Jun 2 2012
Stable Shoulders – 10 Minutes for Less Headaches, Less Backaches and Better Posture
Just 10 minutes a day can help to stabilize your shoulders, give you less headaches, less backaches and better posture.
Waking up a sleepy lower (and middle) trapezius muscle is the key. The lower and mid trapezius can get elongated and a bit funky from too much texting while looking down, computer work, driving, or anything else that keeps your arms stretched out in front of you for too long.
Use a computer a lot? Drive a lot? Your lower traps may be a little sleepy. 
Mine get sleepy too. Let’s wake ‘em up!
xoxo ~ Cori
Educate Yourself – The Trapezius Muscle
Educate Yourself – The Trapezius Muscles
Educate Yourself – The Trapezius Muscles
Workout – Stable Shoulders
Stable Shoulders – 10 Minutes for Less Headaches, Less Backaches and Better Posture
Stable Shoulders – 10 Minutes for Less Headaches, Less Backaches and Better Posture
Have a Sports Doctor on Your Team
If you feel any pain while doing this routine, or something just doesn’t feel right, don’t hesitate to go see a doctor! I would highly recommend seeing a sports medicine specialist or a doctor that specializes in treating active people.
If you are in the northern California, San Francisco bay area, I can personally recommend Dr. Ed Le Cara of Sports Plus Bay Area Rehabilitation and Injury Prevention. He’s by far the best sports medicine professional I have worked with.
I have been with him for years and he’s treated me throughout marathons, triathlons, usual wear and tear and weight training. He has also treated my kids when each of them have had sports related concussions, my husband, my mom, my dad and several of my friends. He’s like Mr. Miagi from the Karate Kid. I swear he has some kind of wicked knowledge and voodoo magic touch that can fix just about everything.
Remember, no matter active (or inactive) you are, if you’re not activating the proper muscles it will inevitably result in injury.
We have our arms stretched out in front of us quite a bit within our technology focused, American culture. That’s not a bad thing, but it means it has become increasingly important to reinforce stability within our shoulders. You can start by activating the lower and mid trapezius with this 10 minute warm up routine.
Rehab (and prehab) exercises can be tedious and a bit lackluster, I totally get it, but they are extremely important. Take just 10 minutes a day to go through this routine. Your neck, back and shoulders will thank you for it.
Workout Breakdown
|
Time: 10 Minutes. |
|
Workout Type: Upper body warm up. |
|
Workout Exercises: 5. |
Get your gear:
|
No gear needed. Just your own body and a decision to get it done. |
Buy the same nutrition products as me:
|
PROTEIN Get your protein here |
|
SUPER GREENS Get your super greens here |
|
Peanut Butter Get your PB2 here |
|
EGG WHITES Get your egg whites here |
|
Tea Get your tea here |
Stable Shoulders – 10 Minutes for Less Headaches, Less Backaches and Better Posture
You don’t need any equipment at all for this routine. You can do it on the ground, on a bench, ottoman, or even in bed. This is a great warm up routine to do each day to wake up your sleepy lower (and mid) trapezius, but especially on days when you are working your upper body.
Standing Lower Trapezius Activation:
1 minute x 2
Stand with your arms overhead, outstretched in a V. Squeeze your shoulder blades together in the back, then pull them down. Try to really visualize and focus on the lower area of your trapezius muscle. Go slow and focus on squeezing every muscle fiber. Go for one full minute. Rest briefly. Then do it again.
Prone Lower Trapezius Activation (V Position):
1 minute x 2
Lay face down on the ground, on a bench, on an ottoman, or even in bed. Raise your arms overhead and outstretch them in a V just like you did with the last exercise. Make sure to keep your neck aligned with the rest of your spine. No looking up. No looking down. Align your neck, notice where you’re eyes are looking once you’re aligned and keep them there.
Squeeze your shoulder blades together in the back, then pull them down. This is going to be a lot harder then the previous exercise because now you are fighting gravity. Don’t let your arms fall. Try to keep your elbows at about the same height as your shoulders, or even your ears if you have the flexibility.
