Posted on August 26, 2016 by Kate Halsall
If you read my blog last week, you’ll know that I am currently undergoing 8 weeks of boxing training for a Pink Collar Boxing Match I have entered on the 1st October. As I’m returning back to fitness after injury, I’m finding training really pushes me – it’s awesomely hard work (and feels so good to be back training). But seriously, after a couple of sessions (involving shadow boxing, footwork, pad work, step ups, skipping and then press-ups to boot (which I found I couldn’t do after the padwork – what’s that all about!?)); the muscles in my upper back, shoulders and chest are telling me that they’re not as strong as they used to be, my cardio fitness is shot, and my calf muscles are on fire! Honestly, my neck, shoulders and upper back hurt to touch after each session – this has to be my first focus to strengthen and prepare for endurance, otherwise my punches will have no effect after 2 minutes, let alone for the 6 minutes of the fight! So as I’m focusing on upper body exercises, and here are some shoulder girdle exercises for boxing that I’m incorporating into my training.
First I looked at the main movements the shoulder girdle enables you to perform (there are other movements also – see pdf link below):
- Elevation
- Depression
- Protraction/Abduction
- Retraction/Adduction
Then I identified the 5 main muscles involved in these movements (as a personal trainer, I’m interested in this stuff!):
- Serratus Anterior
- Pec Minor
- Levator Scapulae
- Rhomboids (Major & Minor)
- Trapezius (Upper, Middle & Lower)
And then I looked at which exercises were appropriate for the muscles and their actions:
- Elevation – Dumbbell Shoulder Shrugs – works traps, levator scapulae and the rhomboids assist
- Depression – Reverse shrugs either with just body weight or a cable pulley – works traps and pec minor
- Protraction/Abduction – Resistance band “forward shrugs” (straight arm shoulder push forward – can be done prone with a dumbbell) – works pec minor and serratus anterior
- Retraction/Adduction – Cable Face Pulls – works rhomboids and traps
I’ve not put sets and reps on this list as I’m not going to give away all my training secrets!! But the key here is that my training incorporates these exercises and is not just solely focused on them.
Next week I’ll share my Deltoid, Lats and Pec Major exercises!
If you want to support Martins House Hospice and me, please check out our Just Giving Page.
If you’re looking for more information on the shoulder girdle, I found this really useful:
www.kean.edu/~jeadams/docs/Kinesiology/Kines_Power…/Kines_Chap_4.pdf