Fit Tip: The Deltoid Muscle - How to Work all Three Parts of the Shoulder

In the arm work section of class, we target all three parts of the deltoid (commonly known as the shoulder muscle) in addition to the biceps, triceps, chest and back. Below, is a deeper understanding of the deltoid muscle with some sample exercises on how to target the different parts so that you can get the most out of your arm work!

First off, it is important to properly align the scapular stabilizers so that the deltoid muscle can be targeted without straining the shoulder joint - very important for preventing injury! To get this, you slightly shrug your shoulders (think straight line running from the tip of one shoulder, across the collar bone, to the tip of the other shoulder) so that the arm bones are properly aligned in the socket. Keeping the shoulder blades wide across the back, open hands to face forward and create space across the chest and a slight external rotation of the upper arm bone. When moving into arm work, you want to keep the shoulder blades in this stable position.

Anterior Deltoid - Lateral Deltoid - Posterior Deltoid

Anterior Deltoid

The anterior deltoid fibers run along the front part of the shoulder muscle and when contracted move the arm anteriorly, think reaching forward or lifting the arm to grab something - or give a high five :).

Sample Exercise: Long Arm Walks

Begin by finding scapular stability and keeping arms straight lift them to shoulder height with thumbs facing up. Take one arm up to hairline while the other lowers to just in front of your thigh. Slowly and with control of the shoulder blades, switch the arms while focusing on the lifting and the lowering coming from the front of the shoulder. Repeat.

Lateral Deltoid

The lateral deltoid fibers run along the side of the shoulder when contracted create lateral abduction or arm moving away from the body - think reaching out to the side.

Sample Exercise: Shoulder Press

Begin by finding scapular stability, then bend your elbows and open the forearms out to the side (with palms facing forward). Lift the arms up until they straighten but keep the hands forward of the body - once again think lift to hairline rather than all the way over head. Slowly and with resistance, pull elbows back toward rib cage. Repeat.

Posterior Deltoid

The posterior deltoid fibers run along the back of the shoulder and when contracted move the arm posteriorly, think reaching backwards to grab your child's hand.

Sample Exercise: Posterior Lifts

Begin by finding scapular stability, then take straight arms in a narrow V to halfway between your shoulders and hips. Rotate palms to face up, keep the upper arm here and just rotate the thumbs to face down. Keeping the open space across your chest, do small lifts up and down (about and inch) focusing on engaging the back of the shoulder.

Proper function of all these muscles is necessary to maintain optimal shoulder stability and strength, which is why we balance out our classes to target all three parts of this muscle.

Happy lifting and pressing,

- Jill

Dailey Takeaways From our 2014 Owners' Retreat

Last week we held our annual Dailey Method owners retreat at our new flagship Studio in Fairfax California. This is truly one of my favorite weeks of the year - getting together with an amazing group of smart, motivated and inspiring women (and a couple men) that are all passionate about the class and the culture and want to keep us evolving and expanding. We took the town by storm: 65 spandex clad women (and a few men NOT in spandex) teaching, sharing, learning from each other and holding up the salad bar line at Good Earth!

When I polled the owners about their biggest 'Dailey Takeaway', one of the most common ones as a whole was the “YOU” and the “WE” in our Dailey community vs. the “I” and how important this is for our company’s expansion and evolvement - the opportunity to pull from the amazing talent we have together to continually grow upward. I want to share with you what a few of the Dailey Method owners shared with me:

“Every year we come together and I'm reminded that together we are better, together we are Dailey Strong! We are a collection of incredibly smart, hard working, passionate (for better or worse), creative, patient, eager, kind and fun women. And when I say strong, I mean in heart, in physical strength, in compassion and openness.”

“One thing that stuck out to me was that there was no feeling of competition. Rather than a room full of people competing to have the best performing studio, and awards given to highest sales, everyone is genuinely interested in the common good of the brand and sharing is promoted by awards given for innovation and following our core values. We have so much talent in our organization and everyone is generous with the sharing of that talent.”

“An amazing AH HA in relation to our Alignment Principles: Our primary Alignment Principles (Align/Engage/Move) not only apply on a micro-level to our bodies and our practice, but also on a macro level to our studios, larger community and TDM brand. Our owners' retreats are amazing opportunities to Re-Align; Re-Engage; and then Move. To enjoy and appreciate where we are and evolve! Align/Engage/Move again and again. I think we did this at Owners Retreat & we do it all the time."

“1) Community and 2) Experience. We are part of something so much bigger than just us, than just the single class we take at our specific home studio. We are a strong, diverse, inspirational community that spans the World. Every TDM student belongs to something bigger- an international community and we are all connected by our desire to live life happily. That is why we are all attracted to the Dailey experience. It is more than just a workout that gives us great results. It is a fulfilling spiritual/mind/body experience. We know that our target market wants the mental and emotional benefits from their workout even more than the desire to get a "bikini-body ready." The reason we continue to grow in numbers and strength is our ability to provide the entire experience they are searching for.”

“I'm always amazed at the power of having so many motivated and hard working people in one room. I love every conversation whether it is about business strategy or a particular exercise. Getting insight into the way the minds of others work really helps me to expand my own thinking and look at my business, our class and life in general from different perspectives. I feel like this is the major benefit to being part of a group as opposed to being out there on your own.”

“A main takeaway was 'humility'. No matter how long TDM owners have been in business, I felt like we were all one, there were no rankings. Everyone was kind, helpful, inspiring and motivating... you guys are all truly amazing. And you Jill, you created this method and this community - you have these gifts, talents and abilities to offer, yet you don't declare them as such. You are authentic and truly...#tdmcommunity #tdmlove.”

I know I can speak for everyone that we are excited to bring our new learnings, teachings and inspirations home to you, our TDM students and community!

With Dailey Love,

-- Jill