Guard Fit Challenge – Video: Inside the Exercise – Shoulder Shrug
Two athletes are shown, one at a time, performing shoulder shrugs in a weight room. The female, SGT Courtney Zablocki, is using free weights. The male, SGT Jeremy White, is using a barbell. An intro screen that says “Inside the Exercise: Shoulder Shrug” appears, and then Jeremy begins a description of the exercise while performing it using a barbell.
Jeremy: This is the shoulder shrug. It strengthens the trapezius muscles, the upper center muscle of the back. You want to begin with having your feet about shoulder-width apart, firmly planted and stable. You want to have a overhand or a reverse hand position, whatever is comfortable with you… you want to lift your shoulders up toward your ears and back down, up, back down, controlling your breathing, staying nice and relaxed, enough weight to do about 8 to 12 reps.
The camera cuts to SGT Vikram Mittal, a third athlete, running on an outdoor track. He speaks in a voiceover.
Vikram: Shoulder shrugs are actually a great exercise for running. When I’m out running long distances, one of the first things that actually starts to hurt is my shoulders. And that’s because you use your arms to pump your legs.
The camera cuts to Courtney demonstrating and performing shoulder shrugs using dumbbells.
Courtney: This is a variation of the shoulder shrug using dumbbells instead. What you want to do with this is grab two dumbbells, have your feet shoulder-width apart, grab the weigh facing your palms inward, towards you, holding them at your thighs and shrug your shoulders up.
Courtney continues performing shoulder shrugs until the final screen of the video. The final screen contains the words “Inside the Exercise: Shoulder Shrug.”