Repeating one movement over and over again or static muscle tension are the worst enemies of your neck and shoulders. Muscles do not get enough oxygen and get tired and sore. The pain makes you to tense and tighten the muscles. After the ache has started the worst thing to do is to stay put and do nothing.
When exercising neck and shoulder area it is important to remember that the key is not how hard you train, but the balance between surface and deep muscles. The secret is in stretching surface muscles and exercising and training deep muscles – that way you are able to train all the muscles that effect the position of the shoulder blade.
Make your blood circulate better on the neck and shoulder area
- Swing your hands up and down
- Exercise and warm up by making boxing moves
- Roll your shoulders around (use a stick to help out)
Shoulder blade abductors
- Place your hands against a wall and make push-ups, try to get as close to the wall as possible
- Keep your shoulder area as stable as possible, round your upper back a little, do not let your shoulder blades move and touch each other
- Push your hands straight when in up position and stretch one more centimetre away from the wall
Shoulder blade adductors
- Attach a resisting rubber band to, for example, a door handle
- Catch the ends of the band, hold your elbows in a 90 degree angle
- Pull elbows back, keep your arms close to the body and move the shoulder blades closer to each other
The muscles that pull down the shoulder blade
- Lay on the floor, face down
- Place your right hand under your forehead and keep your left arm straight, next to your body
- Lift your arm about 10 cm from the floor and move the arm in front of you, keep it off the floor
- Bring your arm back to the side of your body and let it rest on the floor
- Repeat exercise on both sides
Front muscles of the neck
- Start by pressing your left collarbone with your right hand
- Bend your head a little backwards to your right
- Intensify the stretching by turning your face away and lifting your view upwards to your left
- Move your left hand gently behind your back, that makes the stretching more intense. Keep your mouth closed.
- Repeat exercise on the other side
Side of the neck, elevator muscles of shoulder blades
- Lean your uppear arm against a wall, so that the elbow is pointing up
- Bend your head towards the opposite armpit, and hold your chin down
- Repeat exercise on the other side
Pecs
- Functional stretching using pectoralis minor muscle (which is often rather difficult to stretch)
- Take your position as shown in the picture (on all fours)
- Raise your hand to hold the Salli chair, keep the chair in front of you and make sure that the chair is adjusted high enough
- Hold the weight on your arm and keep the head/neck and shoulder area relaxed. Stretching and opening up chest area muscles is intensified by actively tightening the muscles around the shoulder blades at the same time
- Repeat exercise on the other side
Trapetzius muscle
- Sit on Salli in a good posture
- Stretch to one side and catch the edge of the chair with your hand
- Stretch away from that side
- Tilt your head to maximize the stretching feeling and lean to the same side, you should feel the stretching feeling in your neck and shoulders
- Keep the stretch long-lasting and gentle
- Repeat exercise on the other side
