IFBB Pro League Men’s Open Bodybuilders Brett Wilkins and Iain Vallière joined forces for some training sessions while Wilkin visited his trainer, Matt Jansen, at the Revive Gym in Stuart, FL. One of those sessions was shoulder and triceps training that Wilkin posted on his YouTube channel on February 26, 2022.
The training was particularly interesting because at the time of filming, Wilkin had been out of the game for less than three weeks. 2022 Arnold classic, taking place the weekend of March 4-5 in Columbus, OH. Valliere, on the other hand, is in the midst of his offseason. Therefore, he had not been on a diet, as Wilkin neared the end of his preparation for the contest in colon.
Below is a lift-by-lift breakdown of your joint session and a sample workout template that you can also follow:
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Smith machine shoulder press
Wilkin and Valliere started with a smith machine Shoulder press while sitting on a bench with a high incline position. Many bodybuilders use a high incline angle to maintain tension on the front delts while minimizing pressure on the spine.
The duo started with a 45-pound plate on each side, followed by two, then added 25 on each side after that. They had intended to settle for a superior set with three 45-pound plates and a single 25-pounder on each side (320 pounds total, plus Smith bar weight), but Wilkin beat them after four reps.
“Too light,” he exclaimed. They replaced the smaller chainring with another full-size 45-pound disc. With four of them on each side, Wilkin performed eight repetitions followed by two forced repetitions thanks to Jansen’s help. Valliere was able to do 10 reps on his count, plus two more assisted reps before moving back up in weight. both men performed a lighter set to failure as well as.
Cable Lateral Raise
The focus of the next two exercises would be on the lateral delts, which help maximize the appearance of torso width on stage. The weight used by Wilkin and Valliere was not specifically mentioned, but Wilkin hit 15 reps when he performed his first set to total failure. The next was the Tampa Pro 2021 and texas professional Winner: Valliere also reached his failure point at the 15-rep mark.
In the next set, they incorporated a ten second break-pause technique after reaching failure the first time to push toward a higher level of effort. They also added forced replays and partials at the end too.
“Great shoulders,” Wilkin told Valliere as he took his turn. Both men were willing to drop it all on the gym floor and put pressure on each other to do a few more reps each.
Side elevation of the machine
Wilkin and Valliere moved to a second side raise next move. Wilkin jokingly called it the “Butcher’s Side Lateral,” a reference to his nickname, describing it as his favorite way to target the lateral head of the deltoid. Wilkin used a signal to remind Valliere that use a full range of motion as well as keep you motivated to try harder.
“To the ground, to the walls. There you go,” Wilkin said as Valliere pushed the set. Counting forced reps, Valliere did 20 reps on that set. Both bodybuilders did four sets before moving on.
Incline Bench Cable Rear Lateral Raise
Wilkin said he has never done this version of the rear side raise before. Each athlete held on to the cables while he was lying face down on a low incline adjustable bench. They then spread the cables apart to simulate a constant-tension rear deltoid fly.
“Volume up, get as many as you can,” Wilkin said into the camera. They both worked in the 15-20 rep range. Both Wilkin and Valliere worked on a drop set and also some partial reps towards the end.
Triceps pushdowns and face pulls
The video does not clearly show whether Wilkin and Valliere were performing the next two exercises as a superset or whether they were alternating them with time between them. It is clear, however, that they finished the shoulder portion of the session with jerks in the faceanother rear deltoid exercise, while transitioning to triceps with the jostling.
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Despite being visibly exhausted, Wilkin and Valliere made it a priority to focus on executing each rep with good form. They were squeezing their triceps hard on the pushups, and kept their elbows high on the face pulls to keep focus on rear delts. A drop set was also added at this point in the workout.
3-way triceps extensions
The final exercise of the training was both a one-sided movement and one of Wilkin’s favorites. He explained that he performed a single-arm cable extension across the body for ten reps, then to the side of his head for ten more, followed by ten traditional push-ups at the end for a total of 30 reps. doing this group with both arms counted as one set.
As an additional form of support, Wilkin kept his non-working hand under the elbow of his working arm for stability.
“Perfect,” Valliere said of Wilkin in reference to his execution of the move. After three sets each, they finished the day.
Shoulder and triceps workout example from Brett Wilkin/Iain Valliere
- Smith machine shoulder press: 6 sets of 10-15 reps
- Cable Lateral Raise: 4 sets of 15-20 reps
- Side elevation of the machine: 3 sets of 15-20 reps
- Incline Flye Bench Cable Rear Delt.: 3 sets of 15-20 reps, 1 set down to failure
- triceps push superset face pull: 3 series each of 15-20 repetitions
- 3-way triceps extension: 3 sets of 30 total repetitions each.
*Use forced reps, partials, and/or drop sets to go beyond failure on at least one set of each movement.
The Arnold Classic
As of the date of publication of this article, Valliere has not decided which contest he will enter. He is currently unqualified for the 2022 Olympia, which will take place the weekend of December 16-18, 2022, in Las Vegas, NV. Wilkin will be one of nine athletes to face the judges at the 2022 Arnold Classic. If he wins, it would be his first professional win, it would make him the 20th unique Arnold Classic champion and it would also qualify him for the Olympia later this year.
Featured Image: @brett_wilkin on Instagram
