Derek Lunsford has been in the limelight ever since winning his first 212 Olympia title at the 2021 Mr. Olympia. Currently, in a long off-season, Lunsford is leaving no stoned unturned in prep to successfully defend his throne at the 2022 Mr. Olympia, scheduled for Dec. 15-18 in Las Vegas, NV.
On June 9, 2022, Derek Lunsford took to his YouTube channel to share his most recent shoulder workout with his fans.
Derek Lunsford Crushes a Shoulder Workout
The video opens in Ben Pakulski’s MI40 gym’s locker area where Lunsford reveals that he is sore from his previous leg workout. However, he didn’t let that affect his shoulder workout, as you’ll find out soon.
Lunsford’s Complete Off-Season Shoulder Workout Routine:
Here is a summary of the reigning 212 Olympia champ’s shoulder training routine:
- Machine Side Lateral Raise
- Seated Dumbbell Overhead Press
- Dumbbell Front Raise (FST7): 6 x 10-12 reps
- Reverse Pec Deck Fly: 4 sets
- Smith Machine Upright Row
- Smith Machine Shrug
Machine Side Lateral Raise
The 29-year-old bodybuilder started his shoulder training session with the machine side lateral raise. He performed a few warm-up sets before getting to the working sets. “Do a couple of working sets here on this exercise for the medial delts,” added Lunsford.
Before hitting his last set, Lunsford took off his jacket and spent some time posing in a stringer. Although the 212 champ didn’t mention it, he presumably used a combination of a drop set and rest-pause technique for his final set.
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“That’s how a warm-up should feel.”
Seated Dumbbell Overhead Press
Lunsford performs the first set with a pair of 30-kilogram (66-pound) dumbbells and progresses to 40 kilograms (88 pounds) for the second and third sets. He keeps his reps slow and controlled throughout the exercise.
Dumbbell Front Raise (FST7)
Since Lunsford works with renowned coach Hany Rambod, he uses Rambod’s FST7 training protocol on the front dumbbell raise.
Lunsford did six sets of front raises for this workout and took a 30 to 40-second rest between sets. He used a neutral (palms facing each other) grip for the first three sets. However, he switched to a pronated (palms facing down) grip for the final three sets. Per the 212 Olympia champ’s stopwatch, the exercise took about six minutes to complete.
Reverse Pec Deck Fly
After wrapping up the FST7 sets, Lunsford moved on to the reverse pec deck fly to train his rear deltoids. The star bodybuilder used the same hand positioning for this exercise as the FST7 dumbbell front raise. He used a neutral grip for the first couple of sets before switching to the overhand grip for the last couple of sets.
“Both times, I’m thinking about pushing my hands away, and I’m not pulling back.”
Smith Machine Upright Row
The reigning 212 Olympia champ performs Smith machine upright rows as the fifth exercise for the day. He sticks to using one 45-pound plate on each side for the entirety of the exercise.
Smith Machine Shrug
Lunsford wraps up his shoulder workout with shrugs on the Smith machine. “That’s it for shoulder for today,” adds the bodybuilder.
“We could have done a few other exercises like face pulls or different variations of presses, raises, and other machines but today’s was a solid workout. We hit every angle, we improved, and yeah, another good day in the books.”
You can check out the workout video below, courtesy of Lunsford’s YouTube channel:
Next Read: Bodybuilder Derek Lunsford Shares Full Day of Eating in Off-Season
Looking Forward
The 212 champ last stepped on stage at the 2022 Pittsburgh Pro, where he was asked to fill in for the MIA reigning Mr. Olympia champ Big Ramy. Lunsford impressed bodybuilding fans with his size as he gave the Men’s Open division bodybuilders Nick Walker, Hunter Walker, and 2019 Mr. Olympia winner Brandon Curry a run for their money.
Derek Lunsford has been flirting with the idea of moving to the Men’s Open division. However, per speculations, he plans to do so after successfully defending his title at the 2022 Mr. Olympia.
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