Muscle Groups - The Shoulder Part 1

Moving on from the chest towards the arms are your shoulders, I was planning on talking about these with the arms but there is far too much going on there for just one post so I decided to split it into 3 parts; Shoulder, upper arm and lower arm

The Anatomy:

You can split the shoulder muscles into 6 key muscles spreading from the back to the top of the arms, though they may not appear equal they all have an important role to play in the movement of the arm.

Deltoids

Teres Major

• Supraspinatus - This muscle is use to help raise the arm for the first 10-15 degrees of the arms full rotation, it is also used to help prevent the arm from dropping due to gravitational forces.
• subscapularis - When the arm is raised from the side of the body the subscapularis can be contracted to move the arm forward and down at the same time. This is a useful motion, in sports like tennis or martial arts where this sort of movement is involved in serving and defensive actions.
• Infraspinatus - This muscle helps rotate the arm in the shoulder joint and is very close to the Teres minor and can be found to be fused with this muscle, it is also used for horizontal movement of the shoulder.
• Teres Minor - found next to the infraspinatus with the same function, it is also used to hold the arm in the shoulder joint.
• Teres Major - similar in size and position to the Teres minor, however it attached under the arm as opposed to over the arm like in the minor. this muscle has a rotation effect on the arm like the minor counter part however it works in the opposite direction.
• Deltoid - The most visible and defining of the shoulder muscles, this muscle raises the arm forward and also rotates the at the shoulder joint.

There are other muscles that will act upon the shoulder, including things like the pectorals and the scapulae, these muscles as you will have read are more arm orientated, so that I can link this to the arm workouts that I'll add later!

Stretches

As you would expect these stretches are going to be multifunctional, working your back and chest especially!

Stretch 1

This workout will work the both deltoids and also the pectorals. Place both arms behind your back and hold your hands together.

Starting Position

Now move both arms backwards until you can feel a good stretch on your chest, upper arms and shoulders and hold for 10-20 seconds, then slowly lower them back towards the starting position. 

Final Position

Stretch 2

This one works both the Infraspinatus and teres minor muscles. Start by lying down with your legs bent at 90 degrees and one of your hands palm down behind your back.

Starting Position

Now move your knees and feet in the direction of the arm under your back,rotating at the hips, keeping your knees bent. Hold this for 20 seconds then return to the starting position and repeat with the other arm.

Final Position

Stretch 3

This exercise will stretch your Teres Major muscles as well as your Triceps muscles. Place one of your arms behind your back with the elbow pointing upwards by your head. Place the hand of your other arm on top of your elbow.

Starting Position

Use your hand to pull the raised elbow towards your head and hold for 20 seconds and return to the starting position. When finished repeat with the other arm.

Final Position

Shoulder injuries are common especially in sports where things are thrown and can take some time to recover from, so it is very important to stretch well before any big activity!

That is all for now, I hope you all had a great Christmas and a happy New Year!

Rich