without getting distracted from the focus movements, and without making
a significant demand on your system except in the very final few weeks of
a cycle. During the latter, when you are deep into new poundage territory
in the major movements, temporarily either eliminate or severely cut back
everything other than the major movements.Shoulder care
. It is not surprising that shoulder injuries are almost universal among body-
builders and lifters. ere is a catalog of errors that almost all trainees are
guilty of to some extent. Some of the errors have even been religiously pro-
moted for decades by some trainers. e cost in terms of injuries is beyond
measure. Be informed, apply what you learn, ignore those who promote
destructive exercises, and save your shoulders.. While some people, over the short and medium term, may not appear to be
suffering harm, watch out over the long term. Exercises notorious for caus-
ing shoulder harm include the press behind neck, upright row, lateral raise
(especially with the little finger above the thumb), pulldown and pullup
behind the neck, fly for the pecs, and pec deck work. ere are very few expe-
rienced trainees who have not invested a lot of application in one or more
of these exercises. Some of these movements are also very harmful for the
rotator cuff.. e press behind neck is a traditional shoulder exercise, but one usually
confined to trainees in their teens and twenties. Due to shoulder pain it is
dropped from the routines of many people as they move into their thirties
and beyond. e press behind neck is very severe on the shoulders, and is
probably at the root of many shoulder and rotator-cuff problems. I do not
recommend this exercise, not even for the very young. It is best not to start
incubating shoulder problems in the first place, even though no apparent
damage is felt to begin with.. Shoulder damage is also caused by potentially sound exercises which are
ruined by distortions. ese include the very wide grip bench press and
overhead press, dip with the knuckles facing in, very wide grip dip, rock-
bottom dip, bench press too high on the chest or to the neck, any press that
uses an excessive range of motion (including the dumbbell bench press), and
the pulldown or pullup to the front but with a very wide grip.