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Shoulder strength and mobility tips!

A lot of people struggle with shoulder pain or stiff shoulders that don't want to move. The more time I spend in the gym, the more I notice the soreness and stiffness that goes alone with working out. Here are a few things you can do to keep your shoulders healthy and moving longer.

- Build a healthy foundation for your shoulders. Something I have my clients do at least once a week is called Y-T-W's.  Hold some 2.5 pound plates or hand weights, bend at the knee slightly and with a tall proud chest and straight tight back lean forward at a 45 degree angle. Keeping your arms straight, lift your arms up and create a Y shape, 10-15 reps, then lift your arms laterally and create a T  shape 10-15 reps and finally, pull your elbows up first and then rotate your hands upward so your head and arms look like a W.

- Mobilize! Breaking up the facia build up in and around your shoulders is really important, it helps them move around better and feel better too. My favorite tool (and the easiest) is a lacrosse ball. I start in front above my pectoral muscle against a door jamb or wall and slowly move in teeny tiny circles towards my shoulder. Then I move the ball to the backside of my armpit (arm up or down, you have to experiment to see what feels like works best for you). I go down a few inches, still slowly moving and slow tiny circles. I move up and across my traps and down between my spine and shoulder blade. You can also do this on the floor, but its a bit more awkward to be rolling around on the ground and moving in slow tiny circles, haha!

I also encourage my clients to do big slow arm circles forward and back, and small circles as well.

I STRONGLY urge you to add in some of these into your workout routines during the week!  When you are old, your body will thank you for giving it such a nice strong foundation.


xxoo

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