When working on strengthening your shoulders, or anything for that matter, you will need to understand reasoning behind the weakness. I have put together an article on mechanics of shoulder and possible reason for shoulder issues and exercises to improve the joint mobility.
Along with those two article, this article will help strengthening those shoulders.
Let's start.
Shoulder dislocation
Shoulder dislocation exercise is a mobility work but great way to start your shoulder strengthening exercise. Important portion of this exercise is to keeping the elbow straight throughout the exercise. Depending on your shoulder condition, you may not bring your arm all the way behind your body and it is ok. Do what you can do. Perform 10-15 repetitions to loosen up your shoulder joints.
Banded Pull Apart
When looking at our daily lifestyle, we do all of our activity in front of us. Whether driving, washing dishes, eating, working on the computer, our arms has to come forward. Because of that, our shoulder will be rounded forward. To reset the shoulder position, banded pull apart is great exercise. Just like previous exercise, you want to make sure the movement is coming from shoulder by keeping the elbow straight. Pull the band apart by using you shoulder blade. One more thing to keep in mind is to keep the chest up. Slouching will limit the the shoulder movement and may cause irritation during the exercise. Perform 10-15 repetitions to activate your upper back muscles.
Shoulder Press
Here is the first actual shoulder exercise that you will be performing. Depending on your shoulder condition, you may not be able to perform the exercise perfectly, but that is ok. Start from your shoulder and reach above your head. Work on getting those elbow straight at the top. In the video, I'm using a dumbbell, but you may need to start without any thing in your hands. Start from 3-5 repetitions then move up to 10-15 repetitions. Once you are able to perform 15 repetitions without any issues then move on to increase the weight. Remember, if you are not able to get your elbow straight at the top, you should not be increasing the repetitions or weight.
Face Pull
When working on shoulder strength, you want to work on opposite movement muscles. Shoulder exercises are mainly pushing or pressing work. Opposite movement to that will be pulling. The exercise showing on the video is called face pull. Excellent part about this exercise is, it involved pulling and rotation of the shoulder, which helps strengthen and mobilize shoulder muscles in the back and rotator cuffs. Like shoulder press, how your perform is important. Make sure to keep the elbow high. If the rotator cuff or shoulder muscles in the back is weak, your elbow wants to drop. It is ok to take a break in between repetitions but keep on working on it. Perform 15-20 repetitions. In the video, I'm using cable but you can use band or even without any tool and practice the movement.
Work on these 4 exercises for 2 times per week for 8-10 weeks and you should see an improvement in you shoulder strength and mobility. Obviously, these exercises are not the only exercises that you can do to improve your shoulder strength and mobility, however, it is a good place to start.
Kota Shimada
Comments