<p>I have had two issues that affect my trapezius muscles. They may be related. No one knows. </p>
<p>One is a rare infection that caused numbness through my arm. It was diagnosed by a specialist only because he had the same virus once upon a time. It faded but the imbalance seems to have led to injuries on the other side and a long lingering tightness that eventually caused significant pain in my shoulder and upper arm.</p>
<p>The muscles that run from the neck to the butt and then into the hamstrings are really the main ones that you work. For example, a typical 3 exercise cycle might be eccentric push-ups, face pulls or elastic band pulls (or both) and maybe something like a Pallof Press. </p>
<p>To go through those, nearly no one does push ups correctly. As defined by trainers, your back should be flat and parallel to the floor (so there is a bend at the waist to connect the legs to the floor). You lower yourself slowly taking at least a few seconds to go down, keeping your elbows generally but not forcibly tucked close to your body. Don’t push up, just ease back and then roll forward until you’re back in the start position. Do 10. (You can push up, can push up partly, lower and then explode up, etc. but this is a basic exercise.)</p>
<p>Then pick up some elastic bands - of any kind, the ones you step on, the ones you just hold. Put arms in front, all the way out, pull until your arms are all the way to the side. Any pain should diminish with reps. Try to use an underhand grip because overhand is easier. Do 10. Or if you have a multi-exercise machine, attach the rope, raise the height to over your head and try to pull right to your chin, spreading your hands as you pull. Do a comfortable weight, one that makes you lean back but which doesn’t yank you forward. Keep your back straight and clench your butt. Do 10. Then lower the height, stand sideways to the machine, probably lower the weight and pull and hold the rope in front of you with hands spread shoulder width. Hold for 10 seconds, turn around and face the other way. Now do all 3 exercise again and then again and that’s it. </p>
<p>There are videos for this stuff all over the web. As you learn more exercises, you can make your own groupings that work well together. </p>
<p>Here are two basics. Shoulder presses, meaning you take a weight and raise it over your head. Hold a dumbbell so the back edge touches the inside of the top of your shoulder. Raise the weight straight up while keeping the rest of your body still. That’s important: as little rolling of shoulders or twisting as possible. Return weight to start position. Do 10. Switch arms. Do 10. The idea is to isolate the motion, something you’ll see lots of people not doing. You have only 2 contact points with the ground so the muscles along the upper spine - see? - have a lot of stabilizing to do. </p>
<p>Variation is to put one knee on a pad and do the same thing. You are now balancing on your toe, one knee and one foot and you can feel the stress of balancing as you raise the weight without any other body motion. BTW, raise it all the way up, like you’re Conan the Barbarian pointing his sword straight up. Or maybe Lady Liberty.</p>
<p>Another but harder exercise to do right is bench rows. You put one knee on a bench, bend over and flatten your back so you are balanced on 1 hand, your knee and one leg and then raise a weight from the floor. This requires a trainer to help you learn the right position. Most people do this very badly and think it’s an arms thing for biceps but look at the motion: you’re lifting the weight so the motion isolates on the muscles in your back and side. </p>
<p>These descriptions are why a trainer is important. Doing a kettleball swing properly so your knees aren’t doing the work. Connecting exercises together. And so on.</p>
<p>BTW, I almost always include planks and bridges. We all know what a plank is - not a pushup position but the tilted, butt clenched angled position to the floor that people think is for pushups. Hold for a minute each time. When you do that after eccentric pushups, you feel that last 15 seconds. With bridges you lie on your back and arch it up and shoot one leg straight up and hold it for 10 seconds. The variations are endless - and that again is why a trainer is so useful. Work the hamstrings more by putting your feet on slides and drawing them in and out as you are in the bridge position. That can be really hard.</p>
<p>Note that all of these exercises rely on you keeping your butt clenched. Learn to do that. Strengthen that and the rest follows.</p>