Jenna's Shoulder Day: A Complete Workout + Abs Finisher

By Jon Klipstein, U.S. Army Combat Veteran & Founder of Die Tryin Co., and Jenna Fiscus, Die Tryin Co. Athlete & Coach

Protocol verified by Jenna Fiscus — the workout demonstrated in the video is her actual shoulder & abs day routine.

Science reviewed by Onur Oncer, BS Physiology (Phi Beta Kappa) and peer-reviewed published researcher.

SHOULDERS FOR SHAPE — AND THE V-TAPER ABOVE THE WAIST

Most women under-train shoulders. They’ll do a token lateral raise after biceps, call it shoulder work, and move on. The shoulders stay flat, the upper body stays narrow, and the V-taper they want never quite comes together.

Jenna trains hers the way she trains back — hard, with multiple angles, and with a deliberate finishing burnout. Build the shoulders up top and the waist reads smaller by contrast. Same illusion her back day works on, applied to a different muscle group.

Here’s the protocol, the rotator-cuff warmup she uses to stay injury-free, and the abs finisher she runs at the end.

WATCH JENNA RUN HER SHOULDER & ABS DAY

This video was filmed during our brand transition. UXO Supplements is now Die Tryin Co. — same crew, new name.

What Jenna says in the video (transcript)

“What’s up guys — today I’m gonna walk you through a shoulder workout. We’re gonna finish with some abs again, just like last week when we did our back workout. Shoulders are super important to adding shape to your body — they’re gonna help you get more broader up top, again making it look like you have a smaller waist.

To warm up, I always go through the bands like this and just sort of activate your rotator cuffs. I’ve had a lot of injuries doing heavy lifting, so we’re just gonna warm up. I usually do about 15 to 20. You should be activating your rear delts. Pull the opposite way.

Okay, first exercise — we’re going to do some upright rows. We’re gonna actually grab them like this so that we can hit our rear delt and pull up. Should hit both the top of your shoulders and in the back — right here in your rear.

Okay, this one’s gonna be a little different. We have this trap-grip handle here, so we’re going to do some shoulder presses. I’m gonna grip it on the inside and then pop it like you’re going to do a front squat — hold and push up. This one’s really gonna target the front of your shoulders right here. It’s gonna help round out our shoulders.

We’re gonna do some lateral raises supersetted with rear delts. So this one, we like a staggered stance to provide more support. The target is the lateral — lower down slow. I only have ten pounds so I can really control the movement.

We’re gonna raise this to about shoulder height. Same thing with this one — we’re gonna stagger our stance, using my left arm right leg in front so we can open up the rear delt. Begin slow and controlled, really hitting the back of our shoulders.

Burnout time. I’m going to do three different exercises — rotate through all of them, tri-sets. First one’s gonna be front raises on these cables. Front raise up, keep your arms straight. Fifteen of these. Grab some dumbbells, go straight into 15 lateral raises to the side, slow down on the way. Then we’re going to come over here — this grip is awesome. Again we’re going to hit our rear delts. No different than a traditional lat pulldown — we’re going to try to hit just the rear delts of our shoulders. Keep our elbows high. 15-15-15, we’re gonna roll through.

All right, we’re gonna finish up with some abs — everyone’s favorite, planks. I like doing planks for abs on shoulder days because it kind of burns out your shoulders at the end as well. We’re gonna do different plank variations. The first one is going to be starting in a high plank — make sure in your plank that your hips are tucked under. A lot of people plank like this or even like this — whatever, you want to tuck your hips under and almost pull your shoulders so you get a tight C.

We’re gonna do eight tucks in a high plank, then switch down to our elbows and do eight. We’re gonna roll through that four times. Then we’re gonna hold here and we’re gonna do 20 spider-mans. Twenty of those, switch to the side, hands on hips, 20 raises. Flip to the other side, 20 on this. Roll through that whole thing, rest, then roll through it all again.

Okay — some hurt, some sweat. I’m sweating. Definitely try this out. Hope you guys liked this video, shoulders and abs — try it out, let me know how you guys like it. Stay tuned for next week’s video. Like, subscribe to my channel. Have a great week.”

“ACTIVATE YOUR ROTATOR CUFFS FIRST” — THE INJURY-PREVENTION WARMUP

Jenna opens with band rotator cuff work for a specific reason — she says it directly: “I’ve had a lot of injuries doing heavy lifting.” The rotator cuff warmup isn’t optional for her. It’s how she trains shoulders hard without breaking down.

