healthy shoulder

Healthy Shoulder

21. Initiate Each Rep on Curls With a Slight Cheat
Just like the bottom position of the military press, the bottom position of a curl is very stressful to the shoulder. I recommend hitching at the waist and leaning slightly forward then extending your hips and cheating the weight the first couple inches out of the bottom.This doesnt mean you heave the weight up and get sloppy. Quite the contrary. Just use the momentum to initiate the movement and then keep maximal tension on the biceps throughout by squeezing and contracting them as hard as you can. On the eccentric actively contract your triceps by imagining doing a pushdown.Using this cheat technique can extend the life of your shoulders and elbows greatly.
22. Dont do Curls on the Same Day You Do Heavy Pressing
After a heavy pressing workout the shoulders may be pretty trashed. If you stress them even more with heavy curls the biceps tendon may start acting up and giving you problems. I have found in a large majority of cases where guys where getting shoulder pain from doing curls, that if we moved it to another day or didnt do the curls after heavy pressing the problem started to dissipate. If you have no shoulder issues this probably wont be a problem.Now, if you dont have any shoulder issues, this recommendation isnt for you and I wouldnt really worry about it. But if you are having shoulder problems you might want to give this one a try.
23. Dont do Incline Curls at an Angle Any Lower Than 60 Degrees
Incline curls are great for training the biceps from a stretched position, but they also stretch the ligaments as well as the muscles. If you have shoulder issues make sure to keep the bench set no lower than 60 degrees.Stay tuned for part 3. In the meantime do me a favor and hit the Like button below if you enjoyed this post and please leave me any comments or questions you may have.
24. Work your way up to heavy weights
A big mistake that I see a lot of gym members make is going straight to the heaviest weight they can lift for the prescribed number of reps from the very first set. They dont warm up to the heavy sets properly.This can be a big issue for two reasons. Firstly it doesnt allow your muscles to switch on properly in order to be ready for the heavier weight. Secondly, lighter weight work up sets allow you to build good technique into your movements, which will help in not only preventing injury, but also building strength.Elite Olympic weight lifters are some of the strongest people in the world, and yet even they still start each and every exercise by lifting the bar only, and begin slowly working up from there.

I notice a big difference when I get impatient and rush my warm up sets. Sometimes I am not able to lift as heavy as normal when I go to the heavy weights too fast. Sometimes I feel like my technique is compromised or that the right muscles arent activating. Other times Ill start to feel niggles that let me know I rushed the heavy weights.Proper warm up sets are especially with your shoulders. This is such a complex muscle group, its so important to properly warm up to your heavy lifts.

25. Check your overhead position
Did you know that if you dont have enough flexibility to do overhead pressing properly you can compromise your shoulder health? Actually I have found that most people lack the thoracic mobility to raise their arms straight overhead without compensation.Try this little experiment with me. I want you to hunch over your shoulders and purposely create bad, slouched over posture. Now, while youre in that position, try to lift your arms straight up above your head as high as you possibly can. How did you look? My guess is that you could not lift your arms quite so high. They were sort of angled forward werent they Now, well try it again, but this time, stand up tall, bring your shoulder blades back and down and create good posture. Now, while keeping your posture like this, try and lift your arms above your head as high as possible. What happened this time? You should have been able to lift your arms significantly higher.

The problem is that many people are stuck in the hunched over position all the time (from years of having bad posture), yet they still think that they can add weight to an overhead pushing movement, without risking injury. This is where big problems can happen.And the other side of the coin, are those who have anterior pelvic tilt, and when they go to lift a weight above their head these people tend to do the opposite; they arch severely while lifting the weight above their head and they

26. Include more horizontal pulling movements in your training
If you have a history of shoulders troubles or if you are someone who sits at a desk or computer all day then, try adding 3 times as much horizontal pulling or rowing movements (things like seated rows, band rows, cable rows) into your training program than horizontal pressing movements (bench pressing etc.)Having hunched over shoulders often causes a strength imbalance around the shoulder girdle. When you are sitting in that position most of the day, the muscles involved in pushing movements (the chest and front shoulders) generally become significantly stronger than the pulling shoulders (the middle back muscles and the rear shoulder muscles). The imbalance can cause the joint alignment to be compromised and thats when shoulder troubles tend to start. Adding more horizontal rowing work in your training will help counterbalance this, improve your posture, and make your shoulders so much healthier.Apart from adding pulling movements into my strength training routine, another way I make sure to get I enough pulling movements in each week is by including a lot of pulling mobility drills on my active recovery days.
27. Know Your Limits
This seems like a fairly obvious thing to keep in mind but somehow the ego takes over and makes us forget our limits. There is nothing wrong with testing your strength but do so reasonable and responsibly. Ive seen many guys walk into the gym and to directly to the 120s and try to shoulder press them only to fail. The bottom line is that the shoulder has several tiny muscles in there and if they arent developed to the point of being able to realistically handle the weight you use, you could be looking at a serious injury. As good as surgeons are nowadays, rarely are shoulders restored to their previous glory.
28. Dont Bench Like A Bodybuilder
What Dont bench like a bodybuilder Ever wonder why so many guys/girls get hurt bench pressing It is because they bench press in a bodybuilding style. The bench press can actually be pretty safe if you stabilize the movement by benching like a powerlifter. What does that mean? Bench with your elbows tucked in at about a 45 degree angle. The bodybuilding style is when the Humerus creates an L shape with the torso. It will take a bit of getting used to but the pay off in the end is shoulders that dont ache and a big bench press.
29. Warm up Your Shoulders
The shoulders are involved in a large variety of exercises and movements. Duh! So, it would only make sense that you warm them up appropriately before engaging in any activity, right? Im sure that you already warm them up before you do your shoulder day workout, but do you do it before your squat workout? Well, you should. If you want to get those shoulders back far enough to get good bar placement, you need to warm those shoulders up.