4 Shoulder Friendly Upper Body Exercises

In today’s post CDSF coach Dan Jones goes over four upper body exercises that will allow you to train your upper body without the worry of putting additional stress on your rotator cuff or shoulder joint. 

Overhead pressing and benching are great exercises to put size and strength on your upper body, but you should also consider including exercises that allow your shoulder blades to move more freely and exercises that strengthen your rotator cuff in order to keep your shoulders healthy during programs where you’re benching or pressing overhead often. 

Give these four exercises a try during your next upper body training session and let us know how they go!

1. TRX Y-  This is a great option to strengthen your lower traps and abs; both of which are important for keeping your shoulders and back healthy when pressing overhead or playing an overhead sport.

2. Bottoms-Up Half Turkish Get-Up- The Turkish Get-Up is a great exercise to integrate training shoulder, core, and hip stability. The use of the bottoms-up kettlebell will pose a greater challenge to your rotator cuff to stabilize your shoulder joint. 

3. Neutral Grip Pull-Ups- Switching to a neutral grip pull-up instead of a pronated grip will keep your shoulder joint in a safer position while performing the pull-up. 

4. Dynamic Low-to-High Landmine Press- This is a smart option instead of the traditional push press if you’re an overhead athlete or have struggled with shoulder injuries or pain when barbell pressing overhead.

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