Arm raises to the front, three times over. 14 arm raises to the front, 14 chest expansions, 14 arm raises to the front, 14 arm scissors, 14 arm raises to the front, 14 scissor chops - a circuit, 60 seconds rest, 3, 4 or 5 sets by level. The newest exercise in the program is the one this card repeats, and the three that fill the gaps all keep the arms in front or bring them across.
The front raise is the lift this program leaned on least until now: it appeared once on Day 16 and once on Day 22, and here it is 42 reps a set. Lifting a straight arm up in front to shoulder height loads the front of the shoulder directly - the same muscles that have carried every front hold and every front clenching minute, now working through movement instead of stillness. Chest expansions, arm scissors and scissor chops take the in-between slots, and none of them let the arms down: expansions cross the front, scissors hold the front, chops sweep across it. The card is the front of the shoulder, tested in six slots, start to finish.
In the front raise, arms straight and parallel, palms down, lifted to shoulder height and no higher, lowered under control without swinging; keep the torso still so the shoulders do the lifting rather than the lean. Expansions full, scissors small, chops crossing completely. By the third round of raises the arms will want to come up in a swing - that is the moment to slow down, not speed up.
Forty-two front raises a set - the front of the shoulder gets to lift what it has spent three weeks holding.
Make it Harder: Take the arm raises to the front all the way overhead - 14 lifts to full height, then the full distance back down.
Make it Easier: Lift the arms to 45 degrees in the arm raises to the front - half the arc, all 14 reps, all three rounds.
