Men’s Health/Eric Rosati
When you lean hard into one type of workout, don’t be surprised if you start to feel out of balance. That’s especially true if you’re doing a routine that favors one type of movement pattern over another.
Trainer Charlee Atkins, C.S.C.S. knows this struggle—and the solution. “Because I’ve been doing so much yoga recently, I’ve noticed that my shoulders have felt achy,” Atkins says. “What I really wanted to do was to try some pulling exercises because of all the pushing that we do in yoga.”
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Atkins also uses the bodyweight and dumbbell shoulder and back series she designed to combat her achy shoulders as an activation series on her upper body days. “I cannot express enough how important warmups are to your exercise programs,” she says. “After some foam rolling and stretching, I always take my clients through a mobility/activation session that can last anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes before the ‘bulk’ of our workout.”
If you think warmups are a total waste of your time, think again. “Activation sessions prime the muscles for bigger movements,” Atkins says. “The goal should be to ‘turn-on’ muscles that stabilize those big movements (i.e. the rotator cuff muscles).
Take on Atkins 15-minute shoulder and back activation workout to do just that before your next upper body workout. All you need is a light set of dumbbells and some room to spread out.
Perform each movement for 30 seconds, then rest for 30 seconds.
Take on each movement for 30 seconds of nonstop reps, then rest for 30 seconds before moving on to the next exercise. Repeat for a total of 2 rounds.
Want to learn more moves from Atkins? Check out our series full of her workout tips, Try Her Move.
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