The shoulders are a very important part of our body, they are involved in almost all our movements and it is good to keep them in good shape, we will explain which muscles and bones from the shoulder girdle and some shoulder exercises that everyone can do without particular effort and with excellent results.
We will explain which muscles and bones from the shoulder girdle and some shoulder exercises that everyone can do without a particular effort and with excellent results now.
The shoulder is the name most used to indicate the shoulder girdle, it is the part of our body through which the upper limb is joined with the trunk, the shoulder movements are three:
- Abduction, the arm moves away from the median axis of our body
- Adduction, the arm approaches the median axis of our body
- Rotation, the arm can make a 360 ° rotation movement
The rotation of the arm via the shoulder musculature is a movement that most mammals cannot make.
Shoulder Bones
The bones that make up the shoulder girdle are three, the scapula, the clavicle and the part closest to the trunk, the humerus.
- The scapula is a flat triangular bone that is located high in our back, provides protection to the back and allows adduction and abduction movements, the shoulder muscles also connect to this bone.
- The clavicle owes its name to the Latin term clave, it is a medium-length bone and connects with its internal part to the sternum and with that external to the humerus. It supports the musculature and joints of the entire shoulder.
- The humerus is an essential bone for the movement of the entire shoulder girdle, between the three bones of the shoulder it is the one that performs all three movements.
Shoulder muscles
The muscles that make up the shoulder are several, the main ones being the most stressed in the shoulder exercises are the trapezius, the infraspinatus and the deltoid.
- The trapezius is a very large, even and symmetrical muscle that is located in the upper part of our back, its contraction causes our collarbones to rise and consequently our shoulders.
- The infraspinatus is the competing muscle of the breastplate, in fact, the contraction of one leads to the relaxation of the second.
- The deltoid is divided into various bands that cover the shoulder girdle, the lateral deltoid is the one that makes our shoulders appear wider.
The other muscles that make up the shoulder are acromion, supraspinatus, large round, small round and subscapular.
Work out
In gym training, the shoulders are often placed in the background with respect to muscles such as the pectorals or biceps, which are usually the most trained to appear more muscular; not doing many shoulder exercises or not doing them at all does not only involve aesthetic imperfections but also the onset of postures that over time can lead to serious damage to the back and injuries, especially to the rotator cuff which are the set of tendons that connect the muscles of the shoulders to the bones. Neglecting shoulder exercises over time can result in impaired shoulder stability. It is a good rule of thumb in any free-body workout or one that involves the use of weights. Never neglect any muscle group for reasons of physical harmony and therefore aesthetic and general health of our body.
The mainly trained muscles are the deltoids which are divided into anterior, medial and posterior, they are muscles from synergistic functioning to other muscles and therefore always in motion, we can train these three parts of the shoulder also separately with muscle isolation exercises. The muscle fibers of the shoulders are mostly red and therefore highly resistant, so we can train them several times a week and with more repetitions, the red muscle fibers, unlike the white ones, have in fact less recovery times. The rotator cuff it is an important part of our body but particularly delicate, it is in fact an easy target of accidents of various types, we always recommend a lot of heating even with free body or with very little weight and many repetitions without any ceiling.
The most effective and well-known shoulder exercises are the following
- Side raises, are carried out with two standing dumbbells with legs slightly apart and knees slightly bent, in the starting position the dumbbells are on the hips, subsequently raised the arms with the elbows a little bent, flex the shoulders until the humeri are not parallel to the ground. With this exercise, you will train the lateral deltoids
- Arnold press, sitting on a bench you have to grasp the two dumbbells with a grip of the hands supine with the palms of the hands facing your body, with a controlled and rotating movement bring the dumbbells upwards extending your arms above the head, the movement return to the starting position is the same, it must also be controlled and fluid. An excellent exercise for the anterior deltoids.
- Rear raises, this exercise that trains the rear deltoids must be done on a bench inclined at 45 °, lean on the bench with your stomach down and grab the two dumbbells with your palms down, perform arm raises starting from the lower arms almost united going up to a cross position.