Beginner's Fitness Programs

Do you have neck pain? Well, you are not alone. Many women who work in offices get repetitive strain injury (yes, it is an injury!) to their neck and shoulders. In fact, a half of female office workers report frequent neck pain. One cause of this problem is their posture. Check your colleagues’ posture when they are looking at a computer screen. Their shoulders are hunched and their neck juts forward — it looks awful, but in fact you are holding the same posture while you are working.

Why this posture? Well, most women don’t have the muscle strength to support their body correctly, and even if they are generally fit, the specific muscle group supporting the neck and shoulder area may not be strong enough to prevent the injury.

One study published in Denmark says that five easy weight training for women can vastly improve this condition. The five free weight training for women are:

One-Arm Row: Holding a dumbbell in one hand, bend forward so that your back is parallel to the floor. Support your body with other hand resting on a bench or some other support. Start from the arm extended, then slowly bring up the dumbbell until your upper arm comes to the side of the body. Then slowly lower the weight.

Shoulder Abduction: Hold a light dumbbell in each hand. Slowly raise your arms out to the side, keeping yours elbows straight and your palms downward. Slightly tilt the dumbbells forward. Don’t shrug the shoulders or lean forward. Raise your arms until they are parallel to the floor.

Shoulder Elevation: Hold a light dumbbell in each hand. Slowly raise your arms out forward, elbows straight and palms downward. Slightly tilt the dumbbells inward. Don’t lean back while lifting the dumbbells. Raise your arms until they are parallel to the floor.

Reverse Fly: Lay on an inclined bench, face down. Hold a dumbbell in each hand. Slowly raise your arms to the side, but slightly forward, until your arms are parallel to the floor. Keep the arms straight. Then slowly lower the weight.

Upright Row: Hold a dumbbell in each hand, and keep them in front of your body. Slowly raise the dumbbells to your chin, with your elbows flaring outward. Don’t lean back while doing this workout. Slowly lower the dumbbells.

This study said that, after 10 weeks of working out, the participants found that their pain level reduced by 50%, and their muscles were significantly strengthened.

Of course, to maintain good posture, you need a strong core area, too, and I recommend that you add some core area workouts while doing these shoulder-specific workouts. You won’t regret it.

Source: Effect of contrasting physical exercise interventions on rapid force capacity of chronically painful muscles. Journal of Applied Physiology, 2009; 107

• Back to Articles
• Back to Weight Training Programs
• Back to Home Page

Comments are closed.