[shemp]

I've always had healthy shoulders and my shoulder strength has always been good, so I may not be a good person for this (aside from being full of it, to begin with)-- because I think a lot of people take a bit of a risk with shoulder training. But a few thoughts:

I think the push-up is a great exercise for developing core and shoulder strength. I know it isn't actually developing strength-- but I think the endurance helps lay the ground work for the "shoulder girdle." And also, for you beauty contestants, folks who can do a lot of push-ups tend to have good shoulder development.

I also like overhead pressing.

I've never done the lateral raises, and I've always eyed them/variants with suspicion-- despite the success/prominence of them in BB programs.

As for frequency. I think you can do different push-up routines a few times a week, and go heavy overhead 1-1.5x a week.

It seems to me there is real genius in the simple programs popular on the net right now.