| Detail September 1, 2002
Stephanie Worsfold's Boulder Shoulders
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IFBB Pro Stephanie
Worsfold
(photo June 2002) |
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Name: Stephanie Worsfold
Age: 32
Height: 5’ 6"
Residence: London, Ontario, Canada
Competitive level: IFBB Pro
Stephanie Worsfold has seen a lot in her 10 years of
competing. She turned pro in 1997 at the Canadians. The same year she placed second at the
Jan Tana, which qualified her for the 1997 Fitness Olympia. The Ontario native says she is
just as optimistic about her future.
"This season so far has been a good one," she
says. "At the 2002 Toronto Pro Fitness, I placed fourth, winning both physique
rounds. Yaaa, I didn’t think that would ever happen!"
But over the past decade Stephanie has worked hard to
achieve the physique you see on the stage today. She attributes this to consistency, and
proper training and dieting. In this article, we explore the training component to
Steph’s progress.
"Shoulders have always been a challenge -- since they
don’t grow for me very easily. My back and chest seem to grow, but shoulders and
biceps were always my stubborn areas," she explains. "I always found without
shoulders, my arms looked stringy. I could train as heavy as possible and they still
wouldn’t grow!"
Looking at her now, you would never be able to tell. So
what is her secret? "I made my biggest progress in my shoulders in the last two years
when I started training them lighter and really focusing on them while training. People
would always ask me what I do for my traps and I said nothing -- they just grow!
I didn’t want big traps at all!" she says. "So what happened was I trained
shoulders so heavy that my traps would take over, and my traps would get the workout, not
my shoulders! Once I started training lighter, especially with seated side laterals, they
seemed to grow."
Stephanie has these tips for shoulder development:
- Start your workout with light lateral training and really
focus on your deltoids until failure.
- Save the heavy sets for shoulder presses.
- Try to change your exercises every workout to shock them.
- Throw in some drop-sets and super-sets (especially closer to
contest time!).
- When practicing your fitness routine, throw in some
handstand pushups against the wall.
- Don’t over diet. The last thing you want to do is diet
away all the muscle you have worked for.
Stephanie says she only trains shoulders once a week,
adding her shoulders also get a good workout during her routine practices. She takes a 1-2
minute rest in between sets and stretches her shoulders.
Here is a sample of her training program:
- Warm-up: 5-pound seated side laterals for 15-20 reps (then
really stretch out your deltoids!)
- Seated side laterals: 3 sets, 12 reps max
weight used - 7lbs, 10lbs, 10lbs
- Dumbbell press: 3 sets, 8 reps max
weight used - 35lbs, 40lbs, 45lbs
- Dumbbell rear laterals: 3 sets, 10 reps max
weight used - 10lbs, 12lbs, 15lbs
- Alternating dumbbell front raises: 3 sets to failure
weight used - 10lbs, 10lbs, 10lbs
Stephanie says this is her favorite basic shoulder routine,
but admits she often changes exercises to shock her body. There are certain areas she
keeps consistent. For example, she always starts with laterals because she gets a good
pump right away and it’s a good warm-up for heavy presses. After her laterals are
warm, she moves onto shoulder press, and instead of always using dumbbells, she alternates
them with machine press or barbell press. She also suggests adding super-sets or drop-sets
to some exercises.
"Remember not to get stuck on one workout. We tend to
do the exercises we like more often. Do exercises we don’t like too, since these are
usually the ones that will benefit us the most," she advises. "Also -- always
train to failure. Don’t let your mind fool you that you can’t do that extra rep
…YOU KNOW YOU CAN!"
Stephanie also has some other advice for competitors
plagued with difficult shoulders, "If you have problems building your shoulders, be
patient. Hard training and nutrition will pay off, it just takes time!"
...Denyse Johnson
denyse@seriousaboutfitness.com |
