5 Minute Shoulder Mobility Warm-up

by Mike Hanley

In this day and age we have such busy lives and schedules that it is crucial to make the most out of our time in the gym.  Many times we often forget the most important aspects of training and just go in and start throwing weights around.  In the long run this causes more problems than it saves time.  I get asked quite often how to get in all aspects of training with very limited time to do so.  When we think about training we think about strength, conditioning, flexibility,  mobility in that order when in fact it needs to be the complete opposite to stay in the game.  Mobility and flexibility of the joints, muscle tissue, ligaments and tendons surrounding those joints is crucial for maintaining a healthy body that can withstand heavy loads year in and year out.

Here is a great upper body warm up that incorporates dynamic warm-ups, mobility and muscle activation to prep our shoulder girdle, thoracic spine and rotators in 5 minutes.  It is a simple, quick and effective warm-up for upper body days.

Objective

To warm up and activate the muscles in  the shoulder region, upper back and thoracic spine.  Properly prepare our tendons, ligaments and muscle for the task to come and to improve joint integrity of the shoulder and thoracic spine.

Bodyparts Involved

Shoulder muscles including the all rotator cuff muscles, teres major and minor,  rhomboids and thoracic spine.

Warm-up

1.    Unilateral External Circular Rotations – 10x each arm
2.    Unilateral Internal Circular Rotations – 10x each arm
3.    Bilateral External Circular Rotations – 10x
4.    Bilateral Internal Circular Rotations – 10x
5.    Corkscrew Shoulder Twists – 20x
6.    Squat Position Unilateral Thoracic Mobility Reach – 10x each side
7.    Band Shoulder Dislocates – 10x
8.    Band Diagonal Shoulder Dislocates – 5x each way
9.    Band Pull Aparts – 10x
10.  Diagonal Band Pull Aparts- 10x each way

Give this warm-up a try on your upper body days or even on a squat day if your shoulder are tight.  It will help alleviate some tightness in the shoulder while squatting with a bar on your back.  Many times our shoulders get just as beat up on a squat workout as they do on a bench day.

This warm up is quick and it works.  If you are pressed for time it will take 5 minutes and your shoulders will feel like a million bucks

Author’s Bio

Check out Mike and his killer blog at http://www.hanleystrength.com .  He has a massive free report, you better go pick it up!

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Tags: amped warm-up, how to warm-up, rotator cuff injuries, shoulder exercises for rehab, shoulder rehab, strength training workouts, upper body warm-up

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 31st, 2010 at 10:06 am and is filed under accelerated muscular development, injury rehab recover from injury, strength training to improve athletic performance, strength training workouts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.