Bodybuilder Chris Bumstead's Offseason Shoulder Workout

Classic Physique star Chris Bumstead is gearing up for the 2022 Olympia. Coming off the back of a 2021 victory, he will look forward to retaining his crown. Bumstead has been hard at work prepping for the upcoming competitions even during the off-season. Having achieved an outstanding physique since first stepping into the limelight, Chris Bumstead has raised the bar with every passing year.

Bumstead is quite present online as well. He puts just as much work into growing his fan base and interacting with his community, as he does in the gym, building his enviable physique. Chris has shared several workouts and food vlogs in the past, each documenting everything he does in fine detail. Recently, he shared his off-season shoulder workout with his fans. In this piece, we'll take a look at how he trains his shoulders for mass and strength.

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Chris Bumstead's Off-Season Shoulder Workout Routine

Before we get into the workout routine, here are some tips from the man himself:

• I warm up my shoulders and rotator cuffs using resistance bands before I start my workout.
• The Smith Machine is a great tool for shoulder workouts. You can use it to perform behind-the-neck presses and upright rows.
• On theSmith Machine upright rows, pull the bar in toward your body as you pull up. This allows for more constant contraction in the shoulders as you pull the bar up smoothly. If you don’t have a Smith Machine available, swap this move for a cable rope upright row.
• To keep the concentration on the back of your shoulder while performing, single-arm cable rear-delt flyes, make sure you set the cable to shoulder height and keep your elbow still and at the same angle throughout the movement.
• I like to perform tricep extensions as a tri-set, switching from standard rope pushdowns, to cable overhead extensions, and back to a rope pushdowns to failure.

Here is a list of exercises Chris Bumstead does on a shoulder day:

1. Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press
2. Behind-The-Neck-Press
3. Cable Rear-Delt Flyes
4. Dumbbell Lateral Raise
5. Smith Machine Upright Row
6. Face Pulls
7. EZ-Bar Skull Crushers
8. Rope Pushdowns
9. Dips

As is evident from the aforementioned exercises, Chris gives a lot of attention to his shoulders and has spread the exercises out just enough to cover all the major regions. He gets his compound lifts in the form of seated press. From there on, the focus is on isloating the individual heads of the shoulders, like the rear delts, lateral delts, and front delts. There is even some focus on the triceps, which are often engaged in shoulder exercises, but clearly benefit from the added isolation. For the first exercise, Chris Bumstead performs 3 sets, and does 4–5 for the remaining exercises, except the penultimate one, of which he only does a single set.

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Conclusion

Chris Bumstead extensively trains his shoulders, and it is apparent from his exercises. He opts for a high-volume approach to training, and gives equal attention to both compound and isolation lifts. It is worth noting that he only trains shoulders once a week, contrary to the popular belief that you need to hit each muscle group at least twice a week to see tangible results.