Best Shoulder Exercises

People with desk jobs, jobs involving large amounts of time to be spent in front of the computer or other highly stressful jobs tend to have stiff shoulders. The reason being that when we are tensed, our shoulder muscles reflect this readily and also take the most affect from a stressful situation. The shoulder muscles get stiff and often painful. While many people stretch by raising their hand far behind their head or flexing the neck, the affect is often not as good nor long lasting as a good shoulder exercise should have.

So for those of you looking to relax your muscles when they get sore from work then try the following.

Stand against a wall with your side and bend your elbow 90 degrees. Press your palms for 10 seconds against the wall and switch side.

Stand upright and bend your elbows 90 degree on your sides. Now push your elbows backwards so that your shoulders squeeze. Hold this position for 10 seconds and repeat it 3 times

Stand and stretch out forward your arms and bring them to shoulder level. Interlace your fingers and turn out the palms. Stretch your arms and hold the position for 10 seconds and then repeat.

A good posterior shoulder stretch is: Place one arm across your body under your chin just parallel to the ground. Using the other hand gently press it towards your body. Hold for about 10 seconds for 3 to 4 repetitions.

A good anterior shoulder and chest stretch is: Standing upright, clasp your hands behind your back and gently pull away from your body while lifting them up. Keep good posture and hold for about 10 seconds for 3 repetitions.

Then there may be those who are trying to build shoulder mass. There is a muscle group in the shoulder known as the “deltoid". To build the shoulder muscle, this group needs to be exercised. There are three most frequently recommended exercises for the deltoid muscle. These exercises involve the use of dumbbells.

Hold two dumbbells to your side so that the palm of your faces your body, in a standing position. Lift one dumbbell over your head in a wide arc. Lower the dumbbell while raising the other one. Develop a rhythm to raise on dumbbell while lowering the other.

Hole a dumbbell in each hand and bend forward slightly so that the weights are in front of you at arm's length. Lift the weights to your sides. Lift them just above the shoulder level and then bring them back to the starting position slowly.

In a standing position, take a dumbbell in each hand. Bend forward at the waist at an angle of 45 degrees. Hold the dumbbells so that the palms face each other. Without raising your body, lift the dumbbells over your head and bring them back down to the starting position.

This last exercise involves the use of the barbell. And this is the simple barbell lifting exercise that we see on TV and is frequently depicted in cartoons. Place a barbell at arm's length in front of you while in a standing position. Lift the weight above your head and the position for 10 secs. Then lower it to the starting position and repeat.

And that wrps up the most frequently recommended exercises for shoulder muscle bilding and for relaxing r=tensed up shoulder muscles.

• Emma Bullock
• 30/01/2009, 4:59 PM
• 0 Comments