Shoulder Cable Fly, one arm - 2010

The 4th exercise is targeting the middle head of the shoulders as well.

Actually I think the official name is lateral lift. These names are really confusing and I never really know if it is lifting or flying that I do. However, I know how to execute the exercise so that it works for me!

This lateral lift comes in a two arm version as well, but that means that the cables have to cross in front of the body. That means that they either tend to tuck in the clothes when one is as upright as one would like to be for a good execution, or one has to bend forward a bit and then the movement feels awkward for me. So I rather invest twice the time and do the shoulders separately.

Again, the shoulders are kept down, there is no neck clenching.

Some more information on shoulder training you can find in the Incredible Ladies Sport section.

Shoulder Dumbbell Fly, seated - 2010

The 3rd shoulder exercise targets the middle head of the shoulders.

This exercise is usually executed while standing, I used to do it that way. Then a lot more weight can be used and it looks rather impressive, but it is all too tempting to use the momentum of the down movement to get the weight up again.

When I tried Oaks Gym - where all the big boys are training - I didn't find small enough weights and had to do the standing version. Result: Horrible muscle ache in the neck and none in the shoulders the next day. That means that with too much weight and using the momentum of the swinging weight there is no real focus on the target muscle. Additionally I am not keen to get a bigger neck than I already have, hence I am doing the not so impressive version which fully targets the middle head of the shoulder.

Additionally I would like to stress that in all shoulder exercises, the neck is actually never clenched, meaning that the shoulders are kept down even in the lift.

Some more information on shoulder training you can find in the Incredible Ladies Sport section.