Basic shoulder exercises: top 4 exercises and shoulder anatomy * Crossfit

Beautiful and voluminous shoulders are an attractive appearance for both an athlete and an ordinary person. Developed shoulders bring the body shape closer to a V-shape, making the figure more athletic.

Let's take a look at some basic shoulder exercises that will help you achieve a powerful upper and will be a great stimulus for further muscle gain.

How to organize training correctly?

The decision to build up your shoulders does not arise from scratch. Either someone persistently recommended this to you, or in the process of working on yourself, you felt that not everything was in order with this zone. In the first case, the most logical option is to start going to the gym. And you definitely need a coach who will assess your baseline, prioritize and advise a course of effective shoulder exercises.

If you are not new to sports, an instructor is not required: you will be able to independently develop a training plan. It doesn't matter where you train - in the gym or at home. The main thing is to have access to the necessary athletic equipment.

And don't forget the three principles of effective training.:

regularity;
continuity;
progressiveness.

In other words, classes need a system. Keep the interval between training days long but stable. The training process itself must be continuous. If you have allocated yourself 1 hour, then during it you cannot take unplanned pauses. It is important to gradually increase the loads while maintaining the correct technique.

Shoulder anatomy

The shoulder muscle is otherwise called "delta" for its similarity to the triangular shape of the Latin letter of the same name. The biceps and triceps are located below and do not belong to the deltoid muscle. Therefore, an athlete doing shoulder exercises must understand that as a result, he will only pump the top, but not the arms themselves. It is for this reason that delta exercises are suitable for girls who want to have relatively wide shoulders, but do not want to be too muscular.

The deltoid muscle is attached to three bones: the humerus, scapula, and clavicle. When doing the exercises, take into account the individual characteristics of the body. If you have had fractures or dislocations of the listed bones, it is recommended to work out only with a trainer, and the load should be limited. A similar requirement for injuries of the shoulder joints or their ligaments.

The delta consists of three bundles: anterior, middle (lateral) and posterior. We will consider their location and participation in training in more detail in the table.

Delta muscle bundles	Anatomy	Exercise work
Front	Covers the front of the shoulder joint	Flexion and internal rotation of the shoulder, raising the arms in front of you
Middle	Covers the top and side of the shoulder joint	Lateral shoulder abduction
Rear	Attaches to the upper back of the humerus	Horizontal extension and external rotation of the shoulder

The delta has two main functions: pushing the load away from you and pulling it towards you. These two components give rise to all the variety of movements that we use in shoulder training exercises. When we swing in front of us, press with dumbbells and barbells, we develop pushing function (front beam). Swings through the sides or in a slope, as well as all kinds of traction - this is the second component (middle and back beams).

For the full development of deltas, you need to perform at least one exercise for each of the beams. Most often, athletes “drop out” the back and middle, since the front one is easy enough to pump due to its participation in all presses, and the exercises on the other two beams are either neglected, or not done enough, or with the wrong technique (for example, swings with heavy dumbbells with cheating) ...

Warm up

Warming up is a very important step before every workout. In this case, it is necessary to warm up the shoulders and minimize injury. For 5-10 minutes, perform simple warm-up exercises in the starting position - standing on the floor:

Head tilts in different directions and rotation in a circle.
Circular rotation of the shoulders back and forth.
Alternate raising of hands up through the sides and lowering.
Horizontal hand swings.
Again, circular rotations of the hands back and forth. Then one hand is forward and the other is back. Change hands.

Shoulder injuries are one of the most common, so give your warm-up attention and do it as thoroughly as possible.

Basic exercises

We bring to your attention some of the most effective basic shoulder exercises so that you can choose the most suitable for yourself. The first few trainings are best done with an instructor so that he supervises you, explains and shows you the technique.

Also, do not forget about isolation exercises - most of the movements on the middle and back beams are exactly like this, but this does not mean that they are ineffective. You just need to correctly combine the base and isolation, depending on the goals, length of service and training experience.

Bench press from the chest while standing and sitting

The press of the bar from the chest while standing is also called the army press. This is the most effective exercise for developing the pushing function of the deltoid muscle.

And that's why:

In a free weight exercise, the mass of stabilizing muscles works.
Large range of motion: you can touch the barbell to your chest, you can lower it to the chin if you are uncomfortable doing it too low.
Exercise is within the power of anyone, not just weightlifters. It is enough to choose a comfortable weight.

Advice! The grip of the bar for such an exercise should not be taken too wide or too narrow. Best option: slightly wider than shoulder width. In this case, the forearms in the starting position should be perpendicular to the floor. When lifting the barbell, do not follow it with your eyes. Do not fully extend your elbows - this is true for all shoulder presses.

