Fitness Mondays – Shoulders

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Hey! Remember in my posts “A Journey to Fit” where I said I was too “lazy” to go through the exercises I use for each of my muscle groups… well… now I am paying penitence as I have had a few people exhort me to go into it regardless of any “laziness” I had…

So! I decided to take the next 2 months on each Monday to go into each of my muscle group workouts to give you a heads-up on what I do in my rotation… so here we go!

The deltoid muscle is located at the top of the arm and is involved in any large movements pushing things up over the head, (as opposed to the opposite muscle group, the legs, which are responsible for pushing the body away from the ground).

See the creepy picture here to the (left) for a visual on this muscle group.

The deltoid is a more major muscle group involved in many of the lifts and exercises a lifter is involved with, and while it aids to better performance in sports and overall endurance and strength in everyday lift, (i.e. involved in many of the other lifts in your exercise rotation, ).  While it sometimes doesn’t get as much attention as the arms, (i.e. the biceps and triceps), the shoulders are integral in strength as almost all power moves have to pass through the shoulders first before the biceps and triceps can even become involved.

Exercises

I have about 6 different movements I use to work this muscle group, (usually in conjunction with the opposing muscle group, the biceps <see my write-up on this idea on Journey to Fitness – Weight Lifting>).

Please note that I usually change it up a little each time I lift, and I shoot for about 4 different exercises each session, with between 3-5 sets per exercise, so I by NO MEANS recommend trying to do all six movements in the same session!! See below:

Military Press-  using a weight-bench or Smith Machine, position a chair under machine so you are in a sitting position.  Start motion above head and lower to sternum, (just missing your nose!).

Fly Aways – with dumbells in each hand, bend over with arms extended towards ground, bring dumbells up and out to the sides.

Seated Dumbell Press – with dumbells, sit on a bench and raise dumbells to ear-level, raise above head.

Front Cable Raises- with a cable machine setup with pulley down at the floor, face away from the machine gripping handle at side, raise arm up as high as you can with arms extended away from you, keep arms straight.

Cable External Rotation- with cable machine pulley set halfway up, start with elbow locked at a 90′ angle and flex outwards from the chest.

Cable Internal Rotation – same as the external rotation, except you flex inward towards the chest.

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Have any other shoulder exercises you think I’ve missed and would like to recommend one? Just post a comment below and I’ll make sure you’re voice is heard. Until next Monday, lift safe and FEEL THE BURN! (ok, still corny).

Other Wrathofnino Posts You Might Enjoy:

• Fitness Monday – Biceps
• Fitness Monday – Triceps
• A Journey to Fit – Weight-Lifting

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Tags: deltoid, external rotation, front cable raises, internal rotation, lateral raises, military press, seated dumbell press, shoulders, weight training, weight training video