Your deltoids/shoulders are a complex ball and socket type joint. Your entire upper body strength and aesthetics are dependant on them. We see so many beat up, narrow, weak and sore shoulders we have lost count…they need to be shown some love.
As always we support manual therapy, ice and heat but fundamentally you need to be strong to gain a permanent fix. An unfortunate part of weight training for deltoids is that the overhead shoulder press is too often a torso movement and the shoulders just take the brunt of the grinding. Some lean back too much even when seated and others lean forward and use too much back muscle. Others just cheat and throw momentum and legs into the exercise.
In the above video we show a simple method (climbing reps) to go lighter on dumbbell overhead press yet gain far more deltoid stimulation than traditional reps provide. It’s not an actual isolation move but it can burn and pump like one. You use your extra strong ‘static hold’ strength (about 20% more than lifting strength) to help you climb up to the top and down just like hands and feet on a ladder. As well, the lighter weight takes some of the unnecessary balancing and impact forces out of it, start slow and give it a try.
Be well, be strong,
Andrew and Tierney
wefit.ca 