All Shoulder Exercises

While most bodybuilders will have varying opinions on the most efficient shoulders exercise, many will agree that you should never sacrifice form for weight. Incorrect form hinders progress because it leads to injury. Low back problems, tennis elbow and shoulders tendonitis can become injury factors when improper form is sacrificed to heave heavier weights.

Stand erect when doing shoulders exercises. Do not lean back, and heave the weight, because too much momentum will be involved in the lift and clearly, not enough shoulders action. Keep your elbows close to your side without lifting up the elbows.

How many times do we see people in the gym lifting their elbows during these shoulders movements? When the elbows come up there is a loss in resistance due to gravity. Also, when the elbows come up, full extension is lost, so the bottom of the shoulders muscle will not be hit with the movement.

Too few weightlifters in the gym pay attention to wrist position while performing shoulders lifts. In order to achieve results from shoulders training, emphasis must be kept on this muscle during the lift. But, when the wrist is bent backwards, some emphasis will be taken off the shoulders muscle and shifted to the forearms.

Arnold Schwarzenegger further discusses keeping the emphasis on the shoulders muscle in a discussion of the line of the hand. "When you do a Curl, you must bring your hand directly up to your shoulder. If you change that line an inch to the inside or the outside, you are taking stress off the shoulders and you won't get the same results." 3

Training shoulders allows for a great variety of exercises using bars, dumbbells, EZ curl bars, cables, machines and Scott benches. The diversity will allow flexibility in program design allowing your client to achieve the maximum results.

Genetics can make a champion bodybuilder, but hard work, careful selection of exercises, and good technique can bring a shoulders muscle to its full potential.