A good shoulder exercise or not? Writing up a new routine i wanna place some good emphasis on my shoulders as they seem to be lacking, and everybody wants to be W-I-D-E-R Ive got down my standing military presses, overhead squats and cleans, but im short an exercise on one day and wanted to throw in upright rows....Opinions...?
If you've got 100% healthy shoulders... maybe. If you've ever had shoulder pain... nope. In my younger days (holycowdidIjustwritethat?!?!) I did them often and ended up exacerbating an already iffy shoulder problem. They definitely work the muscle, but it's such an awkward position for the wrists, elbows, and shoulder, that I'm not recommending it much anymore. If anything, I'd go for a dumbbell upright row, since the ROM is a bit less restricted, but even then, it's not my favorite. In general, I'd go for clean pulls. Clean pulls are to upright rows as push presses are to military presses. Still a heckuva lot of work for the shoulders, but more lower body help and heavier load.
I have been doing them for 15 plus yrs and have never had a problem, but form is important, not amount of weight, great for the traps too.
I started doing them a while ago and developed minor wrist problems. I left them for a bit then started doing them with these babies: http://www.flexsolate.com/ I've had no wrist problems with this. I can't say exactly why - I'll admit I was following my instinct and trying an experiment, but my guess would be that the straps simply allow my joints to move more easily, rather than forcing them into specific (awkward) positions. It might be worth considering getting a pair.
Because im looking more to target the deltoids. I actually dont want to work the traps at all. So many of my exercises do i think im starting to tote a homer simpson slouched sholder shape. What about.....dare i say it....side raises.
front raises thumbs down side raises thumbs up front raises you can try doing upright rows with an easy curl bar( less stress on the wrists)
overhead press (standing) seated db military press side raises rear raises / rear peck deck loved this shoulder routine
If you dont want to target the upper trapezius. Do dumbell rows and dumbell bench press. And one arm pushups, pullups. Most people should be doing double or more puslling than pushing... right?
??? the delts are the target muscle group they come into play with pushing work (or lateral movement of the arm) one arm pushups = gimic with low returns one arm pullups = gimic exercise that targets the biceps i have always trained delts with push work, never with pulling work. how the hell would a one arm dumbbell row work your delts? Your meant to keep your shoulders pretty stable and the muscles involved are the biceps, lats, rhomboids with some trap work. dumbbell bench press is fine....for chest.... but we are looking for delt exercises. its like saying "hai, squats are great for your biceps" lol @ the suggestion / theory
As Colucci said, upright rows can feel... awkward. Try high pulls, which I think are the same thing that Chris calls clean pulls. To me, they are pulling the weight from the floor to the shoulder lever- very good, especially for something like a tabata set or a breathing ladder. They're big and compound enough that they work well.
Same thing, yep. Samurai kinda got me in the habit of including the grip width when referring to Oly variations. So, a clean pull/high pull uses about the same grip you'd use for a clean. Guess what kind of grip the snatch pull uses? For our purposes here, I'd also stick to the hang versions, starting at waist-level. It'll be that much more emphasis on upper body explosion. Here's Charles Staley demo'ing a snatch pull. Do the same exercise with a closer grip, and you've got a clean pull. Jamo, if you're trying to minimize trap involvement and maximize delt work, then I'd be okay with using a few sets of lateral raises either before or after the meat of the work.
I have had arthroscopic surgery on my right shoulder and I am one of those who has performed Standing Rows for nearly 30 years without a problem. Here are a few more pointers: Use wrist straps for barbell Standing Rows. Don't wrap the straps too close to the bar in order to allow the bar to hang from the the strap around the wrist (actually just above the wrist) instead of hanging the bar from the fingers. This will protect your wrists. I use leather straps myself. I don't like the heavy cotton ones. Only use the fingers to keep the straps from unraveling. I have found wrist straps unneccessary for Dumbbell Standing Rows. When performing heavy rows, fill your entire body with energy, firmly flexing all the muscles of the legs, buttocks, calves, back, shoudlers and arms; tighten your abs as if you were going to take a punch. You will find you can lift more weight under greater control. Try it, it works!! It is not necessary to lift the the elbows above shoulder or ear height, although I lift my elbows as high as possible in order to add the trap work. Try to avoid lifting the bar above nipple level with high pulls, doing so will strain the wrists even with wrist straps. A high pull is commonnly performed with a heavily loaded bar. (More weght than with the Standing Row.) It is generally a power movement so when starting from the hang bend your kness a bit and straighten them explosively to get the bar moving and try to control the descent as much as you can, which won't be much if you are lifting heavy enough, LOL! You may go up onto the balls of your feet a bit too. For the last 30 years I have primarily used the barbell Standing Rows and DB laterals for the side delts, but I like the hanging high pulls alot too. I have always had compliments about my shoulders, so they have worked for me.
