Your shoulders are a key component climbing, but most of us rarely spend much time stabilizing or strengthening them. We’ve got five shoulder exercises that will help you stabilize the muscles surrounding your shoulder and strengthen your shoulders to help you make powerful movements.
Wall pushup plus
 Pushup Position 1 |
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Pushup Position 2First, find a wall with some blank space. Put your hands on the wall, roughly shoulder width apart. Make sure your elbows are straight, but not locked and put your feet far from the wall. Now, do a pushup. When you get to the top of the pushup, really round your shoulders.
If you want to make the exercise a little harder, simply move your feet further away from the wall. You can also choose to do pushups on the ground, versus on the wall.
Do 2 sets of 10-15 reps.
External and internal resistance band rotations
External resistance band rotation: Hook a resistance band to something stable, like around a doorknob on a closed door. Put the right side of our body next to where you’ve hooked your resistance band. Grab the band with your left hand and hold your elbow out in front of you at a 90 degree angle. Slowly pull the resistance band away from your body.
Do 2 sets of 10-15 reps and repeat on the other side.
Internal resistance band rotation: With the right side of your body next to the resistance band, grab the band with your right hand. Again, hold your right elbow out in front of you at a 90 degree angle. Slowly pull the resistance band into your body.
Do 2 sets of 10-15 reps and repeat on the other side.
To add some resistance (and make the exercise a little harder), step away from the wall and repeat the exercise.
Wall Clocks
Grab a resistance loop and put both wrists inside. Put your right hand on the wall in front of you and pull your left away so there’s tension in the band.
Imagine your right hand is the center of a clock and move your left hand up to the 10o’clock mark on the clock. Then, down to the 9 o’clock mark, then the 7 o’clock mark.
Repeat that cycle 3-5 times and then do on the other side.
You can make the exercise more challenging by increasing the resistance band size.
Band rows
Find the center of your resistance band and attach it to a door knob or some other fixed object that won’t move. Use both hands to grab the ends of the resistance band.
Stand nice and tall, using your core to support your upper body. Slowly pull the resistance band inwards, like you would in a seated row machine. You want to feel the muscles in your back during the work and also your biceps as your finishing the rep.
Row sets of 10-20.
Band pull down
Adjust the resistance band so that you’re eye level with where it’s fixed to the door knob or wall (you may need to kneel down to get eye level it).
Use both hands to grab either end of the resistance band. Keep your elbows and your core engaged and from there, pull the ends of the resistance band down to your hips.
Row sets of 10-20.
These exercises are a great way to build stability. Once you get comfortable with those, you can build strength by increasing the resistance and lowering the rep counts. You’ll end up doing more sets with fewer repetitions. Think 5 sets of 6 reps versus 2 sets of 10-15 reps.
Come climb with us. Find a Movement Gym near you.
Miguel is a personal trainer at our Rockville gym located in Maryland.