CAN YOU TRAIN YOUR CHEST AND SHOULDERS TOGETHER?
We have to recognize that both chest movements and shoulder movements affect the shoulder joint, so depending on your program and training philosophy, this can be a good thing or a bad thing. Once we recognize that, then we can make the best decisions to maximize your training and minimize your risk of injury to the shoulder joint. Let me go over when you can train these muscle groups together and when it’s not a good idea.
Speaking of chest and shoulders, this is going to involve a lot of pressing movements, and one of the best tools you can use for pressing movements is a good set of wrist wraps. If you need some wrist wraps, I have some good ones on my website here.
The first thing that we have to consider is the structure of the workout split. You have to figure out how often you are directly and indirectly training muscle groups. For example, if you train shoulders with chest and then train shoulders on another day of the week then we have to factor in the recovery time of the shoulder joint. Too much shoulder work in one workout, and too much shoulder work per week, will have an effect on shoulder recovery and make your program a success or failure. Intelligently designed workout programs are the first step towards success with any type of exercise. You also have to consider if you are training for strength (like powerlifting) or if you are training for muscle (like bodybuilding). If you are using very heavy weight on a lot of pressing movements (powerlifting) then the shoulder joint will need more time for recovery. If you are doing a lot of machine work with lighter weight (bodybuilding) then you can get away with less rest and recovery of the shoulder joint. Make no mistake though, the shoulder is a joint that is easily injured from both regular use and overuse…so pay attention to how your shoulders are feeling in any program and implement recovery tactics as needed to maintain your shoulder health.
If you aren’t powerlifting or bodybuilding specifically…then you might be interested in my power bodybuilding eBook here.
If you’re training chest and shoulders once per week then you can usually handle a little extra workload on that day. This is because you have the rest of the week to allow the shoulder joint to heal and recover from that intense training session. However, if you train chest and shoulders on one day, and shoulders separately on another, then you may not have enough recovery time in between sessions and you’re likely to injure your shoulders with time. The key here is knowing how much workload your shoulders can handle and then making sure that you provide enough time to recover from each session.
What is the best way to train chest and shoulders together?
For most people, simply doing variations of lateral raises for shoulders on chest day is enough to stimulate the shoulders to grow as you primarily focus on the chest. The heavy chest pressing movements will stimulate the anterior and medial delts, so you really only need some quick pump work for the delts to finish them on your chest day and stimulate further growth.
What should I avoid doing if I combine chest and shoulders together?
I like to avoid doing heavy shoulder presses on days that I also do heavy chest pressing exercises. This can create too much strain on the shoulder joint and affect recovery times while increasing chance of injury. It’s kind of common sense that the more you use a heavier weight on a joint that the more recovery that joint will need to remain healthy. You really only want to do one or the other, so machine and pump work with chest on heavy shoulder pressing days…or machine or pump work with the shoulders on heavy bench pressing days. I also like to avoid upright rows on chest pressing days as the shoulder gets fatigued and upright rows create a risk of impingement and further damage to your shoulder joint as well.
Should I train chest and shoulders separately?
This really depends on your goal. If you want to add more size to your delts, then adding lateral raises on chest day is a good idea. You can also have a shoulder focused day without chest where you work on the traps, upper back, and overhead pressing movements. If you’re focused on building bigger shoulders then doing lateral raises on chest day and shoulder shrugging and pressing movements on a separate shoulder day would be a good idea. There is also nothing wrong with completely separating your chest and shoulder work, just make sure to give 1-2 rest days between your chest and shoulder days to allow for the best recovery.
Main Points:
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Don’t combine chest pressing and shoulder pressing movements on the same day unless you have a good workout split that is designed to accommodate that extra workload.
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Avoid upright rows on heavy chest pressing days.
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If anything, simply combine lateral raise variations to your chest day to safely stimulate more deltoid growth.
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There is nothing wrong with completely separating your chest and shoulder days. There is also nothing wrong with doing lateral raises on chest day and having a shoulder only day as long as you allow for enough recovery in between workouts.
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Remember…chest pressing and shoulder pressing are both hard on the shoulder joint, so we want to make sure we are following a good program that allows for enough recovery of the shoulder joint from each day.
How will you incorporate this information? If you’re not sure where to start then try separating your chest and shoulder days. Perform your heavy shoulder work on shoulder day and simply add some lateral raises on your chest day. Keep building your chest and add some roundness to your delts in the process!