Visualize the lower area of your trapezius muscle squeezing hard as you lift your arms and pull them back. Again, go slow and focus on squeezing every muscle fiber. Go for one full minute. Rest for just a moment. Then do it again.
Prone Mid Trapezius Activation (T Position):
1 minute x 2
Same as above, but now your arms are outstretched to the side, in a ‘T’ instead of in a ‘V.’
Lay face down on the ground, on a bench, on an ottoman, or even in bed. Raise your arms to the side and outstretch them in a T position. Make sure to keep your neck aligned with the rest of your spine. No looking up. No looking down. Align your neck, notice where you’re eyes are looking once you’re aligned and keep them there.
Lift your arms slightly, squeeze your shoulder blades together in the back, then pull them down. To make it more dynamic, rotate your arms like I do in the video as you lift and lower your arms. As you rotate your arms and pull them in and back, visualize your lats squeezing in addition to the middle area of your trapezius.
Don’t let your arms fall. Try to keep your elbows at about the same height as your shoulders. Again, go slow and focus on squeezing every muscle fiber. Go for one full minute. Rest for no longer than 30 seconds. Then do it again.
Prone Mid Trapezius Activation (Hands Behind Head):
1 minute x 2
Same as above, but now your arms are bent and your hands are at your ears, lightly touching the back of your head. Make sure you are not pulling down on your head and neck.
Make sure to keep your neck aligned with the rest of your spine. No looking up. No looking down. Align your neck, notice where you’re eyes are looking once you’re aligned and keep them there. Again, do not pull on your head with your arms.
Lift your elbows slightly, squeezing your shoulder blades together in the back. Visualize the middle area of your trapezius flexing and squeezing hard. This will be harder than it looks. These muscles are typically underworked in the gym and elongated from day to day activities, so it may be difficult to feel them flexing.
Don’t let your elbows fall to far forward. Focus on squeezing your shoulders blades together first before you lift your elbows each time. Try to lift your elbows to about the height of your shoulders, or to your ears if you have the flexibility and the strength to do so. Again, go slow and focus on squeezing every muscle fiber. Go for one full minute. Rest, but not for long. Then do it again.
Prone Scarecrow (L Position):
1 minute x 2
Same position as the previous exercises, but now you will bend your elbows at a 90 degree angle. You will have to have your chest elevated for this exercise and have some room in front of you, so you won’t be able to do it on the floor. Use an ottoman, bench, or even hang slightly off of your bed.
Try to keep your elbows level with your shoulders throughout the movement. Lower your wrists, but keep your elbows bent at 90 degrees. Bring your wrists back up to at least the height of your elbows. Hold it for a second and squeeze your shoulder blades down and back. Repeat.
Don’t get sloppy. Don’t go fast. Move slow and controlled. Focus on perfecting your form. No bending your wrists. No cocking your neck. No dropping your elbows. No bending your elbows too much or too little. In this type of exercise, it’s the details that make all the difference.
Go for one full minute. Rest for just a moment. Then do it again.
10 minutes. Done.
There it is. Instead of popping some ibuprofen for headaches, try giving yourself just 10 minutes a day for better posture, less headaches, less backaches and for stable, strong shoulders. Make sure you’re also eating properly. Your body needs the proper fuel to function and repair, otherwise it will be more apt to break down!
Follow Through
I like to post something about cardio and nutrition at the end of every post because it is important.
Cardio and nutrition are going to be two of the most important parts of achieving your results, no matter what what your goal is. You can not work off your nutritional decisions with exercise. What? You can’t eat a donut, then just do 2 hours of cardio and *poof* it will be like it never happened? That’s what I’m saying. Come on. No. You can’t.
Your body doesn’t work like a simple addition or subtraction problem. It is not calories in vs. calories out. What you eat has a chemical effect on your body. Even if you do cardio to ‘burn it off’ the chemical effect is still present. Different sugars have an affect. Different proteins have an effect. Different fats have an effect. When you take a vitamin, you understand that it has an effect in your body that cardio will not ‘work off,’ right? Food works the same way. Different foods have positive and negative chemical effects within our body. You can’t just work them off.
