Shoulder training is a relatively complex exercise. If we do it non-standardly or with different intensity, it will cause harm to the shoulder. The shoulders are so fragile, so we'd better warm up before doing shoulder training, preferably the back. So why do you think you need to warm up your back before training your shoulders? Let’s go take a look below!
1. What are the benefits of warming up your back before doing shoulder exercises
In fact, we can call this warm-up method "core warm-up", that is, when you train any part of the body, you must warm up the core. The more fully the core warm-up is, the more stable the torso will be. Then when you train, It will be more standard and the performance will be better.
The core of our upper limbs is also called the shoulder core. The part that has the greatest impact on the upper limbs is our scapula. The more stable the scapula is, the more standard and comfortable the upper limb training will be. The scapula refers to the two wing-shaped bones in our back. The stability of these two bones determines the stability of the upper limb movements, and also determines the effect of upper limb training.
Therefore, the advantage of warming up the back before shoulder training is that it can make our shoulder blades more stable, thereby making the entire shoulder training process more controllable, and the shoulder training movements can be done more standard. For example, when many of us do barbell presses, the barbell always swings back and forth. This situation shows that our shoulder blades are not stable enough, so the entire movement is not stable enough. If you warm up your back before doing shoulder exercises, your barbell press will be easier, your weight-bearing capacity will be stronger, and your movements will be more standard. This is the benefit of warming up your back before doing shoulder exercises.
2. How to warm up your back before doing shoulder exercises
Pull-up peak recruitment
Peak recruitment means to stay at the top of the movement, and peak recruitment of pull-ups means to let you stay at the top of pull-ups. The dwell time should be as long as possible, about ten seconds or so. Through this action, we can fully recruit the shoulder-sinking strength of the scapula downward rotation. The peak recruitment of pull-ups can help you avoid problems such as shrugging when doing shoulder exercises.
Barbell Row Peak Recruitment
The peak recruitment of barbell rowing not only recruits the stability of the scapula, but also recruits the core of the lower back, that is, the strength of the lower limbs, which will make your body more stable when practicing shoulder exercises. There is no requirement for weight here. It should be about a quarter of your maximum strength to avoid excessive consumption of the strength of the lower back by heavy weights.