It’s important to keep muscles strong and flexible throughout our lifetime, as weak muscles and joints are a leading cause of pain, and our shoulders are no exception. Thankfully, there are several quick and simple shoulder exercises that can help strengthen and stretch the shoulder, helping to decrease pain and prevent future injury.
Strengthening the shoulder muscle help to keep the joint stable and can relieve shoulder pain. Stretching the muscles restores range of motion in the joint and prevents injury.
Together, strength and flexibility training help to decrease shoulder pain and prevent injury.
And the best part is, this training can be done in the comfort of your own home! No fancy or expensive gym equipment needed.
If you want a list of simple, at-home exercises to both strengthen and stretch your shoulder, then keep reading!
You will just need a light set of hand weights for a couple of these exercises. The rest require no equipment at all!
These exercises are easy enough that most anyone will be able to complete them but can also be scaled up for those who are already in good shape. If that’s you, simply add to the number of repetitions for each exercise or use heavier hand weights.
*It is always a good idea to consult your doctor before starting any new exercise program, especially if you have any preexisting medical conditions. If you are ever unsure, consult your doctor first.
5 Shoulder Exercises for Strength Training
Shoulder Exercise 1: Full Body Plank
While this is a full body exercise, it tends to really work the shoulders!
For this exercise, lay down on the floor on your abdomen, hands under your shoulders.
Push up off the ground into plank position. Make sure to keep your back straight and don’t let your hips sag.
Hold this for as long as you can, which for most people is going to be anywhere from 20-60 seconds.
If this is too challenging for you, try completing it on your forearms instead of your hands. This may help if you have weak wrists and still gives you a great workout!
Shoulder Exercise 2: Lateral Raise
If you have a set of light hand weights, grab them now.
Standing up with your feet hip-width apart and arms to your side, lift your arms straight out from your side until they are level with the shoulders and parallel to the floor.
Make sure you lift nice and slow, keeping a slight bend in the elbow. Then lower your arms back down to your sides.
Repeat this exercise 10 times.
Shoulder Exercise 3: Front Raise
You are still standing with your feet hip-width apart, weights in hand, and arms at your side.
This time, instead of bringing your arms up and out to the side, you are going to bring them up and in front of you, until your hands are at shoulder height and arms are parallel with the floor.
You still want to lift and lower slowly and with control, elbows slightly bent.
Repeat 10 times.
Shoulder Exercise 4: Push-Ups
I just had to add good old-fashioned push-ups to our list, as they work the upper body well and can be done from anywhere in the world, with no equipment necessary!
To perform a push-up, just get yourself into plank position and start pumping!
Do as many as you can before resting and remember, “girl push-ups” are okay, too!
If a full plank push-up is too much for you then drop to your knees, straighten out your back (like it would be in full plank) and complete your push-ups from there.
You still get an upper body workout this way, it just takes the intensity down a notch, and that is perfectly fine.
Shoulder Exercise 5: Arm Circles
This one is so easy, but you may be surprised how much you feel this in your shoulders!
Standing up, feet hip-width apart, bring your arms up from your side until they are parallel with the floor, even with the shoulders.
Now, rotate your arms forward and make a big but comfortable circle in the air with your arms. Don’t make the movement so large that you feel pain in your shoulders, just large enough to get them working a bit!
Make 20 circles moving your arms forward, then make 20 circles moving them backward.
Whew! That one may have raised your heart rate more than you expected but it really helps to get those shoulders working.
3 Shoulder Exercises for Flexibility
Now that we have done our strength training, we need to stretch those shoulder muscles back out to prevent stiffness and to help increase flexibility.
Shoulder Stretch 1: Across the Chest
For this one, you are going to start in an upright position.
Then, take your right arm and cross it over to your left side. With your left hand, grab the right arm and pull it farther into your chest.
You should feel a nice stretch through your right arm, up to your shoulder.
Hold this for 30 seconds and switch arms. Repeat.
Shoulder Stretch 2: Above the Head
Still standing, you are going to raise your right arm all the way above your head; straight up!
Then, drop your lower arm back behind your head, bending it at the elbow. Your elbow should be pointed up at the ceiling.
Take your left hand and place it on your right elbow, giving it a gentle push down, stretching the shoulder and arm muscles.
Hold this for 30 seconds then repeat with the other side.
Shoulder Stretch 3: Behind the Back
We are ending with an easy one!
Standing up, bring both arms together behind your back, palms together and fingers interlaced.
Using your interlaced hands, pull your shoulders back, and push your chest out. You should feel the stretch in your shoulder muscles.
Hold this for 30 seconds and release.
Frequency of Strength and Flexibility Training
Many people don’t know how often to engage in strength training exercises.
In fact, this was a very common question that my patients had when I worked as a cardiopulmonary rehabilitation nurse (along with “are you sure I have to walk on the treadmill for 20 minutes?”).
So, I will recommend to you as I recommended to them: you should aim to incorporate strength training into your exercise routine 3 days per week.
This helps to strengthen your muscles over time without overworking them and allows time for the muscles to rest during your “off” days.
Although, I would recommend that your “off” days be spent engaging in some cardiovascular exercises that you find enjoyable. Even a daily 30-minute walk is extremely beneficial for your overall health.
On the other hand, flexibility training can be done daily if you want to see the full benefits of stretching. But at the very least, you should stretch both before and after exercising in any way to prevent damage to your muscles and tendons.
Key Take Aways:
- Strength and flexibility training are important in keeping muscles and joints strong.
- Strong muscles and joints are less prone to injury and have increased range of motion.
- Simple shoulder exercises can be done at home to help keep this large joint strong and resilient to injury.
- Strength training should be done 3 times per week and flexibility training done at least as often as exercise occurs.
I hope you found this post helpful! If you did, please feel free to leave me a comment bellow or join my email list to have posts like this delivered straight to your inbox!
Resources:
OrthoInfo. Rotator Cuff and Shoulder Conditioning Program.
