I Shoulder A Question
July 4th 2007 15:04
The following question has crossed the NMF desk:
"Are there any specific exercises that we should be doing to condition our shoulders to prevent lifting injuries?"
In my opinion preventing injuries to the shoulders is more about being careful with the exercises you do rather than undertaking preventative exercises. Here is why: the shoulders are involved in the exercise of every other muscle group in the upper body. On day one in the gym I might, for instance, train shoulders specifically,on the next training days I might train chest and triceps, on day three I will do back and biceps. You will note that on each of those days my shoulders are being exposed to stress.
Because it is probably impossible to limit the stress on shoulders in the same way as other body parts,it is important to be careful about putting too many shoulder movements into your workout schedule.Over training chest with various kinds of bench presses- an eternal priority for many male gym goers- means that the front shoulder is being pounded with far more sets than is advisable. If you add some front deltoid training to this abuse you are putty insane stress on the frontal shoulder. The same is true with back. If you do intense and strict rowing movements(i.e.not rocking as you do them) you are working your rear deltoids. Adding some focused rear delt training on shoulder day is going to over do it.
When training the shoulder itself, it is important to pay attention to strict movement and not pile on too much weight and not use cheating and/or rocking movements too move the weight. The result of such training is chronic pain in the shoulder. The proper way to train shoulders is to do overhead press movements with the back against some kind of support. This will cause you to limit the weight you are attempting and that will probably keep you from the perils of too much weight.
One final caveat. I see people from time to time doing lateral and frontal raises with dumbbells to build shoulders. These folks frequently do these movements with their arms straight.This kind of movement is so stressful on the joints of the shoulders that it literally makes me shudder when I see them being done. When I do lateral raises I do them with my arm bent at a 45 degree angle and I simply do not do frontal raises. Do yourself a favor-1 use machines for lateral raises 2) Google "lateral raises" and learn from the videos how to hold your arms properly. It will help you avoid injuries. Your servant, as always.
"Are there any specific exercises that we should be doing to condition our shoulders to prevent lifting injuries?"
In my opinion preventing injuries to the shoulders is more about being careful with the exercises you do rather than undertaking preventative exercises. Here is why: the shoulders are involved in the exercise of every other muscle group in the upper body. On day one in the gym I might, for instance, train shoulders specifically,on the next training days I might train chest and triceps, on day three I will do back and biceps. You will note that on each of those days my shoulders are being exposed to stress.
Because it is probably impossible to limit the stress on shoulders in the same way as other body parts,it is important to be careful about putting too many shoulder movements into your workout schedule.Over training chest with various kinds of bench presses- an eternal priority for many male gym goers- means that the front shoulder is being pounded with far more sets than is advisable. If you add some front deltoid training to this abuse you are putty insane stress on the frontal shoulder. The same is true with back. If you do intense and strict rowing movements(i.e.not rocking as you do them) you are working your rear deltoids. Adding some focused rear delt training on shoulder day is going to over do it.
When training the shoulder itself, it is important to pay attention to strict movement and not pile on too much weight and not use cheating and/or rocking movements too move the weight. The result of such training is chronic pain in the shoulder. The proper way to train shoulders is to do overhead press movements with the back against some kind of support. This will cause you to limit the weight you are attempting and that will probably keep you from the perils of too much weight.
One final caveat. I see people from time to time doing lateral and frontal raises with dumbbells to build shoulders. These folks frequently do these movements with their arms straight.This kind of movement is so stressful on the joints of the shoulders that it literally makes me shudder when I see them being done. When I do lateral raises I do them with my arm bent at a 45 degree angle and I simply do not do frontal raises. Do yourself a favor-1 use machines for lateral raises 2) Google "lateral raises" and learn from the videos how to hold your arms properly. It will help you avoid injuries. Your servant, as always.
| 41 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog