Not all exercises are about getting bigger and stronger. Some are about keeping your muscles, tendons, and joints healthy for the more demanding movements that do make you strong. In this edition of Friday Technique Video, JL Holdsworth demonstrates three exercises he and his athletes use to keep the shoulders healthy and ready for the important lifts.

These movements can be done as warms-ups, on off days, between lower body lifts, or any time that works best for the athlete. They should not be used as a main movement and only light weight should be used. For the band movements, micro-minis are best. For the dumbbell movements, 10 pounds will elicit the intended training effect. Do these three exercise in the range of 10-25 reps.

1. Field Goal Raises

  • Loop bands through low attachment
  • Lock in abs and glutes
  • Use shoulders, not lower back
  • Keep palms down
  • Raise shoulders overhead until fists are directly above shoulders

2. Banded Cuban Presses

  • Loop bands to rack about chest height
  • Pull back until elbows are even with shoulders
  • Externally rotate shoulders
  • Press overhead

3. Superman Presses

  • Support your chest with inclined bench
  • Hold light dumbbells below the bench
  • Pull dumbbells to the body
  • Externally rotate shoulders
  • Press overhead in same plane as body angle