Whether you’re someone who can quickly assess a situation and come to a decision, or you painstakingly weigh every pro and con before making a choice, your memories of the past probably play a larger role in your future than you think. This isn’t necessarily just a matter of learning from previous mistakes or having traumatic experiences of the past inform your outlook on the future. It’s more about our ability to draw on the past in order to actually picture what our potential futures might look like. This feature of our brains—also known as “mental time travel”—can also help us make better decisions.

What is mental time travel?

The concept of “mental time travel” is used in disciplines like psychology and neuroscience to describe our ability as humans to recall and reconstruct past events from our lives, as well as to visualize how various situations and events might play out in the future. In fact, some scholars argue that the main purpose for having memories from earlier in our lives is “to provide information from the past as the scaffolding of the future,” as the authors of a 2023 study put it.

Similarly, other researchers describe mental time travel as a survival skill, giving us the chance to think about and plan for hypothetical future events. This ability to mentally construct a narrative for a situation that isn’t actually taking place can also help us make decisions.

How to use mental time travel as a decision-making tool

In her 2022 book Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything―Even Things That Seem Impossible Today, Jane McGonigal, PhD—a futurist, researcher, author, designer of alternate reality games, and 2015 participant in Lifehacker’s “How I Work” interview series—explains how to use mental time travel as part of your decision-making process.

In short, mental time travel—which is also referred to as “futures thinking” or “episodic future thinking”—isn’t a way to escape from reality, or a form of daydreaming, but rather “a way of connecting who you are today with what you might really feel and do in the future,” she writes. That’s where its role in decision-making comes in: According to McGonigal, it can help mentally prepare us so we can quickly adapt to new challenges as they arise.

Here’s an exercise adapted from one she includes in Imaginable—a portion of which can be read in this excerpt—if you’d like to give mental time travel a try:

Level 1

Take 30 seconds to imagine waking up tomorrow morning, and mentally describing what you see, and answering these questions:

• What room or space are you in?

• What wakes you up—an alarm, the sunlight, someone nudging you or calling you?

• Is it light out or still dark?

• Is there anyone with you?

• What are you wearing?

• What kind of mood are you in?

• And what’s the very first thing you do now that you’re awake?

Make it a point to keep going until you’re able to answer—and clearly picture—your answers to the questions.

Level 2

Take 30 seconds to imagine yourself waking up one year from now. Once again, mentally describe what you see, and answer these questions: 

• What has changed?

• Are you somewhere different?

• Are you physically changed?

• What’s your mood?

• Do you have a different morning habit?

• What might that new habit be?

Like last time, keep going until you’ve answered all of the questions.

Level 3

Last one: Picture yourself waking up 10 years in the future.

• Where are you?

• What’s around you?

• What do you see, hear, smell, and feel?

• What’s the first thing on your mind when you wake up?

• What do you have planned for the day?

• How are you physically different?

Be realistic: This isn’t time for fantasy, or trying to manifest your dream life into existence. You’re using your imagination to picture, in a more neutral capacity, various ways in which your future might unfold based on what your life has been like up until now.

Decision time

According to McGonigal, most people find it more difficult to picture themselves a decade in the future, compared to only a year from now. That’s because as we’re thinking through that scenario, our brain intuitively accounts for the fact that our lives could look very different in 10 years. “So instead of confidently projecting one possibility, it opens up a blank space for you to consider multiple possibilities,” McGonigal writes.

This is where the work comes in: Repeat the final exercise, picturing yourself waking up 10 years from now. This time, don’t worry about trying to come up with a single vision of your future. Instead, allow your imagination to flesh out multiple potential—and yes, still realistic—versions of what your life might look like in a decade.

It will take time and effort to fill in all the blanks, but, according to McGonigal, that’s why mental time travel can be so powerful: Once your brain creates these potential futures, they become new memories that it can revisit and refer back to moving forward. When your brain does make its way back to one of these imagined scenarios, pay attention to any emotional reactions it prompts.

“These pre-feelings can help you decide: Should you change what you’re doing today to make this future more or less likely?” McGonigal writes. “And because you invented this memory, you can change it whenever you want.”

Because it’s been a few years since McGonigal wrote Imaginable, I asked if she had any new insights into using mental time travel as a decision-making tool. As it turns out, she does, and they come from the growing body of research on using mental time travel to the future as an intervention for substance use disorders—and can apply to anyone.

One example comes from a 2023 study, which found that when people living with addiction practiced future mental time travel techniques in the moment when a craving arises, it can help them resist short-term temptation for addictive substances, and make the better decision to abstain.

“This finding is relevant to everyone, really, who wants to motivate themselves to do things that may be hard in the present, but good in the long run,” McGonigal says. “If it can work for addiction, it can work for any of us to make better choices not just for right now, but for our most important long-term goals.”

Solar energy is magic, really. You place a bulky panel in the sun and electricity is created from thin air, ready to power anything you need. It’s cheap, pays for itself in a relatively short period of time, and it’s absolutely renewable. Of course, the cost of installing a solar panel system at your home can be kind of terrifying—on average, it’ll cost you about $25,000. A lot of that cost is labor and other materials, but the solar panels themselves aren’t exactly cheap, ranging in price from around $200 to $300 depending on wattage and the type of panel.

Those prices might lead you to wonder if you can’t just make your own solar panels. The answer is, you sure can. If you’re moderately handy, have ever used a soldering iron, and understand basic electricity principles, you can definitely whip up your own solar panels. All the stuff you need can be ordered online or found at your local hardware store, and the process isn’t very difficult. Keep in mind, however, that building your own panel will likely cost as much if not more than buying a professionally-assembled panel, so you shouldn’t think of this as a way to save a lot of money.

Solar panel DIY materials

Solar panels are surprisingly simple things. You need just a few basic materials:

• Photovoltaic (PV) cells. This is the silicon-based material that actually absorbs sunlight and converts it to electricity. You can buy these online pretty easily, so it’s just a matter of deciding how much power you want to generate and purchasing enough to get you there. If you’re looking for a super cheap DIY approach, you could even buy a bunch of $1.50 solar lights from a dollar store and extract the small cells in them for a cheap array of solar cells.

  If you’re feeling really ambitious, you can go full-on DIY—using copper sheets, you can create your own PV cells. But the cells you make in your kitchen won’t last nearly as long or produce nearly as much power as even the cheapest manufactured cells, so if your goal is power over DIY cred you should just buy your cells.

• Tabbing wire. This is flat wire used to connect cells together into “strings.”

• Liquid silicone. This will be used to seal your connected PV cells. John Burke, chair of the American Solar Energy Society Photovoltaics Division, recommends DC 184 from Dow for this, but any clear liquid silicone will work.

• Solder and soldering iron. If you don’t already have these, you can pick up lead-free solder and an iron at any hardware store.

• Caulk or glue. Use 100% silicone caulk to seal up your panel. In a pinch, a strong glue can also be used, but won’t be as waterproof as caulk.

• Encapsulation material. Once you’ve connected your cells into strings and sealed them in silicone, you’ll need to encapsulate them further—PV cells are delicate things and need to be kept free from dirt and damage. Your best bet is to seal them between two sheets of glass. But if you have or have access to a laminating machine, you can also laminate your panel. This won’t be as durable as glass, but will work just fine.

• Multimeter. A multimeter tool is optional, but recommended because you should test your connections throughout the assembly to ensure that nothing has broken or become detached, and that you’re getting the wattage you expected.

If you’re more focused on the fun of assembling your own solar panel, keep in mind you can purchase DIY kits that provide everything you’ll need to build a small panel.

How to make DIY solar panels

Once you have all your materials, you can begin assembling your DIY solar panel:

1. Lay out your PV cells in a grid. You’re setting up “strings” of cells—a line of cells that will be wired together into one connected row. A typical panel layout is four strings of nine cells each, for a total of 36 cells. It’s a good idea to use a ruler and create a neat grid so that all your wiring lines up perfectly. You can use tile spacers to ensure you’ve got a tight layout.

