Women with sexy shoulders love to show them off. Well defined and curved shoulders allow women to wear anything they desire including off the shoulder blouses and halter tops. If you are ready to shape up your shoulders, take a look at the following exercises.
When choosing shoulder exercises, keep in mind that your shoulders are defined by three deltoid muscles and should be trained from three directions – front, side and rear. Doing so will result in balanced and shapely shoulder muscles. Shoulder exercises can be performed with dumbbells, kettlebells, resistance bands, a medicine ball, a barbell or your own bodyweight.
Contents
1. Warmup
You should warm up your muscles with arm swings, side straddle hops, boxing moves, jumping rope and push-ups to prepare your muscles for training and prevent injuries.
Read More:
- 7 Reasons Why You Should Warm Up Before You Exercise
- The 5 Best Warm Up Exercises To Get You Ready For Your Workout
2. Wall Push-Ups
Face the wall and place your palms on it, with your hands shoulder-width apart and bend your elbows as you lower your face close to the wall. Push slowly away from the wall until your elbows are completely straight. Concentrate on keeping your body straight throughout the exercise, and not allowing your hips or butt to lift or come forward. As you become stronger, place your arms on a sturdy desk or bench and then eventually on the floor to increase the resistance.
Tips:
- Stand in front of a wall. Lift your arms to the shoulder level and place your palms against the wall. They should be wider than your shoulders.
- Your fingers must be pointing upwards. Move your feet a few feet away from the wall. Your elbows have to be bent, as you lean against the wall.
- Never arch your back during these exercises, as they can damage the spine, causing injury.
- Pull your stomach in and contract your buttocks during these exercises.
- This aids to support your upper body. Inhale before you begin the exercise and exhale as you push yourself away from the wall, until your arms are outstretched and the elbows slightly bent.
- Repeat this procedure 5-10 times.
For more advanced levels of exercise, follow the guidelines given below:
- Using a slow pace, this is a rather advanced version of the exercise.
- Start the doing the Wall push-up at a slow pace.
- While you push off from the wall, count slowly until 4.
- Count slowly again until 4 as you came back to the starting position.
- Breathing correctly during this exercise quickly enhances desired results.
3. Dumbbell Shoulder Press
Your choice, standing up or seated, holding a dumbbell in each hand and while tightening your core press the dumbbells over your head until your arms are completely stretched and then lower the dumbbells to the starting position. Shoulder presses are a great exercise for shaping shoulders.
4. Front Dumbbell Raises
Hold each of the dumbbells at thigh level with your palms facing towards you and lift the dumbbells to slightly above shoulder height either together or alternate individually using one arm then the other. Pause briefly at the highest point before lowering the dumbbells. This exercise trains the front (anterior) deltoid.
5. Side Dumbbell Raises
In a similar start position to the front dumbbell raises, stand and hold each of the dumbbells at thigh level with your palms facing towards you but this time at the outside of your legs. Lift both dumbbells out to your sides until slightly above shoulder level and pause briefly at the highest point before lowering the dumbbells back to the start. This exercise isolates the center of the three deltoid muscles.
6. Upright Rows
This exercise can be performed with a pair of dumbbells, a single heavy dumbbell, a kettlebell or a barbell. While standing upright with your feet shoulder width apart hold your choice of weight with your palms facing inward and lift the weight up to your chin until elbows are bent and pointed outward.Pause briefly and lower the weight to the start position.
Use these simple exercises to develop sexy, well-shaped and defined shoulders and you will soon be showing them off in your strapless dresses and off the shoulder tops.
