Taking care of the muscles that shape your shoulders and getting them to be firm and rounded does not necessarily imply working with a barbell or dumbbells. You have exercises to tone your shoulders without weights, which only require effort and use your own body weight as the only resistance. Do you want to know them?
As a general rule, we are not aware of the importance of our shoulders to perform a multitude of daily functions. They are the ones that “pull” our arms and allow us to rotate, raise, extend them forward or backward. If you look closely, you will see that the shoulders have an extraordinary range of motion, thanks to the perfect coordination between their joints, ligaments and its main muscle, the deltoid , which is actually three: anterior, middle and posterior.
If you want to tone your shoulders without resorting to weights, focus on exercises that strengthen and develop the deltoid, because by working it thoroughly you will achieve powerful shoulders in harmony with a firm and defined core.
Routine to work the shoulders without weights
Training your shoulders is easy with these calisthenics exercises that you can do anywhere. Begin by doing 1-2 sets of 6-8 reps and, as your shoulders gain strength, increase the intensity. In this routine to tone shoulders without weights, it is important to perform the movements gently and hold for a few seconds the posture that keeps the muscles of the shoulders in tension. Ready?
1. Shoulder rotations
Good exercise to start warming up the joints and starting the deltoid work. Standing with your legs slightly apart and your knees bent, extend your arms parallel to the floor and slightly bend your elbows. From this position. Turn your shoulders slowly, raising and lowering them, forward and backward.
2. Iron
If you want to tone your shoulders by working with your own body weight, the plank or plank is an ideal exercise to define the shoulders that will also help you strengthen your abs. lying low, lean on the tips of your toes and the palms of your hands, which you should place at shoulder height. Raise the trunk trying to keep the body aligned (back straight) and hold the posture for at least 20 – 30 seconds.
3. Push-ups
It is another effective exercise to develop shoulders without weight that can be a continuation of the previous one because it consists of, starting from the same position, raising and lowering the trunk, flexing the elbows without your abdomen touching the ground. If pushups are too difficult for you, try bending your knees and supporting them.
4. Peak push-ups
If you’re in good shape, you can do peak pushups, which are great for working front and middle delts. You should only do them when you do the usual ones with relative ease, to avoid any injury to your shoulders. Stand up and do a trunk flexion, so that your body forms a “pyramid” (feet and hands supported and buttocks elevated). In the starting position, your arms will be straight. The exercise consists of bending your elbows to bring your head closer to the ground. Hold on for a few seconds and stretch your arms again.
5. Elevation of arms and legs
He is known as “Superman” and putting this strength exercise into practice means working intensely and without weight the set of muscles that make up your shoulders. Lying on your stomach, with your arms and legs well stretched out, try to raise your upper and lower extremities at the same time, as if you wanted to “fly.” It sounds simple, but your shoulder muscles do their best to keep your arms straight while fighting the force of gravity.
6. Rowing
The paddle, with pulley or machine, is also one of the best workouts to tone your shoulders without lifting weights you can do in the gym, but also at home can mimic the movement if you have a ball which are used in Pilates. Place your abdomen on it raising the chest slightly. Extend your arms parallel to the ground and bend your elbows (palms down). Next, raise your forearms (palms up). Try not to move your shoulders throughout the exercise and you will notice how they simply rotate while the delts make the movement possible.