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Continued from Page 1: Shoulders: Strength and Grace
Each shoulder is a wonderful ball-and-socket machine made up of three bones: the bone of the upper arm (the humerous), the clavicle, which runs in front of the body from the top of the shoulder to the base of the neck and is part of what we call the collar bone, and third, the scapula, which is in back and is what we call the shoulder blade.
Usually when we talk about the shoulder muscles, we are talking about the deltoids, which are layers of muscle that attach to the bones of the shoulder and regulate the lifting of the arm at the shoulder, the use of the arm to move it in front of the body, and the use of the arm to move it away from the body. Additionally, rotation of the arm is allowed by the three bones and enabled by the deltoid muscles.
Weightlifters often include rhomboid muscle exercises with shoulder exercises. The rhomboids are the muscles that join the shoulder blades in back to the spine. Weak rhomboids result in poor posture, a bent over look that often occurs because the muscles of the chest become stronger and tighter than the rhomboids in back, and so the chest muscles, over time, actually pull the body forward. This pulling forward action doesn't occur just in strong people. In fact, it is more likely in people who do not exercise. The remedy is to exercise muscles both front and back, and create a balance of strength.
The best three shoulder exercises are the shoulder press, the deltoid raise, and the rhomboid row. The deltoid raise (also called the side deltoid raise or lateral raise) is difficult for women, and I started Jeanne with only a one-pound weight in each hand. To do a side deltoid raise, a woman holds two light dumb bells at her belt buckle, her hands closed aroudn the weights, palms facing each other. Her elbows are bent at 90 degree angles, and this bend never changes through the lift. She lifts her elbows without bending them, keeping the hands level with the elbows, all the way up to shoulder height.
Think of a bird slowly lifting its wings spread out on either side. As she lifts her elbows outward and up to shoulder height, her hands naturally change orientation so that the palms are facing the ground. One coach told me to treat the weights like pitchers of ice tea, except that instead of pouring the tea in front of me, I was letting the tea pour onto the ground on either side of my feet. The scenario is that of pouring full pitchers onto the ground on either side of you, from shoulder height. Then the elbows come back in to the sides of the body, returning the hands to belt buckle level.
The side raise will quickly tire a woman's shoulders. It's one of those exercises that never becomes easy, but it's great for keeping the shoulder mobile and useful.
If a woman cannot do a rhomboid row, the next best thing is to sit upright with her back straight or to lie face down on a hard bench and work on squeezing her shoulder blades together with the muscles of the spine. She'll need to try to do three sets of ten repetitions of this (or more). But this exercise is good for helping posture.
Age takes strength from muscles if we do not systematically work them with resistance training (weight lifting). Regarding the shoulders, a woman may quickly lose her dexterity with her shoulders if she does not protect them by exercise.We use our shoulders for more things than hoisting boxes. Much of the industrious but craft-type work that we do: flower arranging, wall papering, decorating a Christmas tree, putting knick knacks on a shelf, requires the use of the shoulders. And the simple grace of a woman's form is greatly enhanced by the way the shoulders move the arm. As I learned in college, even women who knew nothing about dance quickly became graceful and beautiful when they moved their arms in natural, easy waves.
The humerous fits into the shoulder socket by means of the rotator cuff. As we age, this cuff becomes more vulnerable to injury. Good shoulder muscles and strong rhomboids can help keep the shoulder stable in its socket so that we do not suffer dislocations or rotator cuff tears.
Falls, bumps, fender benders, etc., are events that a person with strong and healthy muscles can shrug off or quickly recover from. But as a woman progresses beyond menopause, events like these can be life changing, and a routine of weight resistance training can mean the difference for a woman between being able to pick herself up and go on with her life, or having her life suddenly change because the recovery itself from trauma to a joint or bone will require a long and slow process.
To preserve strength and grace, a good weight resistance program provides an efficient means for a woman to continue to live her life the way she chooses.
Here's a suggestion: Print Jeri's articles and pin them up by your exercise area.
