Train for shoulder health

You men love to train your chest.

We women love to train our legs.

We should all shift our attention at least once a week to our shoulders. We’ll stand up straighter, build stronger upper bodies and keep shoulder joint injuries at bay.

The shoulder joint has more range of motion than any other joint in our body and it can easily be injured. Keeping the muscles that support the shoulder joint strong is crucial.

We don’t have to limit our training to presses and raises. There are a multitude of exercises that target these muscles.

The wide-grip upright row is one of them.

To perform this exercise: Secure a five- to 10-pound weight plate to each end of a weight bar. Grasp the bar toward the inside ends, close to the weight plates. With your feet hip-width apart, knees slightly bent and your chest open, let your arms extend down so the bar is in front of your legs. Slowly raise the bar up to just below your chest by raising your elbows. Then, slowly and deliberately lower the bar to the starting position and immediately raise the bar back up to complete 15 repetitions.