Thread by @thehdmovement

BUILD STRONG AND HEALTHY SHOULDERS

//A Thread//

A simple guide to keeping your shoulders strong and pain-free.

The shoulder is one of the most complex and mobile joints in the body.

However, with that, it is also very prone to injury.

It's essential to keep the surrounding muscles strong to maintain a healthy joint.

We would need over 100 tweets to go into the details of what's required JUST to lift your arm up overhead.

There are many moving pieces and everything needs to be just right in order to avoid pain and have optimal function.

Essentially from a function standpoint, you need:

-Full range of motion

-Strength & stability

- Proper mechanics

A big cause in modern society:

Sitting slouched puts your shoulder in a poor position which leads to decreased range over time.

Eventually, this causes a dysfunction in the mechanics = pain and weakness.

The idea is if you don't use it, you lose it.

So you can maintain full range of the shoulder by using it with different exercises and stretches.

Especially when sitting for an extended time.

A couple of motions you can do throughout the day or when taking a break.

Rotator cuff:

The rotator cuff is the most commonly injured part of the shoulder and weakness of it usually leads to the most problems.

It's a group of muscles that stabilizes the arm is the joint socket.

While bigger shoulder lifts will usually target these muscles indirectly.

It is always better to warm up before a shoulder workout by priming these smaller stabilizer muscles.

Especially important if you plan on lifting heavy.

It's much easier to include a quick 5-minute video with a bunch of exercises you can use to warm up the cuff prior to a shoulder workout:

Strength and Building Muscle:

Here are a few great exercises for strength and hypertrophy.

Generally, you want to aim for 3-4 sets of 8-20 reps with progressive overload.

1. Lateral raises

Great to target the deltoid and give your arm that side pump that everyone loves.

2. Reverse Flies:

This targets an often neglected area that is usually weak in most people.

Hits the rear delt and upper back muscles like the rhomboids and mid/low trap.

3. Shoulder Press:

The classic shoulder press.

You can do this sitting with dumbells or standing with dumbells or a barbell.

4. Shrugs:

This one is essential if you want big upper traps.

Just let the weights hang and lift only using your traps.

5. Halos

You can do this one with a plate or preferably a kettlebell if you have one.

A lot of people tend to have pain with this so if your shoulders are not ready for it, don't force it.

Obviously this is a very simple thread and there's a lot more that goes into it.

So if you have pain with your shoulder with any motions, don't lift weights without consulting with a Physical Therapist first. Avoiding injury is much easier than getting injured than seeking help.

If you are not familiar with lifting weights and struggle with doing exercises properly and maintaining a program.

I would recommend seeking a good personal trainer to kick things off.

Your health and fitness are always worth it.

Thanks!

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These are just a few of my favorite exercises and warm-ups.

This is not medical advice.

Just a thread of my opinions and what I'm currently working on!

Thanks for reading!