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🔥To train for balanced shoulder development, we need a variety of shoulder exercises. With an overhead press, side raises, and rear delt flyes, we target all 3 heads of the shoulder joint.
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But today, let's look into a smaller muscle group at the shoulder joint that mainly contributes to shoulder stabilization: The Rotator Cuffs. The shoulder is a ball-and-socket joint, which makes it very mobile. A collection of 4 muscles known together as the "rotator cuffs" surround your shoulder joint and allow your arm to move around in different directions while keeping it in the shoulder socket.
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Having underdeveloped rotator cuffs is something that can lead to poor shoulder stability during strength training. So incorporating some light rotator cuff exercises into your routine can be of help. If you swipe left, you can see a few rotator cuff exercises.
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The first exercise is the cable external rotation, I like to use this during my upper body warm-up routine. The second exercise is facepulls, which is a handy exercise since it helps you train the rear delt and rotator cuffs simultaneously. Training light band/cable external rotations during your warm-up and incorporating facepulls in your training is sufficient for most people to develop strong rotator cuffs.
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💪🏽If you have access to dumbbells, you have many options in terms of training your shoulders. In this post, I show you 8 different shoulder press variations to give you an idea of what your options are when you want to train a vertical push.
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On the first slide, you can find 2 shoulder press variations that don't require a lot of weight to make them challenging. With both the Arnold press and iso-hold DB shoulder press, you can train the shoulders well even if you only have light dumbbells.
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On the 2nd slide, we have the traditional standing and seated DB shoulder press. Any standing shoulder press will involve your core more since you need to stabilize your lower body as well while pressing. With the seated press, your lower body is locked in position, so you generally can lift heavier weights with the seated shoulder press [1]. On the third slide, we have single-arm shoulder press variations that are worth a try if you want to work on unilateral shoulder strength.
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Lastly, we have the L-sit shoulder press and the Cuban press. The Cuban press I consider more of a "shoulder warm-up". This exercise is great for warming up your shoulders and rotator cuffs before training. With the Cuban press, it's key you use lighter weights to keep the stress on the rotator cuffs reasonable. On the last slide, I also show a banded and bodyweight shoulder press variation!
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Reference:
Saeterbakken, A. H., & Fimland, M. S. (2013). Effects of body position and loading modality on muscle activity and strength in shoulder presses. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 27(7), 1824-1831
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🎬 New YouTube video is now live! In this week's video, I walk you through a simple stretching routine you can do at home. Visit the link in my bio or go to YouTube.com/iWannaBurnFat to see the new video. Especially now that many of us are at home and sit for longer times, it's good to pay additional attention to your mobility.
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Research shows that using greater ranges of motion (ROM) during your lifts *generally* results in more muscle and strength development when compared to partial-rep training [1-3]. A common reason why some people cannot train with full-ROM is due to poor mobility. Static stretching can help with improving range of motion in the specific immobile areas you may have.
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Current evidence indicates that static stretches of 15-30s are effective for improving mobility [4]. Recent research by Thomas et al. (2018) adds to the current body of research by showing that it's beneficial to statically stretch a muscle for 5-10 minutes per week to achieve long-term ROM improvements [5].
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If we combine these two pieces of data, it seems to be a good idea to stretch immobile muscle groups with 5-10 sets per week while having each stretching set last between 15-30s. But it's worth mentioning that the timing of your stretches are important. If you stretch intensely right before lifting weights, this could harm your strength performance [6].
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This is why I suggest stretching after or separate from your training. In my New YouTube video, I show you a simple stretching routine you can do in the morning to achieve long-term mobility benefits. Visit the link in my bio for more details!
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References:
1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22027847
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22344055
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23629583
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11252465
5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29506306
6. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00421-004-1309-9 ...

🔥 After sharing "Gym-Replacer" workouts using dumbbells or resistance bands, let's look into full-body training using your own bodyweight today! You can use this session as a template and tweak it to your training preferences/needs.
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We train all major muscle groups in this session. By starting with Pull-Ups, your back and biceps get a good challenge. If you don't have a pull-up bar at home, you can do Superman Circles. Even though the Superman Circles are less effective than Pull-Ups, it's better than nothing. If you have a Pull-Up bar but can't do Pull-Ups yet, go for Negative Pull-Ups.
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Next, we have a Side-To-Side Push-Up to challenge the chest and triceps. Followed by Backpack split Squats and Towel Hamstring Curls to stimulate the quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes. With the Pike Push-Ups and Supine Push-Ups, your shoulders and upper back also get worked well. And lastly, the Bodyweight Side Plank helps you stimulate the core, specifically your obliques.
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You can check the last slide for sets and reps recommendations. On bodyweight exercises, I typically suggest you take your sets very close to failure (leaving only ~1 rep in reserve) to make sure your muscles are challenged well.
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🌯 Part of the reason why some people find it difficult to make fat loss progress is that they do not feel satisfied after their meals. If this is the case, the first thing I would look into is your calorie-intake.
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Regardless of how you design your meals, if your calorie target is extremely low, you will continue to feel hungry most of the time. This is why sometimes it's a good idea to raise your calorie intake and purposely aim for a slower rate of fat loss. Although you may lose less fat in the short-term, in the long-term you will stay more consistent, which eventually improves your results.
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Now, next to setting your calories realistically, there are also a few ways you can tweak your meals to feel more full. For one, eat more protein-rich and high-volume foods [1]. This helps because these foods usually are high in volume without being high in calories. One of the main signs your nervous system uses to signal satiety to your brain is the degree at which the tissues in your stomach stretch when you eat [2]. So having more voluminous foods and even 0-calorie drinks in your meals helps [3].
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There is also interesting research on eating pace. Individuals that take their time and sit down when they eat, usually feel more satisfied without eating more calories [4]. This likely is because eating slower/while seated prmotes more minfdul eating.
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References:
1. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23107521/
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3662086/
3. Https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30033159/
4. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/100/1/123.long ...

🏋‍♂️ Recently, I have discussed Dumbbells-Only and Bodyweight-Only training. Today, let's discuss barbell training! If you have a barbell, you can train ever major muscle group. Since not everyone may have access to a squat-rack while training with a barbell, I will show you multiple options per muscle group.
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First, the common muscle groups like chest/shoulders involve simple exercises you may also do in a gym. If you don't have an adjustable bench, you can do the barbell floor press and underhand bench press. Bench pressing with an underhand-grip may enhance upper chest stimulus [1]. For the shoulders, you can perform a vertical press for overall shoulder development, (wide-grip) rear delt rows, and side raises with plates.
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The back can be trained with a variety of row exercises. If you have a rack, you can also perform inverted rows. For training legs, doing barbell (split) squat variations are good for challenging the quadriceps. If you want to challenge the glutes and hamstrings, doing glute bridges and Romanian deadlifts are great options.
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The arms can be trained with a variety of barbell biceps curl/triceps extension exercises (see slides 7 and 8). I hope this post helps some of you training at home!
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Reference:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16095407
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