2. Measure your tabbing wire so you have two lengths that will stretch from top to bottom of your strings.

3. Solder the tabbing wire from the front of the first PV cell to the back of the next one, connecting positive to negative. Repeat until your strings of cells are all soldered together. If you’re using multiple strings, connect them by running wire across the top and bottom where the wires stick out and soldering it all together.

4. Test. This is a good moment to break out that multimeter and make sure your connections are good and you’re getting the power you expect from them. if you’re not, investigate and re-solder where necessary.

5. First encapsulation with liquid silicone. Mix your silicone and then gently apply, using a soft brush to spread the silicone. Make sure you leave our wires out so they can be connected to a battery or whatever it is you plan to charge. Let the first layer dry, then apply a second coat.

6. Second encapsulation. Place your cell strings on a glass plate. Making sure no dirt or other contaminants get inside, place a second glass plate on top. Again, make sure your wires are outside the encapsulation so they can be connected. Seal with caulk.

That’s it. If you connected everything correctly, you should now get some usable juice when you place your panel in the sun. You can build a plywood frame for the glass panels for extra durability, if desired.

If you want to get a little fancier with your DIY solar panel you can incorporate more durable frames, pegboards for a super tight grid, and other enhancements. If you want a bit of a deep dive into the science and engineering behind solar energy and DIY solar panels, you can download the free PDF To Catch the Sun by Lonny Grafman, an Instructor of Environmental Resources Engineering and Appropriate Technology at Humboldt State University and Joshua Pearce, a professor at Western University in Ontario.

When it comes to insults, kids have stepped up their game. You can blame social media or more delicate parenting styles, but this generation knows how to throw some good barbs. But with great power comes great responsibility, and sometimes, when children toss ridicule in the direction of a parent, our feelings can get hurt.

“When [kids] learn that [they] can say whatever [they] want to say, and nothing really comes of it, except for a mother telling you really shouldn’t say that, it’s not severe enough to change behavior,” says psychologist and co-author of The Social Black Belt, Dr. Christopher Cortman.

Then how should a parent respond when a child says heartbreaking things to them?

They’re testing your limits, so set some

While it doesn’t feel good when your children hurl some digs your way, it shows they are developmentally on the right track. When they are growing up, kids test your limits to see how far they can go. 

“It’s important as parents to provide that structure because if you don’t, it’s not in their best interest,” Cortman says. “It’s definitely not in yours.”

Something else you may have noticed about your young ones is that they are astute observers, but while they know how to read the room, they aren’t capable of drawing the proper conclusions about what they are observing. For example, if a kid sees his dad dive headfirst into a pool and his hairpiece falls off, the child, unaware that his dad wears a wig, may conclude that diving headfirst will cause their hair to fall off, too. 

“Kids don’t know until they’re taught,” Cortman says. “It’s up to us to provide a lot of good training for what’s acceptable. You want to give them exactly the amount of help they need so that they can do as much of it on their own.”

Sometimes, they’re saying it because they’re hurting

A child knows the best way to hurt your feelings is to say they hate you. Cortman says what your child is really trying to say is that they hate how they’re feeling at the moment and are in a lot of pain. They don’t actually hate you. Take a deep breath and use the opportunity to discuss what they’re going through. 

“Make sure that your discipline is reasonable,” Cortman says. “Always make it fair. That allows your kid to say, ‘Yeah, that’s a natural consequence of what I did.’ It shouldn’t feel like you’re hitting them with an elephant gun when it’s just a mosquito bite.”

Remember that you’ll get what you give, and vice versa

Families know each other best, and with that familiarity can come a joke or two at someone else’s expense. Cortman doesn’t believe this sets a bad example for children, but it can introduce them to an unspoken social construct.

“You better expect they’ll get back at you,” he adds.

Tell them how you feel

We want to teach our kids to be open with their emotions. However, if they hurt your feelings with an insult or two and you keep those sentiments to yourself, you are not setting a good example. Not only are you missing an opportunity to connect with them, but they are unaware of the consequences of their actions.  

