This week is all about the shoulders, the things that connect your arms to your torso. Shoulders are made up of three primary “heads”, the anterior head, the lateral head, and the posterior head. Here is a picture for reference:

The shoulder’s  main use is to act as a joint to move the arms around and add stabilization to some muscles in the torso.

The shoulder muscle as a whole also is used in various actions involving pushing and pulling. The three heads of the shoulder are used for which direction the pushing or pulling is coming from. That is one of the various reasons it is important to work and utilize all parts of the shoulder when working it out. The shoulder is the most flexible joint in the body due to the various ligament and tendons that meet at the shoulder. This gives the shoulder a very wide range of motions(which includes flexion- extension, abduction-adduction, internal- external rotations) which is helpful for various activities. As always, the shoulder muscle fibers work as any other muscle fibers in the body. The muscle fibers break and get stronger as they get repaired. As always, form is key to the following workouts.

To begin with workouts for the specific parts of the shoulder, we will start with the anterior head then the lateral head then the posterior head.

First, the anterior head moves the arm forward and can be worked with two specific workouts. The first workout is front raises. Using dumbbells, simply raise the dumbells in front of you and turn them sideways on the way up.

Next, the military press is also a great exercise for the anterior head. The press is done by taking a bar and starting the motion by having your hands in line with your shoulders. Then, just lift the bar above your head and repeat.

Next, the lateral deltoid is used when lifting the arm sideways. the first exercise is the Arnold press which is done using dumbells and the starting position is palm facing towards you while in line with your shoulders. Next, you just lift above the head.

Lateral raises also work the lateral head, and all you do is lift a weight sideways.

Finally the posterior head, it is used when moving the arm backwards and outwards. One of the primary workouts for this muscle is the bent over reverse dumbell fly. It is done by bending over with dumbells and lifting them to your side with extended arms.

Shoulders are very essential to a person’s overall form and arm flexibility, so it is essential that they get the care they deserve.