recently a lot of you have been saying that your shoulders are uncomfortable, sometimes they click, sometimes they are vaguely painful. If your shoulders are starting to hurt, they are telling you that it is time to change your training. Ignore this signal and if you blindly continue pushing, you may not be able to go back to the gym, suffer a serious injury or even surgery.
But what is a good way to improve your workout? Should you give up shoulder exercises until the pain goes away?
Rest is not enough: It's just a quick fix. It's likely that when you resume your old workout routine, the pain may return, or even get worse. Believe it or not.
the three pillars of shoulder health
to address shoulder pain, always follow the following rules.
1. Stop doing movements that irritate the shoulder.
2. Keep the shoulder in the correct position.
3. Move the shoulder correctly.
we all know that the shoulder is a delicate part of the body. There is a small gap in the shoulder joint that allows your arm to move, this is called the 'subacromial gap' - this gap should be maintained at all times.
However, for many people with shoulder problems, their posture and exercise can narrow this space, inflaming the nearby muscles and ligaments and causing pain.
In the shoulder girdle, the scapulae also have an important role to play as you extend upwards, they rotate upwards; as you return, they rotate downwards.
Shoulder pain starts when the shoulder blades don't move properly due to injury, poor posture and poor training.
To fix your shoulders you need to find good alternative movements, improve your posture and move better. Here are great suggestions to help you improve and can be bookmarked.
1. Switch to dumbbells
we all know that fitness enthusiasts like to use barbells, but sometimes switching to dumbbells is more friendly to the key, (or anything where you can twist your wrists - ropes, suspension ropes, etc., are all good options) when you use barbells and machines where your wrists can't rotate, it forces your shoulders into an unnatural position, which can put a lot of pressure on the joints this puts a lot of stress on the joints. Instead, use movements that allow your arms to twist naturally. To put it mildly, if you have joint problems, you will find that your joints are better after using dumbbells more for a while.
2、pull more than push less
most guys push up much more than they pull, we focus on the chest workout but ignore those big weight rows and pulldowns. This creates a muscle imbalance as the chest muscles are stronger and stiffer than the back muscles. Over time, the shoulders will lean forward and the arms will turn inwards, which means that things like rounded shoulders will occur.
This position destroys your shoulders: They are out of position, they don't move properly, and when you do simple movements such as bringing your hands overhead, the joints get hit.
Pull down twice the amount of movements as push up and strengthen your upper back muscles. Throughout the exercise, take care to pull your shoulder blades down and back to create good posture.
3. Stop the bench press and switch to push-ups
use push-ups when you train the chest. A movement like the bench press holds the scapulae in a certain position when you push, but this is not where the scapulae are moving.
Push-ups, which allow the shoulder blades to move freely, improve shoulder health. They also strengthen the muscles that stabilise the shoulder, such as the serratus anterior, which is usually weak and inactive.
If you think push-ups are too easy, put your feet on a bench, add some weight to your back, or try them on unstable ground, or fancy push-ups are a challenging challenge.
4、use soft equipment to open up the pectoral muscles
as mentioned earlier, muscle imbalance causes a lot of problems. Due to the imbalance in the upper body (strong chest, weak back), the chest muscles become stiff and short, which pulls your shoulders forward. You therefore need to lengthen your chest muscles, establish good posture and keep your shoulders in the correct position.
But stretching is not enough. Often the muscles of the chest become dense and fibrous and do not cooperate with each other. Instead, you will need to massage the muscles using soft equipment to restore muscle mass.
To start with, you can use a foam shaft, but if that is not enough you can use a lacrosse ball or a tennis ball to massage the pectoral muscles. (you may feel a lot of pain.) after opening up the muscles, your pectoral muscles become easier to stretch and you can regain their natural length.
5. Don't forget to strengthen the latissimus dorsi
there is always an emphasis on muscle balance, as with the pectorals and back, and to the extent that the chest is trained, the latissimus dorsi, which is often neglected, is much less important, and like the pectorals, they need to have soft tissue to work and stretch. How you treat your chest needs to be treated with more love for your back.
6. Retrain the right movements
it is common to see people in the gym who have not been improving their training movements and for those with shoulder joint problems they may need to relearn how to lift and do the correct movements at the correct time. This may seem simple, but trainers often struggle with these movements because they are not used to correcting them.
Try doing movements such as stretches, rolls and deadlifts. Although monotonous and tedious, establishing the correct movement pattern in the shoulder is vital to prevent injury and reduce pain.
7. Switch to a high incline board
if you have a history of pain, pushing straight overhead may be difficult for your shoulders. Instead, put the backrest of the adjustable bench on a higher angle and do overhead presses. You can still train a lot of muscles and protect the joints at the same time.
We recommend switching to high angle overhead presses or high angle overhead lat pull downs.
8. Open the hips
you have to believe in the fact that your hips and shoulders are connected. For example, if you have a tight left hip, you usually have a tight right shoulder as well, because your torso is cross-connected.
This is an overlooked factor in shoulder health. Pain is not only caused by a specific joint, sometimes the problem starts elsewhere and moves to the weakest link. (it makes sense that your shoulders would hurt: They are the most mobile joints in the body.)
advice: Improve your hip flexibility and your shoulders will get better.
shoulder joints don't get sore one day, they all build up day by day. The less you pay attention to them, the worse they get. Whether you're a beginner or a fitness ex, it's a link you can't ignore. The better you protect your joints, the better for your training!