Get the most out of your arm exercises and protect you shoulder joints with some arm and shoulder blade isolation!
Shoulder mobility and stability are extremely important for our everyday lives. A lack of either stability or mobility can lead to shoulder and neck pain and injuries. We often move our arms and shoulder bones as if they are glued together. They are attached by muscles, tendons and tissue but they are not one bone. Therefore, you can move your arm without necessarily having to move your shoulder. Learning how to isolate your shoulder blade movement from your arm movement can help improve both shoulder mobility and stability and creates greater body awareness.
This isolation also allows you to access smaller muscles that do not want to work as well as the bigger arm and shoulder muscles do. Building strength in these small muscles helps build equality in your muscles and, therefore, prevents injury and pain from over use of certain muscles and a lack of strength in others.
The shoulder is a very complicated part of your body and is very prone to injury so anything to help prevent that can help improve every aspect of your life!
In this video, we use a pilates exercise, Hug-A-Tree, as an example exercise, but the isolation principals in this video are the same for any arm exercise.
Want some more help with shoulder isolation and mobility? Schedule your free 90 minute consultation.
Addie Kelzer is a certified personal trainer and nutrition consultant. She believes that by making fitness and good food practical, her clients will hold the power to positively change their health and the health of those closest to them.
