5 Best Cardio Exercises to Work Your Shoulder and Back Muscles

The best cardio exercises are those that promise to raise your heart-rate quickly and workout most of the major muscles in your body. Fortunately, most cardio workouts fall in these two categories pretty easily.

However, if you are looking for the best cardio exercises to work your shoulder and back muscles, you have come to the right place. In this article, we will specifically look at cardio exercises that will also help you strengthen both your shoulder and back muscles. This is because these muscles are extremely important for everyday movements like lifting and carrying.

Best Cardio Exercises for Shoulder and Back Muscles

Listed below are some of the best cardio exercises for shoulder and back muscles. You can also check out these home workouts for strong shoulders.

1) Push-ups

Probably the most famous and well-known bodyweight exercise in the world, push-ups are great for working out your entire upper body. It is one of the best cardio exercises since it will get your heart racing from the first rep.

Instructions:

Start off in a high plank position with flat palms, hands shoulder-width apart, shoulders directly above wrists, legs extended behind you, and core and glutes engaged.
Bend your elbows and stoop to the floor with your chest.
Utilize the palms of your hands to extend your arms. This is one repetition.
Continue for between 45 and 60 seconds.

2) Shadowboxing

Shadowboxing is one of the best cardio exercises that will give you an intense cardio workout. This is a great exercise not only for your back and shoulders, but also for your glutes, hips, and legs, all of which work to strengthen your core muscles. It can be a fun and de-stressing workout, helping to increase your mental toughness as well.

Instructions:

Start off by getting into the boxing stance, by placing the feet shoulder-width apart and stepping the right foot back, allowing the hips to rotate in that direction.
Lower your chin slightly and make two fists with your hands, holding them just under your eyes.
First, jab while keeping your hips still and punching straight out with your left hand.
As you punch, rotate your knuckles so that your fingertips face the ground when your arm is extended.
Ensure that your right hand is clenched, tucked, and prepared.
Bring your left hand back to its initial position.
Now cross by punching forward with your right hand.
When your arm is extended fully, your fingertips should face the ground.
As you punch, pivot on the ball of your rear foot and forward rotate your hips.
As quickly as possible, return your right hand and hips to the starting position.
Allow the movements to emanate from your back and shoulder girdle, rather than simply thrusting your arms forward.
Continue rapidly alternating the jab and cross for the next 45 seconds.

3) I-Y-T Raise

This is one of the best cardio exercises to target your shoulders, especially your rotator cuff muscles. People who overuse or underuse their rotator cuffs can potentially face injuries in these muscles. It is necessary to workout these muscles from time to time for good shoulder mobility and strength. There is also a cardio component to the exercise which will make you sweat.

Instructions:

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, and keep your core engaged as you slightly hinge forward, keeping your knees slightly bent.
Keep your arms straight and parallel to your shoulders as you raise them.
Lowering your arms will give you the "I" portion of the exercise.
Straighten your arms out at a 45-degree angle and raise them up.
The "Y" component of the exercise is this. Lower your arms.
As you straighten your arms out to the sides, converge your shoulder blades. This is the exercise's "T" lowering your arms. That is one rep.
For another 45 to 60 seconds, repeat.

4) Dumbbell Punches

Dumbbell punches are one of the best cardio exercises which are an excellent boxing move to enhance quickness, dexterity, and strength. This exercise targets your shoulders, triceps, and lats to tone and shape your upper body.

Instructions:

Make sure your feet are firmly planted and pointed forward as you stand with your legs slightly wider than hip-width apart.
Maintain a boxing stance with the dumbbells firmly in your hands at chest level.
Keeping your left arm parallel to the ground, tighten your abs, and punch with it.
Pull your left arm back, then quickly punch with your right arm while switching arms.
Punch as fast as you can in a minute and perform at least three sets.

5) Plank Row

All kinds of plank variation workouts are the best cardio exercises that workout your entire body pretty effectively. Plank rows are a multi-functional exercise that challenge your core, increase your stability, and target the muscles of your back, shoshoulders,d arms.

Instructions:

Start in a high plank position with your feet wider than hip-width apart, your hands shoulder-width apart, your shoulders stacked directly above your wrists, your legs extended behind you (this will aid in stability), and your glutes contracted.
You can perform this exercise with just your bodyweight if you prefer, but you can also hold a dumbbell in each hand on the floor as shown in the illustration. This is where things begin.
To perform a row, pull your right elbow back while keeping it close to your torso.
To stop your hips from rocking, keep your abs and butt tight.
If you're not using a weight, you might want to add a pause at this point and contract your shoulder blades to make the exercise harder.
Reach the starting position by lowering your arm. Similarly, move your left arm.
Continue for 45 seconds, switching arms.

Takeaway

The aforementioned workouts are some of the best cardio exercises that you can do to workout your shoulders and back. Strengthening your shoulders and back is very important, as these are the foundations of everyday movements like lifting and carrying things. For more, check out these back and shoulder exercises with weights.