Tidbit Tuesday - Bulletproofing Your Shoulders
Hello,
Welcome to another Tidbit Tuesday where we aim to teach you something new about health, nutrition, lifestyle, training, and so much more, every week!
Today we are talking about Bulletproofing Your Shoulders: training the scapula and avoiding frozen shoulder!
The shoulder is a complex joint. It is extremely mobile, which also means it is lacking in stability.
If we lack function or mobility in our shoulder the body will compromise and try to take it from somewhere else.
For starters, a fully functioning shoulder joint will require scapula (shoulder blade) mobility and stability, mobility in your thoracic spine (between your shoulder blades), and proper internal and external rotation of the shoulder joint.
It is more than just doing front and lateral raises to build big delts!
So how do you build the strength to be able to handle a heavy bench press or overhead press, perform a pullup, and be able to throw a fast ball without dislocating your shoulder?
All the muscles of the shoulder, back, and rotator cuff must be able to work in harmony with each other.
The most common issue I see is when we allow our upper trap (trapezius) muscles to take over and try to do everything for the shoulder.
The traps are one of the largest muscles in our back and so it wants to take over and do the work for the smaller muscles.
If you notice that your shoulders are up near your ears while you are reading this, take a deep breath and relax your shoulders!
Ease the tension on your shoulders, neck, and jaw.
When our upper trap takes over, our scapula can't move. This can cause a pinching sensation in your shoulder when trying to lift your arm up over your head.
We should be placing more tension in our Rhomboids (the muscle that squeezes your shoulder blades together) and lower traps, helping to create core stability, and lifting above our heads using our serratus anterior.
The serratus anterior goes from our rib cage to our scapula, its job is to pull the scapula forward toward the rib cage, creating space in the shoulder joint.
When our upper trap gets stuck up near our ears, our serratus anterior can't pull our scapula out of the way.
This creates a frozen shoulder which is a condition characterized by stiffness and pain in your shoulder joint. Signs and symptoms typically begin gradually and worsen over time.
If not dealt with, frozen shoulder can become debilitating!
One of the most common causes of frozen shoulder is the immobility that may result during recovery from a shoulder injury, broken arm or a stroke.
If you've had an injury that makes it difficult to move your shoulder, you will require specific exercises you can do to maintain the range of motion in your shoulder joint.
If you haven't sustained an injury and aren't yet dealing with frozen shoulder, but you notice your shoulders up near your ears more often than not, maybe a little pinch when you reach straight up, take the time NOW to prevent it from worsening over time.
To keep fully functional, and strong shoulders fit these 5 moves into your workouts on a regular basis (Google/YouTube will have videos for reference):
1) Kettlebell Arm Bar
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kettlebell+arm+bar
This is great for working on thoracic mobility, scapular stability, and can be used to really cue the forcing and opening of external rotation. It can have some impact on scapular mobility as well.
2) Kettlebell Windmill
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kettlebell+windmill
This is great for working scapular mobility and stability through a range of motion.
3) Bottoms-up Kettlebell Pullover
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bottoms+up+kettlebell+pullover
This move is going to help you with strength and control of your serratus anterior. While also coordinating core activation during an overhead movement.
4) External Rotation Press
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIK0aJDO7Pk
This can be performed with an elastic band or cable machine. This move will help you to learn control and coordination through a range of motion. Perform slowly and hold each position for several seconds to create stability.
5) Inverted Kettlebell Carry - Overhead and 90°
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=inverted+kb+carry
This should only be implemented if you have enough strength in your serratus anterior and mobility in your upper trap, thoracic spine, and scapula.
This move is going to be crucial for developing stability and overhead strength (think of Olympic lifters able to hold hundreds of pounds over their head). This move is simple in nature, holding a kettlebell upside down, straight above your head, while you walk. This requires tremendous strength and coordination of the shoulder complex, forearm and grip strength.
Perform the above 5 moves along with regular foam rolling and soft tissue work of the following:
· Traps
· Rhomboids
· Lats
· Pecs
The shoulder has many moving parts to it, requiring a lot of stability to avoid compensatory movements or potential injury. Keep consistently working on your control, stability, and mobility and you'll be lifting big weight, pain free, in no time at all.
Happy overhead lifting!
Your friend in health & fitness,
Coach Sean