The exercise can be performed while sitting:

It seems to many that this will reduce the load on the spine, but in fact the opposite is true - the load on the intervertebral discs in this movement will be greater in the sitting position. And if for small weights there is not much difference, and you can start doing the exercise while sitting, and then switch to the standing option, which is more difficult in technique, then with large weights it is definitely worth working only in a standing position.

Another option is sitting in Smith. Here, the movement will be strictly specified by the design of the simulator, which “turns off” part of the stabilizing muscles and makes the bench press a little easier. That is why the weights will be slightly higher here. However, a given motion vector can be a problem - the risk of injury to the shoulder joints increases, since here you will not be able to move the projectile in the plane of the floor, only perpendicular to it.

Bench press from behind the head while standing and sitting

In this exercise, you will take less weight than in the previous version, although the amplitude here is obviously shorter. But the shoulder joints have less freedom, which increases the risk of injury. In addition, you need to lower the projectile behind your head more slowly and in a controlled manner - you can accidentally hit the back of your head.

Raise the barbell straight up from behind your head, in the same plane as your forearms. Leaning forward is fraught with the fact that you fall and drop the projectile on your neck. If you lean back, you can injure your shoulder joints. It is best to do this exercise in front of a mirror or with an instructor.

The exercise is performed in a similar way while sitting (including in Smith), but for this, as in the previous exercise, you need to have a pumped lower back and a healthy spine. It is also more difficult to drop the projectile in a sitting position. While standing, you can step back and forth to adjust your balance.

Many people believe that the exercise is aimed at developing the middle beams of deltas. They do work, but the front ones still take on more load. That is why all pressing exercises should be attributed to the base on the front deltas.

Attention! We do not recommend this exercise to anyone. Leave it to those who play sports professionally. The risk of injury to the shoulder joints is too high. This exercise can be replaced with a press from the chest or dumbbells without loss of effectiveness.

Seated Dumbbell Press

Along with the military bench press, this is the best basic exercise for building massive deltas. Many professional athletes even prefer it to the bench press.

It is best to perform the exercise on a bench with a back set at or close to a 90 degree angle. At the top point, you do not need to touch with dumbbells, also do not straighten your elbows to the end. At the bottom, lower the shells to the most comfortable depth.

Arnold press

This is a variation of the previous exercise, which allows you to actively use, in addition to the front, also the middle delta. It was named in honor of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who, by the way, did not have much deltas. But the athlete actor still remains the benchmark for many athletes, and such a bench press modification is really very good for the variety of the training process.

The difference here is that in the initial position, the arms with the dumbbells are in front of the head, and not to the side. The grip is reverse, that is, the palms look back. In the process of lifting the shells up, the hands are turned 180 degrees. At the top, everything is similar to a simple dumbbell press. When lowering, a reverse turn occurs.

The main feature of the Arnold press is that the shoulders are constantly in tension.... That is, there are no points at which they rest.

Press on the shoulders in the simulator

The movement also resembles a seated dumbbell press, but here the trajectory is strictly limited by the machine itself. Although this exercise is a basic exercise, it should not be put first, except in situations when it is used as a warm-up before a heavy military press. In general, in the simulator, it is best to "finish off" the shoulders after the free weight presses - this is the most effective pattern.

Standing Chin Row

The barbell pull to the chin engages the front or middle delta. If you use a narrow grip, you will swing the front beam and trapezoid. To work out the middle beam, you need to take the bar with a wide grip and perform the movement at the expense of the elbows. It is not necessary to pull the barbell with the entire array of muscles, it is better to take a smaller weight, but work only with the elbows with the shoulders down. Cheating is useless in this exercise.

In the absence of a barbell, the exercise can be effectively performed with dumbbells:

The main nuances of pumping shoulders

Let's summarize and list the main theses regarding the implementation of exercises on the shoulders:

It is recommended to work out each bundle of delta with 1-3 exercises.
Exercising should not be done every day, as it takes several days for the muscles to rest. As part of the general split program, one shoulder workout per week is sufficient. If this is a specialization for this muscle group, it makes sense to split the bundles on different days, but also pump them only once a week.
Be sure to start your session with a warm-up.
All efforts (thrust, bench press) are done on exhalation. Inhale while relaxing the muscles.
Perform smoothly without jerking.
If you are doing swings, do at least 12-15 reps. Many people do 8-10 swings in about 10 seconds, which is not enough for high-quality muscle work.
Do not drop the barbell or dumbbells in the negative phase. Go through this part of the movement in a controlled manner.