| The shoulder joint is the most flexible joint in the body, | | | | rotation strength. |
| allowing you a very wide range of movement. | | | | This can be done using the l-fly exercise - it only takes |
| However, this flexibility comes at a cost, as the | | | | five minutes a week - probably less than that! I myself |
| shoulder joint is very unstable, precisely because it is | | | | had a shoulder injury from bad bench pressing |
| so flexible. | | | | technique, and I was able to cure it entirely using this |
| Shoulder health is essential in everyday life, and even | | | | exercise, so I know how valuable it is. |
| more so if you're into bodybuilding. I can't think of any | | | | Here's how to do the l-fly. |
| upper body exercise that doesn't employ the shoulder | | | | Take a very light dumbbell in one hand. Now lay on |
| joint in some way, except for abs exercises. | | | | your side on your exercise bench. If you're doing the |
| Apart from the instability of the shoulder joint, there are | | | | right shoulder you lay on your left side, and vice versa. |
| two reasons why so many folks have unhealthy | | | | Keep your upper arm tight against your side, with your |
| shoulders; | | | | forearm at 90 degrees to your upper arm. Now try |
| First, they do their upper body pressing movements | | | | and lift the dumbbell up by keeping your upper arm |
| with terrible technique, which puts strain on the shoulder | | | | against your side while rotating the hand holding the |
| joint. This could take the form of bench pressing too | | | | 'bell away from you - you should feel this in the |
| high up on the body, or allowing the elbows to flare out | | | | shoulder joint. |
| in the bench press or overhead press. | | | | Absolutely do not force this, and be very careful about |
| So if this is you, clean up your technique! | | | | adding weight to the dumbbell. When you've lifted the |
| Second, all of us have an imbalance between internal | | | | 'bell as high as you can without forcing, then lower it to |
| and external shoulder rotation strength. | | | | the start position - that is one rep. |
| Let me explain; | | | | Two sets of say eight reps a side should be all you |
| Imagine you're shaking hands with someone. Better still, | | | | need, once a week. Do this exercise at the end of |
| actually do this so you can prove it to yourself. | | | | your workout, after your big pressing exercises. (This |
| Try and move the hand you're shaking with to the | | | | will mean that you haven't tired the shoulders out |
| opposite side of your body - so if you're right handed, | | | | before your bench press or overhead press.) |
| try and rotate your hand to the left side of the body. | | | | It's important not to rush the reps. Keep the tempo |
| That's internal rotation of the shoulder joint. | | | | slow and deliberate. |
| Now try and move your hand the other side - that is | | | | That's it - doing this one exercise for five minutes a |
| external rotation. | | | | week will go a very long way towards keeping your |
| All of us are much stronger at internal rotation than | | | | shoulders in tip top health! |
| external rotation - the trick then is to build up external | | | | |