shoulder

To stay healthy and progress on your upper body lifts, you've got to take care of your shoulders! Add these 6 exercises to your routine to improve shoulder stability. One of the greatest issues facing athletes and weightlifters is the ability to stay healthy while lifting weights and training at...

When it comes to posture, upper back strength, and completing the rounded caps of the deltoid, the face pull is the exercise for you. Read on to learn more. When it comes to posture, upper back strength, and completing the rounded “cap” of the deltoid, you can’t get any better than the face...

For a long time I used a shortened range of motion when curling. I believed that it was important to keep the biceps under constant tension and so I avoided going all the way up. Then Paul Carter convinced me to try adding the last portion of the curl: the shoulder flexion. When the arm is fully...

If you want to increase mobility, strength, power, or muscle mass, you need to create a pain-free environment from which your body can function. But if you've gotten little to no relief from foam rolling, corrective exercises, and modified variations of the big lifts, you need to learn these...

SHOULDER TRAINING: A FORGOTTEN ART? Shoulder training used to be one of the cornerstones of any man's training program. There was a time when developing wide and full deltoids was such a priority that many men actually spent more time training that complex muscle group than any other! Old-time...

Impressively rounded delts impart a dominant aesthetic. And you only get this look with significant hypertrophy of all parts of the muscle. If your progress has stalled despite progressive overload, consider landmine loading. Why? Because of the semi-constrained bar path, variable resistance...

SQUATS AND SHOULDER PAIN The squat is a staple. It's foundational to many other lifts. If you've experienced any increased shoulder pain from doing it, you're already be aware that squatting and shoulder health are related in some way. How exactly are they connected? And how can we fix what's...

Comfortably holding a heavy weight over your head takes some serious shoulder stability and a good amount of mobility through your thoracic spine. You'll need stable and mobile shoulders to nail a good overhead lockout position with everything from barbell pressing to the Olympic lifts and even...

Upper-Back Isometrics and Shoulder Pain The barbell bench press is the universal standard for upper-body strength, but it’s also one of the most injury-inducing exercises. So what exactly gets injured the most when benching? Generally, the anterior part 58 of the shoulder. There could be...

4 Effective Supersets Some believe direct arm training doesn’t add pounds to your big compound lifts. Those people are wrong. Completely neglecting direct biceps and triceps work will hold back your big lifts. But many lifters are confused about when and how to add direct arm training into a...

If you hit the gym often but can't get the V-shape you want, you're probably not paying enough attention to your shoulder muscles. And that's why it's crucial to select the best shoulder workout to fit your goals. But exercise plans for these muscles should be about more than aesthetics...

Did you know that back pain is one of the most common chronic conditions in Canada? Every four out of five adults between the ages of 30-50 will experience at least one episode of back pain at some point in their life [1]. Whether you’re looking to build muscle for the aesthetic, increase...

There is no doubting most gymgoers’ attraction to the barbell bench press. It is part of the Big 3 lifts for a reason: The barbell bench press, with its stability and relatively fixed range of motion, allows the lifter to move the most weight possible. But through injury or range of motion...

BRING BACK THE BENCH, MINUS THE SHOULDER PAIN Since many lifters focus on mirror movements like presses and curls, a cumulative stress cycle through the shoulders usually results in overuse, pain, and injuries. Front-side shoulder pain is common. But the last thing many diehard lifters are...

Google the term “biceps curl,” and you’ll get over 20 million hits. There is no shortage of information about this beloved muscle group and its most popular exercise. Think back to your first time in a gym when you didn’t know much about lifting. Was one of the first exercises you performed a...

FROM WHEELCHAIR TO CROSSFIT Posture is the key to achieving maximum results in hypertrophy, leanness, and aesthetics. After suffering from severe hip pain that left me in a wheelchair at the age of 27 for nearly a year, I healed myself using a simple exercise therapy technique (Posture Alignment...

When the shoulder starts to hurt, one of the most common culprits is a stiff and excessively rounded thoracic (upper-mid) spine position. The thoracic spine also commonly lacks rotational capabilities in people with shoulder pain. When the thoracic spine fails to extend and rotate properly, the...

The 5 Worst Exercise Machines and What To Do Instead And What To Do Instead Exercise Machines Don’t (Always) Suck Lifters who begin training with barbells and dumbbells scoff at machine training. And sure, many exercise machines don’t suck. The right ones will overload muscles (not joints)...

I wondered if there were any exercises with the same multitasking elements. A few came to mind, but the one that stood out was the push-up. As I thought about all of the scenarios I've used some sort of push-up in, I began to appreciate its versatility. I also realized that even though the...

We've all heard the warnings about it. They say lifters have gotten their necks crushed by barbells which have slipped right out of their hands during the bench press. Maybe this is why the thumbless or false grip is also known as the "suicide" grip. But in spite of the risks, many of the...