Because your shoulders are the most movable joints in your body, they are also at the highest risk for injury. Besides strengthening and stretching your shoulders, you must do the same for your trunk, spine and hips because they are part of a movement chain with the shoulders and provide the base of support for your body. When exercising your shoulders, integrate them with the rest of your body.
Dynamic Flexibility
When warming up your shoulders before exercise, do not just stretch each muscle group or direction. Instead, gradually swing your arms and shoulders while moving your trunk and hips to increase your range of motion, body temperature and coordination, which will help you prepare for the upcoming sport or activities.
For example, swing your arms back and forth, gradually increasing the range of motion and continuing until you feel loose. Then swing your arms side to side and apply the same principle as the previous arm swings. You may also add kicks to the arms swings. If you swing one arm forward, kick the opposite leg up, mimicking a stride.
Push and Pull
When you perform any pushing or pulling exercises, you are also strengthening your shoulders as well as your chest, back and core muscles. Sample exercises include push-ups, pull-ups, shoulder presses, dips, cable pushes and pulls, and free-weight exercises.
My modifying your hand positions, you can strengthen your shoulders and surrounding muscles and joints in different angles. In push-ups, for example, position your hands wider than your shoulders or close to the center of your body. Place both hands at your head level or one hand higher than the other in relation to your body. This can be applied to almost all pushing and pulling exercises.
Power Development
Power training is simply adding speed to strength. This conditioning method helps increase neural stimulation, coordination, reflex and stability in the joints. Most of the movement involves rotation in different angles that most strength exercises do not train.
An example of explosive, power training would be medicine ball throws. Pick a weight that you can control and throw but not too light. Do chest passes, overhead throws, rotational throws, ground slams and underhand tosses. You can also use a sandbag and with a workout partner.
Intelligent Stretching
According to Ann and Chris Frederick, owners of Stretch to Win Clinic in Tempe, Arizona, your shoulder complexes are part of a myofascial chain that connects your tissues and nerves from one body part to another part. Therefore, when stretching your shoulders, stretch along the chain after a workout.
For example, in a lateral myofascial stretch, find a doorjamb, pole or sturdy object and stand about arm-distance away from it. Bend laterally toward the object, and reach your top arm over your head to grab the support. Then grab the support with your lower arm for balance. Exhale and push your hip away from the support and rotate your chest and torso slowly up. Keep your hip and feet pointing forward.
References
- "Essence of Program Design"; Juan Carlos Santana; 2006
- "Stretch to Win"; Ann and Chris Frederick; 2006