The principle: the rotator cuff is a group of four small stabilizer muscles deep in the shoulder. They’re weaker than the deltoids and trap, and they fatigue fast. If you load heavy shoulder presses, lateral raises, or overhead work without waking up the rotator cuff first, the bigger muscles compensate — and over time, the cuff gets impinged or torn.

The warmup is simple: light band external rotations, 15-20 reps per arm. Then internal rotations the opposite direction. Total time — 3-4 minutes. The reward is shoulders that hold up under volume for years.

EXERCISE 1: UPRIGHT ROWS — GRIP CHANGE FOR REAR DELT BIAS

Standard upright rows hit the upper traps and front delts. Jenna’s grip variation — she says “grab them like this so we can hit our rear delt” — shifts the bias backward. The exact grip is shown in the video; the principle is wider hand placement and pulling the elbows higher and out, not straight up.

The result: load on the top of the shoulder AND the rear, instead of just the top and front. That coverage matters because most lifters under-train rear delts, which leaves the back of the shoulder undeveloped and the overall shoulder looking incomplete from the side.

EXERCISE 2: TRAP-GRIP SHOULDER PRESS

Jenna uses a trap-grip handle (the diamond/triangle grip) and presses overhead with a unique cue: “pop it like you’re going to do a front squat — hold and push up.” The front-squat hold position puts the elbows forward and the hands close together — which biases the load to the anterior (front) delt.

The principle: every shoulder day needs front-delt work. Front delts give the shoulder its rounded, capped look from the front. The trap-grip handle forces a clean front-delt isolation that standard barbell or dumbbell presses spread across all three heads.

If you don’t have a trap-grip handle, plate front raises hit a similar pattern — we covered the technique in Chet’s plate front raise tip.

EXERCISE 3: STAGGERED-STANCE LATERAL + REAR DELT SUPERSET

Jenna runs lateral raises and rear delt flyes back-to-back with one specific cue: “a staggered stance to provide more support.” Standard parallel-foot lateral raises are fine, but a staggered stance (one foot forward) anchors the body so it can’t sway — which forces the shoulder to do the lifting instead of momentum.

She also uses light weight: “I only have ten pounds so I can really control the movement.” This is the right call — lateral raises are about feel and isolation, not load. Most lifters use way too much weight on lateral raises and miss the point. For the medial delt specifically, the pinky-up grip variation is another simple cue that biases the work to the side of the shoulder.

The rear delt superset half uses the opposite-arm-opposite-leg stagger to open up the rear-delt position. Slow controlled tempo, hitting the back of the shoulder.

THE 15-15-15 BURNOUT TRI-SET

This is where the session escalates. Jenna runs three exercises back-to-back-to-back at 15 reps each, rotating through with minimal rest:

1. Cable front raises (15 reps). Arms straight, controlled. Hits the front delt again from a different angle than the trap-grip press.

2. Dumbbell lateral raises (15 reps). Slow down on the eccentric. Medial delt.

3. Rear delt cable pulldowns (15 reps). Jenna’s cue: “no different than a traditional lat pulldown — we’re going to try to hit just our rear delts. Keep our elbows high.” Elbows high is the cue that turns a back exercise into a rear-delt exercise.

15-15-15 back-to-back, all three heads of the shoulder cooked. The hypertrophy research is clear that mechanical tension + metabolic stress are both drivers of muscle growth. The tri-set finisher hits both — full ROM tension on each move + the metabolic accumulation of 45 reps with no rest.

THE PLANK CIRCUIT — ABS FINISHER (THAT ALSO HITS SHOULDERS AGAIN)

Jenna closes with planks for a specific reason: “I like doing planks for abs on shoulder days because it kind of burns out your shoulders at the end as well.” Smart programming — the plank circuit fatigues the abs AND adds extra time-under-tension on the already-cooked shoulders.

Her plank cue is critical: “Make sure your hips are tucked under. Tuck your hips under and almost pull your shoulders so you get a tight C.” Most lifters plank with sagging hips or sky-high butts — both reduce ab activation and dump load onto the lower back.

The protocol:

Round 1: 8 hip tucks in high plank, switch to elbow plank, 8 more tucks. Repeat 4 times.

Round 2: Hold elbow plank, 20 spider-mans (knee to elbow on each side). Flip to side plank, 20 hip raises. Flip to other side, 20 hip raises.

Rest, then run the whole thing again.

