Shoulders are probably the second area most prone to injuries after the back. If you have problems with your shoulders or even if you don’t but you want to avoid them you have to be really careful in your training. Here are 7 rules you can and should follow to keep your shoulders healthy as you build your muscles.
Pulling vs pressing
Pressing weights puts your shoulders under a lot of stress so you really need to be careful with pressing exercises. In fact, if you have problems you should avoid them at all. If you don’t, it is established that you should keep your pulls and presses to the ratio of 2:1. So after your shoulder presses add a lot of cable pulls.
Add twists
Posture is very important to shoulder and back health. Body twists aren’t usually included in shoulder workouts because they don’t really work them much. But do consider adding body twists even if just as a warm up to improve your posture.
Light overhead press
As I mentioned you should limit your presses but unless you suffer injury you should not drop them completely. Presses build strength and you need it not only to build muscle but to keep them healthy too. Only keep it light and make sure to warm up properly.
Resistance stretches
Stretches are important to free up your shoulders. Use resistance bands to stretch out and put a little tension on your muscles as you do them. This way is a lot more effective than static stretching.
Consider using NuBells
For the exercises that use dumbbells try using NuBells instead of the usual dumbbells. They are designed to distribute the weight around your hand and to make the movement more natural.
Control your tempo
It is established that performing any exercise you should use the 4-1-2 tempo, that is, you should take 4 seconds to release your muscles, 1 second to pause after contraction and 2 seconds to contract. That is, if you lift a dumbbell, the lifting should take 2 seconds, followed by a 1 second pause and 4 seconds lowering it down. Proper tempo will ensure that even pressure is put on your shoulders and minimize the risk of injury.
Do your warm ups
Perform warm ups before every exercise not just the overall workout. Do 1 set of 8 reps with 75% of the weight you will use in the real exercise. Don’t jump into the exercise at full capacity.
Always strive to do your exercises in the correct form, don’t rush, don’t use weights that are too much for you. Keep your shoulders healthy and slowly build strength to avoid injury in the future.
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