Shoulder Exercises For Bodybuilding

 

 One of the smallest but most used muscles of our bodies are the shoulder muscles. They support a variety of arm movement and balance. The main muscle when it comes to the shoulder is the deltoid and it is divided into three parts, anterior, lateral and posterior. Shoulder exercises incorporate the maximum use of the deltoid muscle to give a firm and toned look to the shoulders. The shoulders play an important part in giving your body the 'V' shape which most aspire for. The other muscles that need to be worked to develop the shoulders are the trapezius muscle and the rotator cuffs. When doing any kind of exercise, it is imperative to pay attention to correct form or the risk of injury increases. When doing shoulder exercises, you have to be extra careful as not to injure the rotator cuff around the shoulder joints. Beware of bodybuilding shoulder pain because if you injure the shoulder it will also hamper all other exercises that you do.


   When undertaking bodybuilding, attention must be paid to all the three major muscles of the shoulder, the trapezius, the rotator cuff, and the deltoid. Inculcate shoulder exercises that involve the use of all these three muscles. While exercising your shoulders, make use of compound movements as well as isolated movements. Give your shoulders a thorough workout with barbells as well as dumbbells. Some tips and variations are given below for you to choose from.


Shoulder Press
   A great exercise to work your lateral and front shoulder muscles, and it can be done using both barbells as well as dumbbells. In dumbbell exercises overhead front press will help you build individual strength in both the shoulders and give you a toned anterior and lateral deltoid. You can repeat this exercise with a barbell to get good results, and give variation to your training. The barbell shoulder press also allows you to do the front press as well as the back shoulder press.


Lateral Raises
There are different techniques of doing this exercise, one way to do this is in a standing position with dumbbells. Other ways you can do this is bent over lateral raises, or with cables in a standing position and sitting position. When doing this exercise it is very important to maintain correct form as opposed to stacking up the pounds. You can add a lot of variations to this by using one arm at a time or switching between dumbbells and cables between sets. When you are into bodybuilding, shoulder pain cannot be taken lightly, so do not increase the pounds unless you have the correct form.


Front Raises
   An easy way to get your front portion of the shoulder muscles in shape is to do front raises. Like most other exercises, you can do this with dumbbells or with barbells, whichever suits you the best. To ensure similar strength in both arms it is advisable to do this with dumbbells. Try doing one arm dumbbell raises for the first set and then switch to both arms together for the next set. The permutations and combinations that you can include vary, depending on your choice. Front raises are one of the great shoulder exercises for men. Again, while doing front raises, maintaining form is essential as the movement is against gravity and away from the body.


Shrugs
   One of the best isolation exercises for the shoulders, shrugs are a great way to get your trapezius muscles in shape. You can try out variations by complementing your routine with dumbbell shrugs or barbell shrugs. Ensure that you do not have a circular motion of the shoulders when you do this exercise. Keep your chest up, shoulders straight and not bent forward, concentrate on the body part that you are working out. As the form can be easy to maintain compared to other exercises, pile on the poundage as you go along.


   It is important to keep a few things in mind while doing shoulder exercises. Bodybuilding places high strain on the muscles, and care should be taken to perform the exercises in the right posture. Also, it is advisable to take one body part at a time when you are following this regimen. If needed, you can also go for a combination of shoulder exercises with bicep workouts. Bodybuilding routines can always be mixed and matched to suit individual goals, so there is no need of hurrying things along and risking damage to the body. An abs workout can also be tried along with your shoulder routine or triceps workouts. Bodybuilding is not easy, but if you pay attention to the basics of form, posture and diet, there is no reason why you cannot have a great physique.

By Indrajit Deshmukh
http://www.buzzle.com