“If you show that you’re bulletproof, you’re not teaching them good things,” Cortman says. “Then they’re just going to up the ante.”

You can also share past examples of when their feelings were hurt by someone else so they can recall what it’s like.(“Do you remember that time when…? That didn’t feel good, did it?”) It can help them develop empathy toward others. Most importantly, keep the lines of communication open despite your feelings so your kids don’t fill in any blanks and assume the worst. Your kid likely didn’t intend to hurt you.

Believe it or not, they’re saying it because they care

Occasionally, kids can cut to the quick with a sharp critique. Maybe they think you drink too much beer or soda, or they’re concerned about your weight or smoking habit. Remember, they’re saying these things because they’re worried about you, not to hurt your feelings. 

However, if you’re concerned about how someone else might take their critiques, Cortman recommends teaching them to know their audience. Show kids to begin with kindness so the recipient understands the intention behind what they have to say. Start with, “I love you so much, and I would never want anything to happen to you, and I’m concerned about….” It will set the tone for what’s coming next.

Some of our greatest metaphors are about pickles. Nicki Minaj made a case for asserting herself as a woman in a male-dominated field in 2010 when she declared, “Had I accepted the pickle juice, I’d be drinking pickle juice right now,” for instance. In your own pursuit of professional or personal success, you, too, can call upon the power of pickles to help you be more productive. When you’re trying to figure out how much you can fit into a day, try the “pickle jar theory.”

What is the pickle jar theory?

The pickle jar theory is an excellent mental exercise for anyone who thinks or processes things visually. It was conceptualized by Jeremy Wright in 2002, based on the idea that a pickle jar holds a finite amount of content. So, too, does your day. There is only so much you can do in a day, as there is only so much you can stuff into a pickle jar. 

When thinking of your day as a pickle jar, imagine it full of three things: Rocks, pebbles, and sand. These represent your daily responsibilities, but as you can see, they’re different sizes. You can fit more of the smaller stuff, like sand and pebbles, than you can rocks, but rocks can still take up half the jar. 

How does the pickle jar theory work?

To use this kind of thinking, you need to categorize your day’s tasks. Start by writing them all down, then prioritizing them using the Eisenhower Matrix, which is useful for figuring out which tasks are urgent and important, urgent and not important, not urgent but important, and not urgent and not important. 

Then, assign each task to a rock, pebble, or sand, like this: 

• Rocks are the big tasks that are important, necessary to get on right away, and/or will take up a major chunk of time. Studying for a test, finalizing a major project at work, or cleaning the house can be rock-sized tasks, for instance. 

• Pebbles are the things that are important to do, but not immediately necessary or massively time-consuming. You can fit quite a few of them in the jar, depending on how many rocks you have in there. 

• Sand represents the small things that you need to do to keep your day moving along or just want to do. It enters the jar last and fills up the gaps between the bigger items. Sand can be anything from answering emails, going to meetings, calling your mom, or relaxing. These aren’t necessarily urgent or time-consuming, but they’re still important to your work or mental wellbeing. 

Visualize yourself putting one to three rocks in the jar, three to five pebbles, and as much sand as can fit. Understanding that not every single thing you need to do can always fit in there, you can make decisions about which rocks, pebbles, and sand pieces to hold over for the next day’s jar. 

This works because it gives you a tangible example of your own capacity, but also reminds you that even when your day is full of “rocks” and “pebbles,” you still have room for “sand.” Don’t forget to let some of the sand be enjoyable, because breaks are integral to productivity. Don’t over-stuff your jar with rocks and pebbles to the point that you have no room for sand at all, and don’t forget that other people have their own jars that might not be as full. Consider delegating some “pebble” tasks to a teammate, whether it’s a coworker or your spouse, or eliminating the unnecessary tasks altogether. (On your Eisenhower Matrix, these will be the ones that are neither urgent nor important.)

Keeping in mind that your time and energy is finite—and focusing on this representation of that fact—will make prioritization and decision-making easier, allowing you to make space for what you need and disregard what you don’t. To quote Nicki Minaj, that’s bossed up. 

