Gymnastics shoulder workouts are not only a fun but also effective way to increase strength and prevent injury.
The shoulder joints are one of the most delicate joints and therefore important to train and strengthen. There are two groups of muscles in your shoulders: extrinsic muscles and intrinsic muscles. The first stem from the torso and attach to the bones of the shoulder, and the second originate from the scapula or clavicle and attach to the humerus.
Strong shoulders will help you:
- Raise your arms with weight
- Manage your own bodyweight
- Stop dislocation and injury when carrying heavy loads
- Good posture
Shoulders are complicated joints and strengthening them will not only improve your performance but most likely also your day to day life.
These CrossFit gymnastics shoulder workouts will strengthen all your tendons, ligaments and muscle tissue.
1.HANDSTAND WALK
For time:
- 50 heavy-rope double-unders
- 50ft handstand walk
Time cap: 4 minutes.
Handstands come with a bunch of benefits like better balance, core strength and shoulder and scapular stability.
If you’re proficient in handstand walks, feel free to add bars, ramps and stairs to this workout to work on your shoulders even further.
However, if this skill isn’t in your wheelhouse yet, replace the handstand walk with bear crawls.
Heavy-rope double-unders will force stability on your shoulders.
2.Gymnastics Shoulder Workouts – RING DIPS AND KETTLEBELL SWINGS
10-minute EMOM
- Even minutes: 10 ring dips
- Odd minutes: 15 kettlebell swings
(F16kg/M24kg)
Ring dips are an effective way to strengthen the stabilising muscles around your shoulder joint. The instability that comes with the two moving rings makes this exercise trickier and more taxing than bar dips.
Here’s a handy guide on ring dips progressions if they’re a skill you don’t yet possess.
3.STRICT PULL UPS
For time
10-minute time cap
- 50 strict pull ups
- Every stop 10 burpees
Timeless and highly effective
Make sure you warm up correctly before this workout. Get your shoulders moving with stick rotations, some bands and a few push ups.
Pull ups work out several muscle groups at once, including your biceps, triceps, wrists, grip strength, core and shoulder muscles.
There are many varieties to the pull up, from a close grip to a wide grip and pull ups with extra weight. Test the different varieties depending on your level of skill and what specific section of muscles you’d like to do most the work.
6 Tough AMRAP Gymnastic CrossFit Workouts
4.Gymnastics Shoulder Workouts – PROGRESSION
For time:
- 21 pull ups
- 15 chest-to-bar
- 9 bar muscle ups
This little progression with the variation between pull ups, chest-to-bar and muscle ups is sure to work on all joints in your shoulders.
The ability to perform a muscle up already speaks for strong shoulders, however, make sure you perform this movement with great form, as the negligent pursue of it can lead to injuries.
Keep training hard
5.WALL BALLS
Tabata for 12 rounds
40 seconds on, 20 seconds off
- Wall balls
- Push ups
- Ring pull ups
“Full effort is full victory”
There isn’t a lot of “working time” within this workout, so make sure all your reps are clean and well performed.
Your shoulder muscles aid throwing and lifting your arms overhead, so wall balls are a brilliant way of training them.
6.MARY
A classic CrossFit workout to finish off. Mary featured the 2019 CrossFit Games, where Kari Pearce smashed 695 reps beating all the women, and all the men.
AMRAP 20 minutes
- 5 handstand push ups
- 10 pistols
- 15 pull ups
Try to maintain a steady, unbroken pace throughout the entire workout. These are all challenging gymnastics movements and the whole workout is relatively long with short rounds.
Push ups and pull ups are both great gymnastics exercises to increase shoulder strength.
Fun EMOM Gymnastics CrossFit Workouts to Improve Your Skills
