adminJust walk into any gym and you will find most men crying about different injuries. The most common and serious ones being the back injuries, knees and shoulder injuries. And the worst thing about this scenario is that most of them won’t know how to deal with these conditions. What you will only hear is them moaning, “man, I used to be stronger and bigger than this. I used to be more shredded, more defined, more this and more that”. The moaning is endless.
With this in mind, I have done some research combined with my own personal experiences and come up with this routine focusing on strengthening your upper body muscles. This programme will target your pecks, destoids and trapezius muscles. When these muscles are strengthened they will protect your shoulder joints.
These are very important joints because they link up with all your upper body. Strains and pains on these joints will force a lot of guys to avoid exercises like the bench press, pull-ups, shoulder presses, resulting in a decrease in muscle size to the affected, leading to an endless moaning and whining that never ends. The secret is not to avoid your pain. Instead add moves that strengthen those joints. Follow this workout routine below and you will eliminate the shoulder pains by strengthening your entire upper body. Perform these exercises as part of your total upper body workout on that particular session. Do 3-4 sets of 6-10 repetitions depending with the intensity level.
Exercise
1. Floor dumbbell press
Grab two equal dumbbells on each hand and lie on the floor face up, with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Start with the weights up above your shoulders, with your arms straight up. Lower the weights until your upper arms or triceps touch the floor and push up back to starting position, that is one rep. You can also use the bar to do this exercise but you might need a partner to pass you the weight when it gets heavy to avoid more injuries.
Benefits: This movement avoids over extension of the shoulder joint when pressing down, especially when using the flat bench. Too much stress on the front of your shoulder makes the muscles unstable and leads to injuries. So this can be a good substitute for your normal bench press if you have got shoulder injuries.
2. Shoulder raises and twist: With a medium weight, you can do 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart holding a pair of dumbbells, arms stretched down palms facing backwards. With your elbows slightly bent raise your arms up until they are parallel to the ground at the same time turning the dumbbells to face up like you are hammering upwards. Hold it up for 2-3 seconds, then lower your arms back to starting position. Keep your tummy tight to avoid swinging your body as you lift the weights.
Benefits: This is for stimulating the muscles around your shoulder joint and shoulder blade to build them up to strengthen your entire shoulder and thereby protecting your shoulder joint.
3. Side lying external rotation
Use a weight which will allow you to do 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps. Holding a dumbbell in your right hand, lie on your left side on the mat. Bend your elbow to a ninety degree angle and bring the weight in front of your tummy. Keeping your elbow flexed maintaining the same angle, rotate your right forearm to raise the weight until it is above the side of your body. Hold for 2-3 seconds and slowly return to starting position. Do the required reps and change to the other side.
Benefits: The movement activates the rotator-cuff muscle on the back of your shoulder and this will help maintain shoulder joint position during exercises. This will also limit shoulder impingement, a painful condition that occurs when the front of your shoulder blade exerts pressure on the muscles and tendons of the rotator-cuff muscle as you lift the arms.
NB: If these exercises do not help to reduce your shoulder pains, I can advise you to give the injured muscle some rest to allow it to heel because continuous exerting of pressure on an injury might worsen it. The proper execution of all the exercises is also very critical to minimise injuries. See your physician if necessary.
NB: Because of limited space, more exercises in the next column.
Online Reporter