I want to pass along a couple exercises that will help you with those banged-up shoulders.

Shoulders take quite a beating. First, they have some of the greatest Range of Motion (meaning they do work in more angles and directions) of any of the joints in your body.

Second, they are used in so many exercises - all compound movements that involve the upper body (such as bench presses, overhead presses, rows, shrugs, chins, etc.) and many that involve the whole body (cleans, snatches, high pulls, etc.) all flow through the shoulder. By that, I mean that the shoulder girdle is involved.

Next, the shoulders are made up of a ton of small muscles, tendons, and ligaments. If you thought your shoulder girdle was just your deltoid, pectoral, and trapezius muscles, then think again. Go find an anatomy chart of the shoulder girdle, and see how much is moving around in there.

Not to mention all the times shoulders are used in athletics and plain ole' regular life...

Put all that together, and you've got a set of joints that are taking a beating!

Well, here are a couple exercises that you can use to help keep those shoulders healthy. You can do these exercises as a part of a Dynamic Warm-Up, Prehab, your actual workout, or just as a sort of "add-on" to anything else you do.

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The first exercise I got from my friend "The Renegade," Coach John Davies, and it's the Cuban Press.

1. Start with 2.5 lbs. plates in either hand

2. Squeeze the shoulder blades together, and bring the elbows up so that your upper arm is parallel to the ground (your arm will be bent, and your forearm will just be hanging, perpendicular to the ground).

3. Keeping your arms in the same "L" position they're in, rotate your hands upward, until your Range of Motion limits you. Your elbows and upper arms won't move - rather they'll stay in place and just rotate. Imagine turning a crank - that's how your arms should look.

4. Lower back down to the starting position.

Do 3 sets of 8 reps, 2-3x/week.

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The next exercise I got from coach Joe DeFranco, and it's the Band Pull-Apart.

1. Get a large rubber band, like the ones that Iron Woody, Jump Stretch, or Lifeline USA make. It should be a small band - something that provides not too much resistance (often called "mini" bands).

2. Stand with your arms outstretched straight in front of you, holding the band between your hands. There should be just a slight tension in the band.

3. Keeping your elbows locked, bring your arms out to your sides, so that they're now pointing out from your body (left arm pointing left, right arm pointing right). The band will be stretched wide at this point - roughly across your nipples.

4. Return to starting position.

Do 100 reps each day (this is why you use a band with low resistance). You don't have to do them all at once. Break them up into sets, and get them done when you can. Personally, I do 5 sets of 20 reps, spread throughout the day.

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If you incorporate both of these simple exercises into your program, I can guarantee that your shoulders will feel better in just a matter of days...and they'll be thanking you in the long run.

Train Hard, Rest Hard, Play Hard.