Basic Warm Ups for Overhead Athletes

What Muscles are Important for Overhead?

Power Muscles

Your deltoid is a triangular muscle that cover the shoulder, giving it the rounded look. It is responsible for a lot of main movements, especially bringing your arm above head. It is split into 3 parts: anterior, middle and posterior. The anterior deltoid is responsible for bringing your arm forward and internally rotating your shoulder while the posterior deltoid is responsible for bringing your shoulder back and externally rotating your shoulder. The middle portion is responsible primarily for bringing your arm out to the side in a movement called abduction. Lastly, all three portions are responsible also for stabilising the shoulder joint.

Stabiliser Muscles of the Shoulder Blade

Your rotator cuff muscles are 4 muscles that surround the shoulder joint and shoulder blade: supraspinatus, infraspinatus, subscapularis and teres minor. Their main responsibility is to stabilise and hold the upper arm bone (humerus) into the shoulder joint socket. They also assist with movement of the shoulder blade especially for when moving the arm overhead.

Therefore, if you are a thrower, volleyball, swimmer or an athlete of any sport that requires overhead movement, I recommend at least adding some basic exercises of these muscles to your warm-up routine.

Basic Warm Up Exercises

Reverse Flies

Reverse and Forward Throwing Motion

Warm up exercises are effective for preparing muscle for activity, increasing blood flow and loosening up stiff joints so that you are in a better position to perform effectively. The above are some basic examples that can be easily added to a warmup routine with just a resistance band.