We've all done it ..... watched a Rocky film, Arnold's 'Pumping Iron' or 'Pain & Gain' and thought .... 'training time!' And off you go, exploding through the gym doors lifting everything and anything in your path with the devil in your eye intent on turning yourself into a Brick S**T-House! First month goes by fine, lifting houses and feeling like a trooper with Arnie's "shock da muscles" quotes on replay in your head and feeling like nothing stands in your way. Then you wake up one morning after a heavy 'benching' session and .... aahhhhhh my shoulder!
I hear this complaint time and time again in my day to day interactions with people in the gym. Shoulder injuries are one of the most common gym-addict's complaints. Of course, the true die-hard gym mentality is 'no pain, no gain' and 'just push through it, it'll be worth it!' or 'whining about injuries is for pansies' and all of these mindsets have their place at certain times but as a long-term thought process, how long can you keep over-riding it until the body gives out.
So here's 5 of my personal tips on how to maintain the durability of your shoulders:
1. Stretch! - The good old fashioned sound principle which has triumphed time and time again and withstood the test of time - if you're tightening muscles up, then they need to be lengthened again afterwards - dugh! Which muscles? mainly the chest (or pecs to be more precise) and the lats as these muscles with be under a lot of strain when you're training those beach-body muscles regularly.
2. Work your upper-back and rear Delts (shoulders) - Most people's idea of a balanced program is alternating between chest, shoulders and arms! The rule is that you should generally work your upper-back and Rear-Delts (back of the shoulders) just as much if not twice the amount that you work your chest - why? Because we spend most of our lives sitting too much and in a 'forward/rounded shoulder posture' and then we go into the gym and push tons of weight on the Bench-Press (or do lot's of pressing exercises in general) further exacerbating the problem by putting more pressure through the front of the shoulders which in-turn imbalances the shoulder(s) by pulling them out of alignment. Balanced program people!
3. Work on your posture & mobilise your thoracic spine in the gym - As mentioned above, poor posture is a large chunk of the problem when it comes to shoulder injuries. If you're suffering from a shoulder issue or would like to reduce the chances of getting one - involve some exercises to help strengthen your 'postural' muscles (mainly the spinal erectors of the mid to upper-back), these can be anything from standard Dorsal Raises or Prone Cobras to wall slides with the backs of your arms, head and heels up against the wall. You should also being doing exercises to stretch and mobilise the Thoracic spine (mid-back) to keep it mobile as if it get's stiff, your shoulders will not be able to move and work efficiently.
4. Strengthen your Rotator Cuffs! - There are four smaller muscle-groups which surround the shoulder joint which are known as your Rotator Cuff muscles. These muscles are vital for keeping the shoulder held tightly and securely in the socket whilst your lifting weights and exercising so make sure you do plenty of smaller exercises to maintain the strength of these muscles.
5. Massage/Trigger-Point release - Inevitably, if you are exercising regularly (particularly with weights), all of the muscles in the shoulder area will get tight which will effect posture and correct function of the shoulder. So try getting a massage every now and again to keep the muscles loose and break down all that stiff tissue you've created. Having a massage will loosen all the Trigger Points (or knots) out of the muscles and increase the effectiveness of stretching which keeps the muscles healthy and less likely to be strained or injured during training.
So there you have it, and remember that these exercises and principles are not only applicable to people who train in the gym regularly, but also for people who spend a lot of time sat at a desk on a daily basis or doing jobs that involve a lot of bending forwards and rounding of the upper-back and shoulders for long periods of time.