Yes!! Evee. Good work on both counts. I need to get my lazy butt in the gym again. How did you go about building up? I need some suggestions on weak shoulders...they tend to pop when I lift anything over like 100lbs (50kg I think). Any suggestions on exercises for supporting muscle groups around the chest/shoulders? Thanks!
Heyo! Found some videos that I felt explained the shoulder prehab effectively. This is the facepull -- This is one I use for shoulder warm ups -- followed by this -- I mix it up with those last two videos, but I make sure I go through a few movements when preparing for training each day. It's helped a great deal with shoulder pain and mobility!
Saving this post to review again later. Looks like solid stuff! Thank you for the tips! Keep up the strong work 🤗
Thankyou for the kind words! In regards to the shoulders, I like to take care of my rotator cuffs - so I warm them up every session regardless of what I'm working and it's helped eliminate any pain I used to feel. Along with doing facepull exercises with a decent weight to really squeeeeze at the top of the contraction. With the popping, does it occur no matter what the exercise or is it with specific things like pressing movements? I found my shoulders used to pop and were being overused when bench pressing - until I focused on retracting my scapulae (shoulder blades) and truly driving it into the pad underneath it, it gave me a proper stable base, removed my shoulders from the equation and kept them in a safe spot. Since then it's improved not only the bench numbers but my shoulder health as well! I just got to work so I'm lacking links but as soon as I get home I'll supply some good viewing for shoulder maintenance!
LazarusRevives - this is great advice and something I have experienced as well. I used to bench on a bench so narrow my shoulders were in free fall when I pushed up, and they would pop out to an extent. very bad in the long run. avoid that by thinking explicitly about your shoulders while you lift. (or just find a different upper body exercise that isn't benching, if you go to a normal gym this is easy.) some stretches you can try -- one, do arm rotations before every time you use your shoulder muscles; arms straight out sideways, doing concise little circles and then widening them. two, get an elastic band, step on one end, and bring the other end out away from your body with resistance.
I had not even considered the width of the bench I have at home until you said this! I think that may actually help. Maybe a bit of thick foam board for some moderate support that doesn't limit range of motion. Hmm. I'll also try out the rotations and get myself some bands. Thanks for the tips 👍🏻