercise. really no need. throw in some flutter kicks with your hands at your sides, not under your butt if you can do them that way. i also like to get in the six inch posistion, laying on your back legs extended feet 6 inches off the ground, and move my legs very slowly in big circles. planks are also great. just make sure you are doing them properly and you shouldn't be able to last more than 30-40 seconds or so, if you can you have exceptional core strength or you are doing it wrong. once you've mastered this do it with your feet elevated, or maybe right arm extended in front of you left leg off the ground, vica versa.
