How to Prevent Muscle Imbalance In Shoulders

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By Steven Mitchell
eHow Contributing Writer

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Weight training involves more than just picking up a dumbell and going through the motions. You must be smart in the way you work out. One common mistake made by beginnners, as well as intermediate and advanced weight trainers, is not developing balance in the muscle groups. This means balance between one muscle group and another, as well as balance within a specific muscle group. An imbalance in the shoulders can lead to injury and missed workouts. If you are to prevent an imbalance in the shoulders, you must be sure to develop all three areas of the shouder muscle. The shoulder, or deltoid, muscle group is made up of the anterior deltoid, the lateral deltoid and the posterior deltoid. These are more easily remembered as the front, side and rear deltoids. All three muscles contribute to the overall shoulder muscle.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Weightlifting belt

Step 1

Identify the separate muscles in your shoulder. This will aid you in understanding what each one does and how they can be developed.
Step 2

Identify exercises for each shoulder muscle. (Some exercises work more than one of the shoulder muscles.)
Step 3

Learn the correct stretches. Before heavy lifting, you should always stretch your shoulder. Learn which deltoid stretches are the best for your shoulder, and become comfortable with doing these shoulder stretches safely.
Step 4

Become comfortable with the exercises. If you are a beginner, it may take some time to get comfortable with the correct form for each exercise. Once you become comfortable, you may increase the weight used.
Step 5

Use a good mix. Make sure you mix up the exercises for each shoulder muscle in your overall shoulder routine. Each workout should include at least one exercise for each of the three shoulder muscles.

Tips & Warnings

Remember that your shoulder muscles are also worked as you do exercises for other parts of your upper body. Your anterior, or front deltoid, is heavily involved in any upper-body pressing exercise that you do.
Alternate the specific shoulder muscle you work first in your shoulder routine. You are always stronger at the beginning of your workout, so give each muscle the chance to work at full strength.
Pay attention to your form. Proper form while performing an exercise is more important than how much weight you can do. Bad form with too much weight can lead to injury, and it is not as efficient in working the shoulder muscles.
Always use a weightlifting belt when lifting weights, especially during any overhead movements.
Don't push yourself. If an particular exercise begins to hurt, stop immediately.
Don't skip stretching before attempting heavy lifting. There are no exceptions to this rule. The shoulder is a complex muscle group that is strong but also susceptible to injury.