This part of my 8×8 program will give you shoulders like boulders. We’re keeping it honest with 56 total sets, 7 exercises, and 8 sets with 30 seconds of rest.

Ditch that boring, straight-bar overhead press in exchange for these shoulder-pumping, hypertrophic alternatives.

Mark Dugdale demonstrates how to perform an Over and Back Press

elitefts.com™ Founder and CEO Dave Tate performs cage presses with the elitefts™ Swiss Press Bar and Fat Gripz™.

Set of upright rows with rope handle attached to a kettlebell. First half of the set with overhand grip and second with underhand grip

Mountain Dog Diet and Training Founder John Meadows preforming side raises with Elitefts™ chains.

Some people use ropes for conditioning, we use them to get a delt pump. And also for conditioning. But only after we’ve gotten a delt pump.

Alternating front delt raises with thick ropes will tire you out pretty quickly.

Notice how big JL is and how small those dumbbells are.

A John Meadows staple.

Wider is better.

The Swiss Bar military press is a great exercise to improve the strength of your shoulders and triceps.

Video demonstration of stripping the rack with the seated press.

The MINX Dumbbell Push Press

Loosen up your shoulder girdle.

One good tip is to try and keep your chin down. This will keep you from pulling into the start of a chin.

These are a great way to add some stretching with slight loading to your program, or, you can add these to a long complex of Grappler movements using the bar or very light weights.

I don’t think I have to write much about this exercise.

This exercise is one that you do after you hit a huge PR on a board press or something similar and just don’t care what you do.

Stay bent over and raise the dumbbells out and to the side.

The seated DB military is a great way to develop overall shoulder strength.

This exercise can be used as a warm-up or as a progression to the standing version utilizing a barbell or various odd objects.

Just don’t do the New Jersey Roll.

The difference is where the weight is distributed.

This movement is performed the same way you would a standard dumbbell front raise except you will be using Kettle bells.

These are an added variation to military pressing with kettlebells.

Setup in a T-bar and perform protractions and retractions with head in neutral

Loop one or two bands to the bottom of a power rack.

Loop one or two bands to the bottom of a power rack.

Be sure to keep your elbow at your side.

This is a great exercise for strengthening the rotator cuff.

This is best done before a training session or after.

The average time per set will be close to 2-4 minutes per arm.

Hook the hand around your wrist so you are NOT holding it with your hands.

This process will take between 2-4 minutes per arm.

To do this lay face down on a bench at a slight angle from the cable machine.

Perform front laterals on various degrees of an incline bench.

Broom Stick

These two movements have saved my shoulders too many times to count.

Backwards hat is worn for style, not because he is trying to hide his wrap-around.

Hey! We found a great use for the Magnum Curl Machine.

This is another good way to pump some blood into sore shoulders.

This is certainly not a standby in my workouts, but my one buddy always finds a way to turn an odd object tool into a bodybuilding tool.

Yoke development, pinch and support grip strength.

The front raise is not often used by lifters because of all of the attention to the front of the delts from all of the heavy pressing.

This is a great exercise to develop your upper back.

When you train in a gym with very limited equipment you come up with interesting ways to train different muscles.

The name of this is as exhausting as watching someone do it.

This is a very challenging exercise but a tremendous way to develop your upper back.

This exercise is certainly different; no barbell, dumbbell, kettlebell.

This is another Yoke variation on the standard upright row.

I was first introduced to the upright row when I was in high school.

To set up for standing “strip the rack” close grip shoulder presses, you set the J-hook in the power rack at chin level.

This exercise is very challenging on your grip and hands.

Pick it up and shrug it, there you go.

Depending on who you talk to the military press is either part-God or all-Devil.

This exercise targets the anterior delts.

Pretty simple. Stand between the two bars.