Shoulders

It has been some time since I thought my shoulders were "fixed." I was wrong again. But thankfully, I know I'm right this time. :)

I had rounded shoulders, andI did the Perfect Posture Plan. But I was still using my shoulders wrong and they were still not growing at all. I found that there is one last thing I needed to do to get my shoulders lined up correctly and working in coordination with my back and chest.

It took me a long time to figure this out instinctively yet it's so simple. It is necessary for me to do exercises while standing within a door frame.

What I did was to stand erect inside the door frame with contracted core and pushed against the insides of the door frame with my arms. I did that in various positions with forearms flat against the insides of the doorframe, directing the force through the elbows. I did this until I could move my forearms up and down, mimicking the shoulder press movement.

I'm not sure what effect this had on my back muscles or what it did specifically to my shoulders. Maybe it contracted my trapezius which could have been overly stretched out. Anyway, doing this doorframe exercise made all the difference in the world.

Good article [LATERAL COMBUSTION:Take lateral raises above parallel to prompt middle delt and trap growth] that argues that above parallel is actually is most effective way to do lateral raises.

Which brings us to the dumbbell lateral raise. Just about anyone who does this exercise raises the weights to only shoulder level, arms about parallel to the floor, but no higher. Know why? Think it causes rotator-cuff impingement and is dangerous to go above that point? Uh-uh. Think the arms-parallel position is where the middle delt stops working?

Wrong again.

“Going to arms parallel in the dumbbell lateral raise provides good deltoid recruitment and doesn’t put the shoulder joint in a stressful situation,” says Louie Brockhoeft, MES, a personal fitness coach at Mercy Hospital in Anderson, Ohio. “But taking the move 45 degrees past parallel fully engages the middle delt; plus it recruits the upper traps, levator scapulae and all muscles around the scapula, including the rhomboids, the lower traps and serratus.”

Shoulder Stretches for Swimmers

Yoga @ Your Desk

I do the poses from Yoga @ Your Desk before training shoulders and it helps prepare the muscles to do upper body exercises with good form.