Cedric McMillan’s Shoulder Workout Routine: Focus On Form Over Weight



In the ‘social media age’ where we see bodybuilders lifting crazy weights, Cedric McMillan is keeping it real. 
Let’s face it, social media has become more of a revenue stream for bodybuilders and athletes. This was evident when Calum Von Moger tore his bicep while attempting a 2-man 405lbs bicep curl – but it got the likes & shares…
Don’t get us wrong, it’s f*cking awesome to see Eddie Hall and powerlifters breaking records. But we appreciate when bodybuilders keep it real and inform their fans about the importance of form over weight.
One bro who’s done this recently is Cedric McMillan; you can see in his workout video that he uses what many might consider ‘light weights’, but he’s clearly getting incredible results from it.

Advocates Time Under Tension & Form Over Weights

It’s always interesting to see how bodybuilders train in the gym. Everyone has their own different workouts and training methods, so it’s interesting to compare them.
Ronnie Coleman was probably the guy who inspired many bro’s to lift ‘heavy ass weights’. So it’s interesting that another big motherf*cker like Cedric McMillan takes a completely different approach and is still developing a huge physique.
Speaking on his video, Cedric said:
“I’ve always wanted to do try to make some type of workout videos, to let you guys understand more about me and who I am. How I do some of the things I do. 
“I thought about it and maybe there’s guys out there that have the same style as me.
“For the people who like the hardcore workouts, they can watch the hardcore workouts. But maybe there’s a whole bunch of people that are just like me that would find what I find interesting for them as well. That’s basically what I wanted to try and do it for.” 

He Doesn’t Count His Reps Most Of The Time

One interesting thing about Cedric, is that he hardly ever counts the number of reps he performs. He constantly pushes himself to the edge, and feels he develops more when he simply listens to his body instead of relying on numbers to determine when he’s ‘done’.
Here’s what he said:
“I never count on purpose. There will be sometimes when I count the number of reps to make sure I’m progressing. 
“But what I found to be more productive when I put this weight on, is put in maximum effort. If you got 5 reps last week and you aim for 6 this week, maybe you’re limiting yourself; at 6, maybe you could have done 8, or maybe you pushed yourself too far by going for 6. 
“So I just go for whatever my body feels like it can do when I push, until I feel like I can’t do it anymore properly or with the right amount of control.” 

Cedric’s Shoulder Workout

Shoulder Press

The first exercise on Cedric’s shoulder workout is a shoulder press. He starts off with 1 plate on on each side, but adds some more weight after his warm-up set.
You can see that Cedric places a huge emphasis on time under tension and form. He takes a long time to bring the weight down, focusing on the negative movements.
“Usually I will always start my shoulder workout with some pressing movement. At the other gyms I have a hammer strength shoulder press, but here I’m using a smith machine. 
“Sometimes I might do behind the back, but today we did on the front.
“I started out with a warm-up set. I usually make my warm-up set where I stretch the muscles and get a full range of motion. I believe a lot of times people get injured when the muscles are cold or if you have a lack of flexibility.”

Cable Lateral Raise

He then moves onto a cable lateral raise. Again, you can see that he’s not pulling as much weight as possible, instead focusing on the movements and pushing himself to his limits.
“I needed to do some kind of side raise, of course you can do it with a dumbbell, but today I chose to go with the cable. It’s something I hadn’t done in a while. 
“You can do those a couple of different ways, but I like to do it that old-school way and lean away from the machine, holding on and extending your body out. You got a little bit less gravity assistance when your body is leaning out, so you get more of a range of motion.” 

Bent Over Lateral Raise

Another light-weight focused exercise, this bent over lateral raise will be something many people incorporate into their workouts.
But instead of leaning over, Cedric uses a bench to lean, aiming to isolate his rear delts further.
“When I bend over, I can feel a lot of work on my lower back to hold me up, so by using a bench, I’m able to relax my back and work nothing but the rear delts. 
“The challenge for me on this one is trying not to use my traps and keeping all the control all the control in my rear delts.”

Forward Shoulder Press

This is an exercise that we haven’t seen much of before. But it doesn’t look easy, with Cedric using 15lb dumbbells throughout this exercise.
“This exercise is a forward shoulder press and it’s for your front delts. So if I see y’all doing this on Instagram, make sure that you call it the right thing.
 “I don’t even count the reps on this, I make sure the weight is moderate to light, making sure that I can control all my repetitions. There’s no swinging in the weight, no using momentum, nothing, just 100% control. 
“I would rather take a break for a few seconds and do another good rep, then do some sh*tty reps. So that’s what I do, making sure every rep looks good.”

Post Workout Stretching

Many average gym-goers will often forget to stretch off or ‘cool down’ after their workouts. So it’s good to see Cedric educating his fans about the importance of a post workout stretch.
“After training, sometime during the day, whether it’s in the morning or at night, I stretch for about an hour.
“About 5 years ago I started developing knee pain and I couldn’t figure out where this knee pain was coming from. I went and tried to get treatment for it and nothing could fix it. 
“My deep tissue massage lady told me that it could be a lack of flexibility, cos’ all of these muscles are pulling in different directions and putting strain on my knee. So I started stretching everyday. 
“It got to a point where stretching became meditation for me. Dealing with anxiety, you find different ways to manage the stress, so when I come and stretch, I work on breathing, relaxing my mind and body, taking in oxygen and making it circulate.”

Source : spotmebro.com

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