Give Your Body A Facelift – Shoulder Exercises For A Well Balanced Physique

May 8, 2012, Posted by adreeza at 11:35 am under Exercises

Shoulders have been the “forgotten muscle.” Men avoid them because they think their shoulder are “big enough,” and women avoid them because they don’t want to “look bigger.” Shoulder exercises should be at the top of your list if you are trying to look lean. Think about the shape of a lean figure, the physique always starts at the neck and shoulders. Then the eyes scan down to the rest of the body. In a sense, the shoulder are one of the first things people see when they look at you. Shoulders also define the proportion of your body. The wider your shoulders are, the smaller your waist will look. It’s an optical illusion, but it’s one that works EVERYTIME. The same thing goes for hips, if you had always be plagued with huge hips, it may be time to make them fit in. Working on your shoulders and adding a little muscle will help even out the dimensions of your hips.

Ball Shoulder Press

While sitting on a ball or chair, with dumbbells in each hand. Position your arms at shoulder level as shown, and then press upward to the ceiling. Repeat 10 times. Try to do 3 sets.

Reverse Shoulder Fly – Back of shoulders (Rear Delts)

*Use light-medium dumbbells and begin in a seated position, bent over with arms hanging down and weights under the knees.
*Try not to collapse on the legs but, instead, keep the back straight and the abs engaged.
*Lift the arms out to the sides, up to shoulder level, squeezing shoulder blades together.
*Keep the elbows slightly bent and only lift to shoulders.
*Lower and repeat for 1 to 3 sets of 12-16 repetitions, with a 20-30 second rest between sets.

Rotator Cuff Exercise – External Rotation

Begin this shoulder strengthening exercise standing with your back straight, shoulder blades back slightly and holding a resistance band as demonstrated (figure 5). Keeping your elbow at your side and bent to 90 degrees, slowly move your hand away from your body keeping your shoulder blade still. Perform 3 sets of 10 repetitions as far as possible provided it is pain free on each side.

Begin this shoulder strengthening exercise standing with your back straight, shoulder blades back slightly and holding a resistance band as demonstrated (figure 6). Keeping your elbow at your side and bent to 90 degrees, slowly move your hand towards your body keeping your shoulder blade still. Perform 3 sets of 10 repetitions as far as possible provided it is pain free on each side (source).

Shoulder Scaption With Shrug

Shoulders: Scaption and Shrug

The benefit: When you raise the dumbbells to start this exercise, you target the front of your shoulders as well as your rotator cuff. Then comes the shrug. This part of the move helps better balance the muscles that rotate your shoulder blades. The end result: Great-looking shoulders and better posture.

How to do it: Stand holding a pair of dumbbells with your feet shoulder-width apart. Let the dumbbells hang at arm’s length next to your sides, your palms facing each other [A]. Without changing the bend in your elbows, raise your arms at an angle to your body (so that they form a “Y”), until they’re parallel to the floor [B]. At the top of the movement, shrug your shoulders upward [C]. Pause, then reverse the movement to return to the start, and repeat.

Add these exercise to your routine. Don’t worry about looking big and bulky (for women), you don’t have the amount of testosterone that men have to create huge muscles. The shoulders should be viewed as a way to define your shape, balance your body, and give you a lean and fit look.

Adria Ali