Welcome back to TeamQuinnFit, today I’m going to share with you four of my favorite exercises to strengthen your shoulders. The shoulders are a highly mobile joint with a lot of muscles connecting in and out and all between your shoulder girdle and rotator cuff. The risk of injury goes up when there is weakness anywhere in these areas. So to lift and move well, and to keep your shoulders and posture healthy for years to come we are going to learn 3 easy exercises you can add to your workouts. Let’s get to work.
Exercise 1: Increase Mobility with Shoulder Dislocates: This is a staple exercise to help “unglue” your shoulder and prepare you for your other lifts like bench press and overhead press. It will help you increase mobility throughout your rotator cuff. Click the link for a full demonstration from Pat Flynn.
Exercise 2: Improve Mechanics with Wall Slides: Besides improving scapular/shoulder mechanics, wall slides help strengthen lower/mid traps which tend to be fairly weak in most of the population. Improving these things will allow you to not only perform overhead lifts more efficiently but will help reduce shoulder injuries and anterior shoulder crankiness. Check out this video from Invictus Fitness on how to perform them correctly.
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Exercise 3: Better Stability with Band Pull Aparts: Pull Aparts use a scapular retraction movement to activate muscles throughout your upper back, including the rhomboids, trapezius, and rear delts. Band pull–aparts can enhance your shoulder health and stability and well as improve your posture. The boys at MindPump Media have a great video for this one.
Exercise 4: Strengthen with Kettlebell Halos: The Kettlebell Halo is a great exercise for strengthening your core and improving mobility in the shoulders and thoracic area. It also strengthens your serratus anterior muscles which helps with shoulder tracking. It can be used as part of the warm-up, within your workout or even a finisher to get those shoulders and core burning. One of my personal favorites. Greg Brookes has a great breakdown for this one. Take a look by clicking below.
Conclusion
Incorporate these four exercises as often as possible to your daily routine and workouts and I guarantee you will have healthy, strong and mobile shoulders for a lifetime to come. If you need any help or guidance with any of these exercises or would like to leave feedback please reach out to me at [email protected] .
Happy lifting!!!