Shoulders: Careless muscles that you should not forget to achieve the torso you’ve always wanted

At the moment of looking for a wide and worked trunk we always aim at the practice of exercises for arms, back and pectorals, being the most neglected muscles the shoulders, that you must not forget to achieve the torso that you have always wanted.

Shoulders: Important but careless muscles

The shoulders are formed by a group of muscles called deltoids, infraspinatus, supraspinatus, subscapular and round, and their work allows the development of the upper ends of the trunk which of course, help to widen the torso and give elegance to the appearance of our body.

Although they are muscles that we do not usually work with frequently, or at least we do not dedicate to them the time that we do give to other muscles of the upper body, the shoulders play a key role not only in our physical aspect but also, in the mobility of our body , since without the muscles located there we could not perform most of the movements that the arm executes.

So, if we want the wide and elegant torso that we have always wanted as well as if we care for and perfect the movements of the arms, our shoulders should be worked on.

How to work the shoulders

Although many exercises request secondary contraction of the shoulder muscles , it is always important to include in the routine some movements that are specifically intended for your work. For example:

• Press of shoulders or military press : the movement consists of standing, or sitting, with the trunk erect and weight in both hands (can be dumbbells, bar, bottles of water or other heavy elements), place the arms flexed at 90 ° to the height of our shoulders and from there, push up to extend the arms above the head.
• Push press : it is a movement similar to the previous one, but in this case we not only push with our arms, from the shoulders upwards but also we help ourselves by flexing the legs and extending them. Equally, it represents a good exercise for our shoulders.
• Press Bradford : this exercise begins with the bar on the trapezoids, behind the head (they can also be dumbbells) and the movement starts pushing the weight up, over the head to descend in front of the head until placing the bar on the chest. The gesture is reversed by pushing the weight back over the head and descending to the trapezoids as you can see in the following video:

• Lateral flights : standing or sitting, but with the abdomen contracted and the trunk erect, we must raise both arms slightly flexed by the sides of the body. It is usually performed with dumbbells although we can take in both hands another heavy object equal size to work deltoids.
• Bird : this exercise, also called trunk lateral elevations inclined forward, requires similar movement as the previous one but as its name indicates, the upright trunk leans forward, hence not only the deltoid works but also the round and the infraspinatus.
• Horizontal rowing : with dumbbells, one hand or both hands if we lie face down on a bank tilted at 45 °, we can work the back of the deltoid to achieve a complete shoulder work.
• Rowing T bar : this exercise performs the same movement as the one mentioned above, but requires both arms at the same time for its execution and allows more weight to be loaded because a T bar is used. In the following video you can see the exercise:

• Crab walk or crab walk : lying on your back, resting your feet and palms on the ground, take off the body and walk backwards initiating movement with your hands.
• Bear crawl or bear step : the reverse of what we did in the previous exercise, we support hands and feet but from a position lying face down. And we move forward always touching with the palms of the hands and the feet the floor with the objective of working deltoids in addition to other muscles of the body.
• Handstand walk or walk on hands : it is one of the most challenging exercises that allows shoulder work because much of the weight falls on them and on the arms, which are mobilized by the contraction of the former. It consists of walking with your hands, with your whole body upright in an inverted position.
• Handstand push ups or inverted vertical push-ups : in the same position as the previous exercise, we performed a flexion of arms descending the whole body vertically, which requires great stability and strength in the shoulders.

As we can see, there are many exercises that allow us to work the muscles of the shoulders, often neglected but not least important to achieve a fit body.

If you want to reach the strong and marked torso that you have always wanted, you can not forget your shoulders when training.