You have to unlock and unleash the body fat by working with your body in every aspect. Your body works in harmony like a symphony. When one instrument is off, the entire song doesn’t sound right. A good steady drumbeat can’t make up for a guitar that’s out of tune. 2 hours of cardio cannot make up for a donut. Or pizza. Or macaroni and cheese. Or wine and a baguette. Got it?
Cardio
I do a minimum of 45 minutes of stairs with intervals as cardio each and every day. When I’m trying to lose fat I usually do two separate 45 minute cardio sessions a day. Even while I have been recuperating from the car crash, I have still been able to do at least one session of my daily cardio. I love my cardio and I like to stay conditioned. I personally prefer to do a little more cardio than the average figure competitor, then also eat a little more. It takes more time and effort, but I feel the pay off is well worth it. The pay off is that I feel awesome. I feel energized by cardio. I love it.
Post Workout Nutrition
When I was trying to gain muscle I finished every workout with a protein shake, animal protein, and some complex and simple carbs. These are healthy choices for gaining or for performance. These are not the right choices for me for trying to lose fat, define and sculpt muscle. Trying to define and sculpt muscle is different from gaining muscle. This means I need to eat something different.
When I am trying to lose fat and sculpt muscle, I am much more strict with my diet. Only true food sources. No protein powder.
I finish up every workout with lean protein from true food sources (a little red meat, white chicken, white fish and egg whites are best) and some dark green veggies or Super Greens mixed with water only. Again, no protein powder. If you are a vegetarian you would most likely need to supplement with protein powder. If you are not, let me say again that true food sources work best for losing body fat.
Even when I am trying to lose fat, I still FEED my body.
Want more information about nutrition? Check out BPM.tv Nutrition 101.
You can also look at my current personal fat loss diet in order to get ideas on how to develop your own nutrition plan.
Cori Ann’s Prepping Fat Loss Diet:
You can click on the link to my fat loss diet to get details about what works for me, but here is the basic breakdown.
This is my meal plan while I am trying to lose fat and define muscle. My carbohydrates come from complex sources only and are kept to about 100 grams per day.
My sugar is kept at about 18 grams per day. That’s it. That is less than what is in one banana. That means fruit is not in my fat loss nutrition plan. My sugars come from minimal amounts that naturally occur in veggies and in the complex carbs I eat each day. No matter what your goal, I highly recommend you watch your sugar intake, even ‘healthy’ sugar like fruit, and moderate it to a minimum based on your own personal goals.
My protein is kept at about 250 grams per day and comes from high quality, organic, free range (or wild) lean animal sources. My fats are kept at about 40 grams per day and come from my protein and complex carbohydrate choices (not additional plant sources like olive oil, coconut, nuts, or avocado).
That equals about 1800 calories per day. I don’t drop it much lower than that.
I eat natural, organic, whole foods that I cook myself, or if possible I eat them raw. I drink 1 to 2 gallons of water and a couple cups of either coffee or tea. There is no mysterious, magical diet. If you want to lose bodyfat you need to eat a fair amount of lean protein and A LOT of green veggies at every meal. Period.
Did you like this post? Tell me in the comments!
Please share your thoughts and questions in the comments. Don’t be shy! Your comments may help to inspire another. Your questions may help someone else who has the exact same question, but is too shy to ask. I love hearing from you!
Try to come up with a way to make the exercises even more challenging! Try to have better form than me! Let’s inspire each other.
Jun 28, 2012 @ 00:25:38
It’s a pity you don’t have a donate button! I’d without a doubt donate to this outstanding blog! I guess for now i’ll settle for book-marking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward to fresh updates and will talk about this site with my Facebook group. Talk soon!
Jun 28, 2012 @ 08:41:45
Thanks! There IS a donate button at the end of every post.
Please feel free. I appreciate it and it keeps the site going.