WASHINGTON, Feb. 15, 2024 — The Departments of Agriculture and the Interior today announced a proposal to strengthen Alaska Tribal representation on the Federal Subsistence Board (FSB), which manages subsistence use on federal lands and waters in Alaska. For thousands of years, subsistence practices have been immensely important for Alaska Native communities, and remain deeply intertwined with their lifeways, food security, and cultures.

If you’re looking for the Wordle answer for February 17, 2024 read on. We’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solution. Today’s puzzle is medium difficult; I got it in four. Beware, there are spoilers below for February 17, Wordle #973! Keep scrolling if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Wordle game.

How to play Wordle

Wordle lives here on the New York Times website. A new puzzle goes live every day at midnight, your local time.

Start by guessing a five-letter word. The letters of the word will turn green if they’re correct, yellow if you have the right letter in the wrong place, or gray if the letter isn’t in the day’s secret word at all. For more, check out our guide to playing Wordle here, and my strategy guide here for more advanced tips. (We also have more information at the bottom of this post, after the hints and answers.)

Ready for the hints? Let’s go!

Does today’s Wordle have any unusual letters?

We define common letters as those that appear in the old typesetters’ phrase ETAOIN SHRDLU. (Memorize this! Pronounce it “Edwin Shirdloo,” like a name, and pretend he’s a friend of yours.)

They’re almost all common letters today! Three of them are in our mnemonic, and there are two letters that aren’t but are also fairly common. No unusual letters today.

Can you give me a hint for today’s Wordle?

A Biblical song or hymn. 

Does today’s Wordle have any double or repeated letters?

No repeated letters today. 

How many vowels are in today’s Wordle?

Only one vowel today. 

What letter does today’s Wordle start with?

Today’s word starts with P. 

What letter does today’s Wordle end with?

Today’s word ends with M. 

What is the solution to today’s Wordle?

Ready? Today’s word is PSALM.

How I solved today’s Wordle

ARISE and TOUCH gave me only two letters, neither of which was placed correctly. I tried SLAMS to eliminate two other relatively common letters. From there, I was able to narrow down the location of each letter I knew, and the only real solution was PSALM. 

Wordle 973 4/6

🟨⬛⬛🟨⬛
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
🟨🟨🟩🟨⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

A primer on Wordle basics

The idea of Wordle is to guess the day’s secret word. When you first open the Wordle game, you’ll see an empty grid of letters. It’s up to you to make the first move: type in any five-letter word. 

Now, you can use the colors that are revealed to get clues about the word: 

• Green means you correctly guessed a letter, and it’s in the correct position. (For example, if you guess PARTY, and the word is actually PURSE, the P and R will be green.)

• Yellow means the letter is somewhere in the word, but not in the position you guessed it. (For example, if you guessed PARTY, but the word is actually ROAST, the R, A and T will all be yellow.)

• Gray means the letter is not in the solution word at all. (If you guessed PARTY and everything is gray, then the solution cannot be PURSE or ROAST.)

With all that in mind, guess another word, and then another, trying to land on the correct word before you run out of chances. You get six guesses, and then it’s game over.

The best starter words for Wordle

What should you play for that first guess? The best starters tend to contain common letters, to increase the chances of getting yellow and green squares to guide your guessing. (And if you get all grays when guessing common letters, that’s still excellent information to help you rule out possibilities.) There isn’t a single “best” starting word, but the New York Times’s Wordle analysis bot has suggested starting with one of these:

• CRANE

• TRACE

• SLANT

• CRATE

• CARTE

Meanwhile, an MIT analysis found that you’ll eliminate the most possibilities in the first round by starting with one of these:

• SALET

• REAST

• TRACE

• CRATE

• SLATE

Other good picks might be ARISE or ROUND. Words like ADIEU and AUDIO get more vowels in play, but you could argue that it’s better to start with an emphasis on consonants, using a starter like RENTS or CLAMP. Choose your strategy, and see how it plays out.

How to win at Wordle

We have a few guides to Wordle strategy, which you might like to read over if you’re a serious student of the game. This one covers how to use consonants to your advantage, while this one focuses on a strategy that uses the most common letters. In this advanced guide, we detail a three-pronged approach for fishing for hints while maximizing your chances of winning quickly.