Burnout planks + multiple variations = full midsection work plus the shoulder-finisher Jenna mentioned.

HOW TO STRUCTURE YOUR WEEK

This shoulder & abs session is part of a full-week split. Jenna trains every muscle group at least twice a week to drive growth.

The natural week structure:

Lower body x2: One heavy day, one volume/glute day. Run Jenna’s leg & glute day as the volume session.

Upper body x2: One back-focused, one shoulder-focused. Jenna’s back day (her video references that as “last week’s workout”) + this shoulder & abs day form the upper-body pair.

Slot a fifth session for arms or whichever muscle group is lagging. Fits cleanly into a push/pull/legs or upper/lower split.

WHAT JENNA STACKS WITH SHOULDER & ABS DAY

Training is the trigger. Recovery, nutrition, and the right stack are what lock in the adaptation. Jenna runs a tight, no-fluff stack across daily health, training, and recovery — the same stack she’s used to build the shoulders you see in the video.

Daily Health

Daily Essentials — premium chelated multivitamin with a gut-health stack (probiotics, enzymes, prebiotic) built in. The base layer for nutrient sufficiency.

Ghillie Greens — real-ingredient greens powder with KSM-66 ashwagandha and AstraGin. Daily micronutrient coverage from food-derived sources for lifters who don’t eat enough vegetables.

Training Support

SEND IT 3.0 — daily-driver pre-workout with clinical doses, Alpha-GPC for focus, PeptiPump for blood flow, zumXR extended-release caffeine. The pre Jenna runs before her shoulder day.

Glutamine — 5g L-Glutamine standalone for gut integrity and recovery support during heavy training blocks.

Creatine Monohydrate — 5g micronized monohydrate. The most-researched performance supplement in sports nutrition. Strength, training volume, recovery between sets — creatine touches all of it.

Post-Workout

Post Iso — 24g of fast-absorbing whey isolate with DigeZyme enzymes. The recovery shake Jenna hits after every training session.

Not sure where to start? Take the quiz — we’ll match your training and goals to the right stack in under a minute. The full programming framework lives in the Muscle Building pillar.

FAQ

How important is the rotator cuff warmup, really?

Critical if you train shoulders heavy. Jenna mentions her own injury history in the video — rotator cuff issues are one of the most common shoulder problems in lifters who skip the activation work. 3-4 minutes of band external/internal rotations before shoulder day is cheap insurance for years of training.

Do I need a trap-grip handle for the shoulder press?

No — substitutes work. A close-grip neutral-grip dumbbell press hits a similar pattern (palms facing each other, dumbbells close). Plate front raises also bias the front delt similarly — covered in the plate front raise tip.

Why ten pounds on the lateral raises? Isn’t that too light?

For most lifters, no. Lateral raises are about feel and isolation, not maximum load. Light weight with slow controlled tempo and a deliberate squeeze hits the medial delt harder than heavy weight with momentum-driven reps. Jenna calls this out directly in the transcript.

Why a staggered stance on the lateral raises?

It anchors the body so you can’t sway. Standard parallel-foot stance lets lifters use body momentum to swing the dumbbells up — which moves the load off the shoulder and onto the traps and lower back. Staggered stance forces the shoulder to do the work.

Why planks instead of crunches for abs?

Planks are an anti-extension exercise — the core works isometrically to keep the body straight against gravity. Crunches are flexion. Both build abs, but planks cover the anti-rotation/anti-extension function the spine actually needs for lifting. Plus, as Jenna notes, planks also keep the shoulders engaged — bonus finisher.

Should I take pre-workout before shoulder day?

Yes, especially if you’re running the full burnout tri-set + plank circuit at the end. SEND IT 3.0 gives you the focus and pump to push through the back half of the session when fatigue is high.

What does the BODYSHOP coupon code apply to?

10% off sitewide on dietryin.co — works on any of Jenna’s stack picks above, any other DTC product, or your full cart.

Where can I follow Jenna?

Instagram: @jennajo_. Coaching, meal plans, and nutrition guides at jennasbodyshop.com.

READY TO GEAR UP?

Watch the video. Warm up the rotator cuff first. Run Jenna’s protocol — grip variation on upright rows, trap-grip front delt press, staggered-stance laterals, the 15-15-15 burnout, plank finisher. Two upper-body days a week, with this shoulder day paired with Jenna’s back day.

Need the stack to back it up? Use code BODYSHOP for 10% off, or take the quiz if you want a personalized stack built around your goals.

ALWAYS FORWARD.