If you wish to have big, round shoulders and strong upper body, then you should place much attention on shoulder day. The exercises that you perform during this gym day can quickly build delts size. But did you know that these can also place considerable damage to your shoulder joint too?
To prevent injury and to make sure you can enjoy maximum growth during shoulder day, there are lots of mistakes that you should avoid doing. What are they? Here are some of them:
1.) Do not forget proper form.
Before you increase your weights or the difficulty of your exercises, the first thing that you need to do is to practice the basics, most notably the right form. Without doing this, you will develop some bad habits that you will carry with you. As a result, you will not be able to maximize the effects of the exercises or target the right muscles. In addition to not being able to achieve your target gains, you also increase your risk of injury. Keep in mind that practicing proper form is important especially during shoulder day since our ball-and-socket joints are most vulnerable to injuries. That is most especially true if you will not be wearing a shoulder brace.
2.) Dont stick to the same old boring routine?have some variety!
Since there are only a few upper body exercises, it is easy for gym goers to fall into a rut when it comes to working out their shoulders. But if you wish to avoid fitness plateau, it is a must that you incorporate other types of exercises into your routine as well. To do this, you can try performing different variations of the most common pressing exercises that you know. You can also try the less common presses like Arnold presses, underhand presses and rack military presses. A suspension gym is a great way to get variation in your exercise as it adds the element of balance retention.
3.) Dont schedule shoulder day after chest day.
Most newbies make the mistake of doing this. After all, it makes sense to schedule all upper body exercises close to each other, right? Absolutely not! Why is this so? The different shoulder muscles are also engaged when you carry out chest exercises. So if you will be training them after chest day, chances are they havent still recovered from yesterdays workout session, and you will not be able to use them up properly. If possible, you should allocate at least two to a three-day interval between chest and shoulder day so you can avoid over-using your delts.
4.) Do not forget your rear delts.
When it comes to shoulder exercises, your rear delts tend to take the backseat. Yes, these muscles are recruited on certain upper body exercises, but the movements are not enough to help them grow in size and strength. The best thing that you can do is to engage these muscles during back day. To do this, try to carry out rear laterals during the end of your back day.
5.) Do not overarch your back when doing overhead presses.
We all want to go heavier as doing so may make us feel better about ourselves and our progress. But when we try to lift weights that are heavier than what we can handle, we try to compensate by bending backward. While doing so may seem effective, this is not a safe thing to do. When you bend your back too much during overhead presses, you will be putting your lower back at risk of injury. Worst case scenario?you may even end up with a herniated disc! To avoid this, always out your spine in neutral position and avoid biting more than you can chew when doing presses.
6.) Do not perform rear delts exercises last.
Many people usually leave behind rear delts in their workouts. As a result, you will have bigger middle and front delts but small rear delts. This condition will put you at risk of rotator cuff complications. To avoid this, try to do single-joint exercises for rear delts at the start of your presses when your energy levels are still high.
Keep these donts in mind for your next shoulder day and you can surely enjoy a bigger and stronger upper body in no time– even The Hulk will be put to shame!
CLICK HERE for a Rotational Pulley Workout for Shoulder Injuries
Guest Blogger Bio:Emily is founder of BodyShape101.com, a blog where she and her associates talk about exercise, fitness, and yoga. Their aim is to help people like you to achieve perfect body. BodyShape101 is concentrated on exercise & fitness tips, and making the most out of it. She is also a mother of one and she tries to find balance between her passion and her biggest joy in life.
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