The biggest thing that separates Wordle winners from Wordle losers is that winners use their guesses to gather information about what letters are in the word. If you know that the word must end in -OUND, don’t waste four guesses on MOUND, ROUND, SOUND, and HOUND; combine those consonants and guess MARSH. If the H lights up in yellow, you know the solution.

One more note on strategy: the original Wordle used a list of about 2,300 solution words, but after the game was bought by the NYT, the game now has an editor who hand-picks the solutions. Sometimes they are slightly tricky words that wouldn’t have made the original list, and sometimes they are topical. For example, FEAST was the solution one Thanksgiving. So keep in mind that there may be a theme.

Wordle alternatives

If you can’t get enough of five-letter guessing games and their kin, the best Wordle alternatives, ranked by difficulty, include:

• Wheeldle, which lets you play one puzzle after another

• Dordle and Quordle, which ask you to play two (Dordle) or four (Quordle) puzzles at the same time, with the same guesses. There is also Octordle, with eight puzzles, and Sedecordle, with 16.

• Waffle, which shows you several five-letter words, scrambled in a grid; you play by swapping the letters around until you solve.

• Absurdle, which changes the solution after each guess, but needs to stay consistent with its previous feedback. You have to strategically back it into a corner until there is only one possible word left; then you guess it, and win.

• Squabble, in which you play Wordle against other people with a timer running. You take damage if you spend too much time between guesses; winner is the last one standing.

• Antiwordle, in which you are trying not to guess the day’s solution. You’re required to reuse any letters that you (oops) guessed correctly, so the longer it takes you, the better you are at the game.

Your shoulders are an important part of your body to work on strength training days, whether you’re looking for a beefier appearance or just a better ability to, say, shove your suitcase into the overhead compartment. Read on, and I’ll break down where your shoulder muscles are, what they do, and which exercises are the best ones to work them.

What are the shoulder muscles? 

The shoulder is one of our strangest and most complex joints. Rather than two bones meeting in a hinge-like structure, we have multiple bones coming together to form the joint, including the scapula, or shoulder blade. 

There are muscles on the front and back of our shoulder joint, as well as muscles below and above it. Many of these muscles attach to our shoulder blade, and double as back muscles as well. So it’s not simple to define what counts as a “shoulder” muscle. Still, I’ll try. The muscles we usually think of a shoulder muscles are: 

• The front (anterior) deltoid, which helps raise your arm in front of you.

• The side (lateral) deltoid, which helps you raise your arm out to the side.

• The rear (posterior) deltoid, which helps you pull your arm back.

These three muscles are the ones that sit like a cap on top of the shoulder, like where your shoulder pads would be if you were wearing a 1980s power suit. They’re called deltoids (delts, for short) because they are in the shape of a triangle. The three sections each have an attachment point on the front, top, or back of your shoulder, and all three attach to roughly the same point on your upper arm bone. 

In addition to the deltoids, or delts, some of the other muscles around your shoulder include: 

• Your rotator cuff, which includes four muscles that connect your upper arm bone (your humerus) to your shoulder blade. These are the infraspinatus, supraspinatus, subscapularis, and teres minor. They help you to move your shoulder in all directions, and get their name because they surround the joint like a cuff.

• Your trapezius (“traps”) and rhomboid minor muscles connect your spine to your shoulder blades. When you shrug your shoulders, that’s your upper trapezius doing most of the work.

• Your pectoralis major and minor (your “pecs”) connect your chest to your upper arms. You use these when you’re pushing something away from you, as in a bench press or pushup.

• Your serratus anterior connects your shoulder blades to your ribcage, helping you to move your shoulders forward and stabilize them when you’re holding something overhead. 

• Your latissimus dorsi (“lats”) are back muscles that connect to your upper arm bones. They pull your shoulders down and back, and help us pull things toward ourselves.

