Understanding and training shoulders... For those who dont know, a yr and a half ago I had a work place accident (paramedic) which left me with a full labrum tear, an infraspinatis tear and supraspinatus tear where I needed a surgical shoulder reconstruction, a year of physio, 6months off gym and a year off work: 18months later Im proudly feeling like Im finally regaining some thickness to my upper body. Only in recent months have I been able to say I can lift over head without feeling my injury and I finally feel like Im restoring my symmetry but it wasnt until my injury that I truly understood the mechanics or my shoulder when relating it to lifting in the gym. When looking at a women we are naturally bottom heavy as opposed to a male who generally carry their weight in their upper body. This changes things incredibly when it comes to lifting. See a womens shoulder joint has more trouble carrying a load than a mans because of how we r built. Take a look at the pics I tagged. Men r top heavy hence able to lift heavier upper body weights and women having their weight lower means we usually have more trouble with chin ups and push ups etc. hence when we look at things from a body building point of view most women struggle to grow muscle through their back and shoulders. To maximize your time spent in the gym its important to have an understanding of your anatomy. Your shoulders or deltoid is made up of three main muscles that activate and lift your arm when fired. Your anterior (front section of your shoulder ) your medial or middle of your shoulder and posterior delt (or rear delts. ) These are the muscles you see when looking in the mirror. The parts your dont see yet are essential to the mechanics and support are those like the ones I tore... Your infraspinatus, teres major, supraspinatus and subscapularis. Like your diet, exercise is pointless if your not eating correctly, same goes for your shoulders. If you dont train your support muscles like your cuffs (rotator cuff) then your not going to isolate the correct part of your shoulder. Your stronger muscles around it like trapezius and rhomboids will take over stopping your from ever seeing results. Think about your legs for example. Your quad is far bigger than your hammy so the most mis performed exercise in the gym being squats is usually because people dont activate their posterior chain because their quad is a bigger muscle it takes over the load hindering your seeing progress. So I wont bore you with my year of physio exercises to strengthen this area but the most simple way to ensure your isolating the correct muscle is drop your weights right back and I mean way back! if it means lifting 1 kg then do it. Then watch yourself in the mirror. See what section of your shoulder is firing. Is it anterior medial or rear. Change angles of your elbow and torso this changes what area your firing.The easiest way to see if your hitting the sport is to feel whats burning at the end of your set. Only once your firing and burning the right area at the end of your reps only then should you up the weight. Remember its not how much your lifting.. Its how you lift it 😉 Train hard, stay humble, chase your dreams flushfitness.au Instagram Tamika_Webber
Posted on: Tue, 01 Jul 2014 13:25:12 +0000
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