Many people, especially since the beginning of the COVID19 Pandemic, have decided to train at home , and consequently seek advice on how to train properly with few tools. Today we talk about shoulders .
The shoulders are commonly referred to as the delts (deltoids) and are made up of three primary muscles: the anterior portion (anterior head), the lateral portion (lateral head), and the posterior portion (posterior head).
The shoulders work in two movements. The first movement is a push, which includes exercises such as push-ups, handstands, and bench or overhead presses. The second is when you lift something from your body, including lifting in front, to the side, or even swinging your arms back. The direction of the movement determines which of the shoulder muscles are working predominantly.
If you have limited equipment but are still looking to improve your fitness , well-developed shoulders are essential. The best exercise you can do involves the use of simple water bottles.
If the 1.5 L bottles are too light, you can safely use a water case with the appropriate number of bottles for your needs.
With the water box you can perform frontal , vertical or lateral push-ups, working with 4-5 sets of 10-12 repetitions sufficient to put stress on the muscle .
Finally, once you are comfortable with these shoulder exercises at home, start gradually increasing the weight to make the exercise more difficult and remember to perform a full range of motion to allow the shoulder muscles to work properly.
Examples:
Exercise 1. Performing Front Raises
Keeping your right arm straight, lift the dumbbell by moving only the right shoulder joint. During the lifting of the dumbbell, the arm remains straight and you stop for a few seconds when it is parallel to the ground. You then return to the starting position and immediately continue with the other arm. The exercise can be performed with a pronated grip, that is, holding the dumbbells with the palm facing the ground, or with a neutral or hammer grip, in which case the palms are parallel to our body.
Exercise 2. Lateral Raise Execution
The starting position sees the athlete standing upright with the back in its position of strength, the knees slightly bent and the distance between the feet equal to or slightly greater than that of the shoulders. The shoulders are not fully adducted although the arms can still be considered along the sides. The elbows are almost completely extended. Each hand holds a dumbbell. The execution consists of abducting/flexing the shoulders, thus lifting the dumbbells until the humerus is parallel to the ground.
Exercise 3. Performing Back Raises
Back raises are performed with the torso bent at 90 ° . You can do them either sitting, resting your head or torso on a bench, or standing, bending your knees slightly.
The more your torso remains still, the more you isolate the work on the posterior deltoid. On the contrary, if you help yourself by extending your torso, you take the work away from the affected area.
The arm must remain tense or semi-tense depending on how we can better perceive the work on the posterior deltoid area.
PS Remember to perform the exercises correctly without overdoing the load and to be followed by a Personal Trainer to be sure you perform the exercises properly.