With all that in mind, you can see there won’t be a single exercise that hits every muscle. If you just want a big “boulder shoulders” look, you’ll want to give the deltoids some extra love. But if you also want your shoulders to function well in all their movements, you’ll need to do a variety of upper-body exercises. 

For example, bench press and pushups work the pecs. Pullups and the lat pulldown machine work the lats. Shrugs work the upper trapezius. Horizontal pulling movements, like rows, work upper back muscles like the traps and rhomboids. These may not be “shoulder exercises” in gym bro lingo, but they’re definitely good for your shoulders. 

That said—I get what kind of shoulder exercises you’ve come here for. I’ll share some of my favorite exercises that work the deltoids, and you can add these onto your next upper body day. Each of these can be done as a circuit, so you get a lot of reps in a short time.

The best shoulder routine for beginners

Of the two routines I’m telling you about today, this one is easiest for beginners to pick up. But there’s no need to ditch it when you get more advanced; this is a bread-and-butter shoulder routine for all levels of lifters.

Here’s a tri-set (like a three-part superset) that hits each of the three parts of the deltoid. You’ll do these exercises, holding a dumbbell in each hand. Do both arms at the same time.

• Front raise: Raise the dumbbells up in front of you, with elbows straight. Stop when your arm is roughly parallel to the floor (so, not all the way overhead.)

• Lateral raise: Raise the dumbbells out to the side, as if you were a bird (slowly) flapping your wings. It’s ok to bend your elbows if you need to, or to keep your arms slightly in front of your body rather than sticking them straight out to the sides. 

• Rear delt raise (also called reverse fly): Bend at the hips, so you’re leaning forward with your chest toward the ground. It’s OK to bend your knees to make this more comfortable. Now, raise the dumbbells, using your rear deltoid muscles to pull the weights toward the ceiling.

Use the same pair of dumbbells for all three exercises, and don’t put the weights down until you’ve done all three. Use a weight that lets you get 10 to 12 reps on the first exercise, and then aim for the same number on the others—but don’t be surprised if your shoulders get tired and maybe you can only manage 10 and then eight. After you’ve done all three, put the dumbbells down and rest for a minute or two before doing another round. 

Three rounds of this circuit is a great way to finish off an upper body workout. 

The best shoulder routine for functional strength

Lateral raises are a favorite of bodybuilders, but if your focus is shoulder strength for overhead lifting, you’ll probably want to get some kind of overhead press in the mix. (Barbell press and double kettlebell press are my favorites, personally.) Some compound pulling movements are a great way to round out a circuit, so if I only have 10 minutes for a shoulder finisher, this is the one I do.

The press works the front and middle deltoids, as well as shoulder stabilizers like the traps and serratus. The upright row also targets the delts and traps, and it gets the rhomboids and rotator cuff. Finally, we’ll finish with a little something for the rear delts and other upper back muscles.

Before you begin, gather your equipment: a barbell, which you may want to place in a rack, and a long, thin resistance band. 

• Overhead press: Just what it sounds like: Stand up, take the bar out of the rack, and press it overhead. I start with a strict press (no knee bend), but it’s fine to push press the barbell when the strict presses get tough.

• Upright row: You can take either a wide or narrow grip on this one. Hold the bar at hip level, and then pull it up the front of your body as if it were attached to the zipper on your hoodie. Keep your elbows above the bar the whole time. 

• Band pull-aparts: Hold both ends of the resistance band out in front of you with straight arms, angled up a bit so the band is around eye level. Pull the band apart, so that your arms go out to the sides and the center of the band touches your upper chest. 

For the barbell, pick a weight you can press for 15 reps or so. It’s OK if that’s the empty bar, or one of those fixed-weight barbells that many gyms have on a rack next to the dumbbells. As you repeat the circuit and your shoulders begin to get tired, you might only be squeaking out five reps by the end. 

Some people find that upright rows bother their shoulders. If the upright rows aren’t feeling good, try widening your grip on the bar, and not pulling it as high. (Up to belly button level is still great.) 

I like to set a timer for 10 minutes and do as many rounds as I can in that time, resting no more than needed—usually about 30 seconds between my last band pull and my first press of the next round.