The Body Sculpting Bible for Women (75 page)

Upright Row

Upright rows are a great exercise to develop the tie-in muscles, aesthetically tying your shoulders and trapezius muscles together for a beautifully fluid look. You must make certain that you use very strict form with this exercise, and avoid using momentum at all times. The rotator cuff muscles of the shoulder are extremely delicate and are prone to injuries that occur as a result of using poor form and excessive weight. The upright row exercise movement alone can stress the rotator cuff muscles. This makes it imperative that you use a weight you can handle and employ perfect form and technique and no momentum at all. We recommend that you practice the exercise using a cambered (E-Z Curl Bar) bar at first. This is usually much easier on the wrists and shoulders than a straight barbell. After you’ve mastered the perfect form methods, you can begin using two separate dumbbells for variety.

PROPER ALIGNMENT

Choose a weight for the cambered bar that is easy enough so you can focus only on your form. Once you have mastered the correct form, it will become second nature and you will find it easy to move up in weight, thereby stimulating the shoulder muscles.

Grasp the bar using a shoulder-width grip.

Place your feet shoulder-width apart and point them straight ahead.

Keep your knees slightly bent at all times during the movement to take stress off the lower back region. Also, keep the knees pointing straight ahead.

Contract the abdominal muscles slightly to help keep your postural alignment.

Keep your back straight and body still as you do the exercise.

Relax the musculature of your chest and back.

Keep your head level and look straight ahead at all times during the exercise.

Hold the bar across your thighs and keep your palms facing toward your body.

Begin focusing on the muscles of the shoulder including the trapezius muscles. Although you will be pulling the weight up with your hands, you must let the elbows lead the motion, keeping them high as you pull up.

TECHNIQUE AND FORM

Before you begin the exercise, close your eyes and once again visualize yourself actually doing the movement while focusing on the shoulder and trapezius muscles.

With proper form and postural alignment, begin pulling the bar up slowly, concentrating on feeling the stimulation of the focused muscles.

Pull the bar up, leading with your elbows, to a point where it comes close to your chin.