> I need to start working out the muscles right next to my pectorals - the > front of the shoulder where the arm meets the torso, whatever those are > called (anyone?).
It's either the pecs themselves, which attach a little way down the upper arm, or the delts. If it's involved in holding your arm up, it's the delts, since the pecs pull the arm in and down, not up. Depending on the position of your arm the front delts can seem a bit more like "inner" delts, which don't exist. From what I imagine of fencing I'd say you're looking mainly at the front and side delts.
Also when the arm gets above horizontal, the traps often come into play. For instance in an exercise like the shoulder press aka military press, the delts are pretty much done when the upper arm gets parallel to the ground, and above that the traps pick up the work. (Approximately.)
This is probably as good as time as any to mention the principle of training specificity. If you need endurance, train for endurance. If you need speed, train for speed. As much as I love strength training, it is definitely not equivalent to training for endurance or speed, when those are what's needed. If you're just starting it hardly matters how you train, but once you've been at it for a while, your training should reflect the performance of your sport.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2005-05-10 02:32 am (UTC)> front of the shoulder where the arm meets the torso, whatever those are
> called (anyone?).
It's either the pecs themselves, which attach a little way down the upper arm, or the delts. If it's involved in holding your arm up, it's the delts, since the pecs pull the arm in and down, not up. Depending on the position of your arm the front delts can seem a bit more like "inner" delts, which don't exist. From what I imagine of fencing I'd say you're looking mainly at the front and side delts.
Also when the arm gets above horizontal, the traps often come into play. For instance in an exercise like the shoulder press aka military press, the delts are pretty much done when the upper arm gets parallel to the ground, and above that the traps pick up the work. (Approximately.)
This is probably as good as time as any to mention the principle of training specificity. If you need endurance, train for endurance. If you need speed, train for speed. As much as I love strength training, it is definitely not equivalent to training for endurance or speed, when those are what's needed. If you're just starting it hardly matters how you train, but once you've been at it for a while, your training should reflect the performance of your sport.