Superhero physiques aren’t born in an instant twist of fate. They are studiously constructed via intensive effort, rep by rep, over months, years, even decades, without a deus ex machina transformational moment to immediately turn the clock forward. Juan Morel has been hard at work at Bev Francis’ Powerhouse Gym in Syosset, Long Island, sketching out a new and even more imposing physique.
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LATERAL ENGAGEMENT
The workout commences with what will be a theme throughout: supersets. This time lateral raises are paired with bentover laterals. Morel selects a pair of 20 pounders that he’ll use during the four sets, and does 10 reps per exercise, with 30–40 seconds’ rest between each superset. “I’m not doing these to break down any muscle, it’s all about warming up and bringing blood into the area,” he explains.
With a sweat officially broken, Morel is on to the Smith machine for seated military presses. Sliding a short-back bench into position—so that the bar will just barely clear his nose on its descent—he slips a 45-pound plate and a 25-pound plate on to each side. Diesel sits, places his hands just outside shoulder width on the bar, then hoists it so that he can twist to clear the safeties from the supports.
After a controlled descent of a little less than three seconds to a point where the bar makes contact with his upper chest, he contracts his delts and triceps forcefully, resulting in an explosive positive contraction to propel the weight to the overhead position. At the top, he stops just before elbow lockout to protect that joint from overextension, continuing with machinelike efficiency to complete the set.
MOREL MAINTAINS STRICT FORM AND FOCUSES ON HIS SHOULDER MUSCLES IN LIEU OF USING HEAVY WEIGHTS. EACH DELTOID HEAD RECEIVES INDIVIDUAL ATTENTION TO ENSURE BALANCED DEVELOPMENT WHEN VIEWED FROM THE FRONT, SIDE, AND REAR. AS THE OLD SAYING GOES, “A BODYBUILDER CAN NEVER BE WIDE ENOUGH.” OBVIOUSLY, MOREL AGREES.
PRESSING THE ACTION
“I used to do the barbell military press, but I noticed I was getting little nagging pains from it,” Morel explains. “When you’re just starting to build your foundation, I think you should stick to free weights, because they require more control and [engage] more muscle groups, but as you get more advanced, you learn how to squeeze more growth out of the Smith.”
Morel does four sets total, pyramiding up each set without backing down on his 15-rep scheme, with three plates a side by the fourth go-round. After that, the New York City native does something rather uncommon—he sticks with the Smith, this time for four sets of 15 reps of seated presses to the rear, again pyramiding up to two plates per side.
“The front focuses more on the front delt, while the back hits the middle delt,” he says. “A lot of people hate doing the back version because they assume it causes shoulder problems, but if you’re doing them in a Smith I think you’re fine.”
THE MIGHTY HAMMER
Following his presses, Morel moves on to a superset of Hammer Strength machine seated lateral raises and reverse pec-deck flyes. For the first, he slides three quarters on to each side and lowers his 5'11", 292-pound frame into the seat. The motion here is smooth, with a steady three-second cadence up and down, again aiming for 15 reps per set.
Once finished with the last rep, he heads directly to the nearby reverse pec-deck station, which he quickly adjusts for his frame, sliding the pin under the faded “100” on the weight stack before sitting and reaching out to grasp the handles, palms in a hammer grip.
His elbows nearly straight, his lower back arched, his chest pressed into the front pad, Morel’s rhythm is deliberate. His elbows remain elevated at shoulder level, and he’s careful not to lean back to generate momentum.
“I do four sets and usually stick with one weight instead of pyramiding,” he says. “I’m not really paying attention to getting to failure. I’m just concentrating on good form.”
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AVENGER, ASSEMBLED
As the East Coast mecca, Bev’s boasts an array of hard-to-find equipment, and one of those unique pieces is a standing lateral raise machine, nestled in the far left corner of the shoulder training area. As part of his final superset, Morel pairs that with the Hammer Strength seated shoulder press, doing four sets of presses and laterals for 15 reps apiece. It is here that he reaches failure during presses, sticking with two plates per side for each set and typically failing before 15 on the last one.
With the plates racked and the session in the books, Morel stops to answer one more question before he heads off for a post-workout meal (in the off-season, it’s usually a stop at Five Guys). Why so many supersets?
“I’ve been doing that in all my workouts since 2013, and I think I’ve seen my best gains in that time,” he says. “They give me a good pump, and I feel that the muscles are better primed to grow when you deliver a lot of blood. The more nutrients I can drive into the muscle, the more stimulation they get.”
