Having great arms isn’t just about the biceps and triceps. It is the way they are suspended from beautifully sculpted shoulder muscles which form a curved teardrop shape, known as the deltoids. In very simple terms the anterior deltoids raise your arms in front of your body, the medial deltoids raise your arms out to the sides, and the posterior deltoids raise your arms laterally from a bent over position. Other groups of muscles that act on the shoulder make up the rotator cuff. Unfortunately, the shoulder joint because of its many actions is a very vulnerable joint which is easily injured, susceptible to inflammation, and often a sight for an early presentation of arthritis. There are exercises you can do to strengthen and stabilize the shoulder joint to make them a little less vulnerable to these problems, however more often, doing the wrong exercises can cause or exacerbate a shoulder injury. It is important to know which to include in your program and which to omit even if they do look pretty at the gym.

The first step in exercising the shoulders is learning how to “set” them. Lift your shoulders toward your ears, circle backwards and press down away from your ears. Now your shoulders are where they belong and any further movement will cause less stress. Never reach for a heavy weight or pulley as in a seated row, with your shoulders forward and out of the set position or subluxed. Here are just a few very basic shoulder exercises to include in your program. I will then recommend which ones to avoid.

Front Dumbbell Raises:

Lateral Dumbbell Raises:

Bent-over Lateral Raises:

 

Internal Rotation:

External Rotation:

One word about functionality…..the best exercises are movements that you do naturally throughout the day and are therefore combinations of all of these moves. Your shoulder muscles work together, not singularly.

Here are some exercises to avoid. You may not agree because they are exercises that you have included for years in your arsenal of shoulder exercises but they are contraindicated for anyone who has injuries, arthritis, or even shoulder sensitivity.

1. Overhead military presses especially when done with a barbell. ( Better to use dumbbells and raise with palms facing each other but still not recommended if there is a problem.

2. Dumbbell lateral raises with thumbs down

3. Upright rows above shoulder level

4. Incline bench press

5. Lat pull downs behind the head

And last but no least, avoid the pec-deck when working the chest muscles. Typically your arms will be raised shoulder height and bent at the elbows with wrists above the elbows, forearms against pads. When squeezing elbows together, the tendons of the shoulder muscles are impinged (grinding together in a very small space) and are at risk for serious injury. A better choice would be a pectoral fly machine which doesn’t force you to externally rotate the shoulders in a raised position.