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I love working on my arm and shoulder strength, as it makes a difference to all aspects of your life. Especially lifting heavy bags, suitcases and the shopping out of the car boot! šŸ˜‰

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This high pull exercise is a brilliant way to build strength in your shoulders and encourage flexibility in the joints. Here, I’m doing it in my class at Pilates Plus Dublin. But since this isn’t like typical Pilates and more of a full-body strength and conditioning class, we do a lot of similar exercises to what you would do with a trainer in the gym.

I’m using straps and springs on their special Proformer machines for resistance, but this exercise works just as well with free weights at home or in the gym. It’s essentially a five-move exercise to strengthen your shoulders and improve core stability. 

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Sound good?! Here’s how to do The High Pull:

  1. Stand with feet hips width apart and avoid locking your knees.
  2. Begin by holding your weights at your sides. Keeping your arms as straight as possible without locking your elbows, lift your arms straight up with palms facing downwards, until your arms are at right angles to your body.
  3. Keep your shoulders steady and lift the weights up, so that your palms face the wall in front of you (as pictured above).
  4. Reverse the move by lowering the weights again until your palms face the floor, the stretch out your arms in front of you and finish by lowering them back down to your sides.
  5. Repeat the move 12-15 times, for 3-4 rounds until your muscles have reached a point of exhaustion. That’s how you know it’s working!