Weight Plate Halo – Exercise of the Week

For our exercise of the week this week, we show you how to utilise weight plates, away from the likes of the barbell and EZ curl bar, with the weight plate halo exercise. Consider the weight plates as a different type of dumbbell or kettlebell as they are a disc-shaped weight that often requires you to hold them with two hands to keep in control of the weight plate and gain the most benefits from exercises and movements that use them.

Weight Plate Halo

To start, grip the weight plate on each side with your hands and hold it straight out in front of you (some weight plates have handles on them with room for your hands for this purpose). Make sure that you are comfortable with the actual weight of the plate and are confident to move it around. As with any weight bearing exercise, it is safer to work with a weight that you can control to avoid injury and strain.

Maintain correct posture, keep your legs about shoulder width apart and then raise the weight plate above your head with both arms (your arms should extend fully straight). Moving both arms, bring the weight plate down past your right shoulder, down just past your hips and then back up over your left shoulder. In this way, the weight plate should complete a circular movement and pass around your head like a halo. Repeat this movement in both clockwise and anti-clockwise directions for your desired number of repetitions and sets.

This is a great exercise to both mobilise the shoulders and add muscle mass to them. When correct form is maintained and stabilised by the abdominal muscles; they too receive some subtle benefits by staying braced and tight to help you control the movement of the weight plate.

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