this is right, this is wrong right - wrong
shoulders are the most mobile joint in the body, but they're also the body part
that gets injured most in training most commonly trained incorrectly
shoulder injury can mess up your whole upper body training. train them right and you can build an
impressive set of 3D shoulders that'll help give you the classic v-taper of an aesthetic physique
so in this video we'll show you how to correct the most common mistakes when training shoulders
the most common mistake in shoulder training according
to our experts is going too heavy with the weight
the shoulder is made up of front middle and rear delts, three fairly small muscles
if you use a weight which is too heavy you'll probably bring in other muscles
to help you complete the movement this is not only wasted effort,
it may also lead to injury. so our first fix is about how to avoid cheating
lateral raise is an exercise that targets middle delt
but can you spot that cheat that's going on here?
when you look from behind, the traps and middle back are being used to complete the movement,
but traps are a completely different muscle the fix here is not to shrug. keep the
shoulders low, away from the ears. using a weight you can control
concentrate on lengthening and shortening that middle delt muscle
but now another cheat maximum squeeze on
the shoulder muscle is about here, bring the weight any higher and again
you're using traps to complete the movement concentrate on bringing the weights out
to the sides not up coming up no higher than the shoulders
bent over raises Target the rear delts but again
it's easy to cheat using the middle back muscles to get the weights up
but squeezing the shoulder blades together is not going to help you build rear delts
fix by keeping the shoulders low shoulder blades apart not too heavy on the weight
some types of cheating are obvious like swinging or using momentum.
but there are more subtle ways of cheating as well.
like cheated rest on your overhead press there's less resistance as you get nearer the top,
by the time you get to here there's no resistance at all,
you're just balancing the weights over your head with no effort by the delt muscles
so this is in fact a cheated rest
The fix here is to keep the weights moving slow and controlled not locking out at the top
bringing the weights up not together with constant tension
on the side raise, the cheat rest is at the lower part of the movement,
at the bottom the delts aren't working at all this is also a cheated rest
again keep the weights moving for constant tension and don't come down fully at the bottom
so we know that cheating is not going to give
you bigger shoulders. so our next fix is how to progress
once you've mastered correct form you're ready to build those shoulder muscles.
with other body parts this is when you'd start increasing the weight but with shoulders going
heavy can lead you back to bad habits so instead our trainers recommend a
series of different techniques to help you progress that don't involve heavy weights
the first that's often forgotten is simply to add another shoulder session to your workout week
the delt muscles recover quickly so as long as you have at least one rest day,
try adding another shoulder stay to your training program. two sessions
with moderate weights can be more effective and less risky than one session with heavy weights
another way to progress is with partial reps. when you hit failure just do the
lower half of the movement squeezing out a few extra reps that you wouldn't otherwise manage
rest pause is when you hit failure instead of releasing the weight you
take a rest for a couple of breaths, then squeeze out a few more reps
supersets involve going straight from one exercise to another
hitting the muscle from different angles with no rest in between
on drop sets you start with a heavier weight
then move straight down to a lighter weight for extra reps
many of these are common practices in the gym, but our trainers say too often lifters
simply reach for a heavier weight instead of using safe but equally effective options
next a set of targeted variations that'll also help your progression
another common mistake in shoulder training according to our experts is simply sticking
to the same few exercises, presses and raises are the most popular choices for training shoulders
but if you're only doing these few exercises you could be missing out on potential gains
so here are some variations our trainers recommend
Arnold press is specifically designed to go through different angles on the shoulder
cables are an effective alternative to dumbbells because they give
constant resistance working the muscle across the whole movement
the cable in front, or behind you
different grips hitting the muscle in different ways
the body position to Target exactly the muscle you want
inclines to work front delts
and for the often neglected rear delts face poles
or reverse pec deck flies
different angles machines dumbbells cables our trainer's best advice is to mix it up
with as many variations as possible from one workout to the next
the shoulder joint is held in place by a network
of tendons and smaller muscles at the extreme end of certain
movements the muscles and tendons can rub up against the bone or get trapped
it's called shoulder impingement and it can cause soreness and sometimes Serious injury
so our next fixes are about avoiding the kind of
awkward shoulder movements that lead to shoulder impingement
upright rows are especially risky for shoulder impingement
the bar forces the arms into a particular movement while the grip means the upper arm rotates inward
so when the elbows come up here that's the danger zone
dumbbells give you a more natural range of movement
but even here it's important not to take the elbows too high
the angle of the dumbbells can also cause that internal rotation at the top of the movement
keep the dumbbells flat and again not too high
impingement can also happen when the elbows are too far back
creating a straight line like this will eventually give you a sore shoulder joint
stay in the safe range with a slight Bend in the elbows movement slightly forward of the body
from the same angle you can also see the problem with military press
when it's done behind the neck
the bar forces the elbows to flare back behind the body creating an awkward angle
coming in front of the body gives you a more natural
movement avoiding that pinch on the joint foreign
the same problem is common on dumbbell press taking the elbows too far out to the sides
by keeping the elbows slightly in front of the body. or safer still try close grip shoulder press
working that key front delt muscle with the elbows fully forward
our trainers say that the best guide overall is to stick with a weight
you can control and concentrate on what feels like a natural movement
our final fix is about stability
shoulder movement is supported by a set of small muscles deep within the
shoulder known as the rotator cuffs muscles working properly is vital for
effective shoulder training but they can't be trained with heavy weights
instead work on Mobility
start with a warm-up before your shoulder training to help activate all the shoulder muscles
internal and external muscles
you can also use bands for a series of gentle exercises to strengthen
the rotator cuffs using particular movements like rotations outward
and upward as you progress move on to a straightening exercise like full can
as if you're raising and lowering a couple of cans
lightweight slow movement targeting the rotator cuff muscles inside the shoulder
finally use a rolled up towel or t-shirt tucked under your arm for a lying side rotation again
lightweight the muscles being worked are the small but vital rotator cuffs deep within the shoulder
all these will help you strengthen the internal workings of the shoulder protecting against injury
allowing you to use all the exercises and variations we've shown you to build an
impressive set of shoulders for more fixes for chest back and core just click the link