Lifting...

[Topher]

I need some tips on shoulders. I am no good with them. Whatever I do it seems like my shoulder joint aches afterward and no real improvement in how they look.

So here's what I've tried, people can tell me if their good or no good:

Rowing machine
Take weights and hold them out directly to each side for as long as I can.
Take weights and lift raise and lower arms (like flapping wings)
Lift weights directly in front of me, with arm fully extended, one arm at a time.
Hold weights vertically right next to each other at about chest height and rotate shoulders until the weights are seperated and horizontal.
Hold a weight (like a 45lbs round weight) and hold it out with arms horizontal. Lift the weight about your head until arms are vertical.
Take a bar with weights on it, start with it at about waiste height. Lift it right up to your chin.

[Will Robinson]

Have you tried a seated upright press?

While sitting on a stool take a bar with enough wieght that you can only complete 12 to 20 repititions and lift it from a position where your holding the bar even with your chest under your chin to straight up over your head. Using the stool keeps you from launching the weight upward with your legs.

Do a couple of sets of 12 to 20 every other day or every third day and in a month you will see a difference. Make sure you use enough weight that you can't do more than 12 to 20 without stopping and increase the weight if you ever feel you could do more.
You should feel the burn in the areas you intend to strengthen and remember, pain is just weakness leaving the body

[Topher]

Heh, only in muscles, not in joints. I'm pretty sure the ache in my knees from running for a year isn't "weakness leaving the body".

Thank you for the advice, we have a tilted bench like that in the gym here at school, so I'll give that a try.

[Beowulf]

Shoulders are tricky muscles to strengthen because you want to make them stronger but not strain them. Here are some of the shoulder things I do for my football workout

Shrugs:
Take a bar and put the desired weight on each side, grip it and shrug your shoulders. It sounds easy, but the trick is getting your shoulders high enough. Start with a low weight. Chest out, back straight, try and make your shoulders touch your ears.

Lateral raises:
You described these earlier. Take two dumbbells, hold them at your side, and lift your arms so they're horizontal, kinda like you're flapping your arms. Do these slowly, and only do about 2 sets of 10 or 12. Do not bounce the weights.

Another kind is forward raises, which is basically the same thing except you lift your arms forward instead of to the side.

If you have a lat pull machine, thats a good one. Its the one where you sit down and there's the suspended bar and you pull it down behind your neck. Shoulder press is good too, its pretty simple. Sit down on a bench, take the bar behind your neck on your shoulders and push it up.

I can't think of any more off the top of my head, but those are all pretty good lifts. Be careful with the shoulders, and take it slow so that you don't strain something.

[XeonJr]

Since you have muscle soarness after the fact but you are not gaining mass, this leads me to beleive you are not eating sufficient proteins to rebuild the muscles.

If you live in america, eating correctly might be harder than you realize. I am aware of the fact that alot of the food imported to USA has been processed/altered causing significant protein reduction. When I was in the states I gave up working out for this very reason. Infact I lost about 25 LBS of my bulk.

Might I suggest looking for supliments from the health food shop. Remember they should be treated as SUPLIMENTS to your existing diet. Try to eat alot of SMALL meals (atleast 6 per day.) This will help your body absorb the food better. A meal might be somthing like an apple, asorted nuts or a sandwich.

Eat chicken, fish, nuts(half proteins), red meat(not often), pastas, eggs etc etc.. Also eat iron rich foods and drink ALOT of water around your meals. This will increase your bodies blood content and suply the muscle tissue being built. Be sure not to drink water 30min before / after a meal as it will dilute your stomach acids and reduce injestion.


I tend to do military presses behind and infront of the neck for shoulder strengething. Shoulder shrugs are also good. They key to lifting is technique.

Before you start and finish you must warm the muscle or you will cause damage (like the pain in your knee joints.)

Use a light weight (somthing that you can lift easily for 15 - 20 reps.)

Place your hands close to both weight's on the bar. If your hands are close together the focus of the excercize will be on your triceps. Far apart and it will work the shoulders more.

Lift the weight and push it over your head. Inhale as you start to lower the bar. Once the bar is at shoulder level, push it back up while exhaling! I find 3-4 seconds on the down stroke and 2 seconds up will give a good result. Aim for 10 reps.

Drink some fluid and stretch a little more. 2-3 minutes later aim for another 10 and repeat for the 3rd set. If you find you can lift 10 / 10 / 10 easy increase the weight the next time you do the excercizes.

Remember to warm down on completion of your workout!

[Starken]

Here is a great list of shoulder exercises.

I'm currently doing shoulder presses, upright rows, and rear lateral raises.

If you're looking for growth you might want to lower your reps to 8-12 (set the weight so you max in that range), do only one or two sets, and only work each muscle set once a week. Works for me. YMMV.