Shoulder health maxxing

[Deleted member 8744]

If your gymcelling, then this is very important. Many people start working out and do bench press far more than they do rows or pullups, and even when they are, many aren’t doing it as to where it’s helpful or building back or anterior deltoid muscle. This often results in shoulder impingement or some other shoulder problems and terrible posture.

The shoulder blades: whenever doing any pulling movement, rows for example, your shoulder blades should be pulled back and then pushed down. If you have a very underdeveloped scapula then you probably won’t be able to do this.

If this is the case, then you should start practicing while standing straight up. Just pull your shoulder blades back and then try to push them down. This may take a few weeks to really be able to feel the squeeze and contraction, but it will be the base foundation.

Next, you want to start doing one arm bent over rows with a very light weight. Keep doing these until you fully feel your back muscles being sore. Once you can do these and feel your back muscles working, then you should start adding more weight and adding more exercises, inverted rows, etc.

If your shoulder blades are underdeveloped and you have shoulder pain or bad posture, then this will probably help a lot.

 

[Ocelot]

You could add a lot to this thread, rotator cuff exercises, exercises to avoid, scapular pull-ups or even dead hangs (for lower trap strength).

 

[Deleted member 8744]

You could add a lot to this thread, rotator cuff exercises, exercises to avoid, scapular pull-ups or even dead hangs (for lower trap strength).

Your right I completely forgot about rotator cuff (probably the most important part) my bad bro I’ll add it in a few mintues

 

[Mateusz74]

Or if u bench and ohp with the right technique ur already minimising any future shoulder pain

 

[Deleted member 8744]

Or if u bench and ohp with the right technique ur already minimising any future shoulder pain

Overhead press is very good for keeping shoulder health good, and proper bench is important, but can still cause problems if you only do bench press and no other work for shoulders or your back. But yeah they do minimize possible future pain if correct technique is used.

 

[Mateusz74]

Overhead press is very good for keeping shoulder health good, and proper bench is important, but can still cause problems if you only do bench press and no other work for shoulders or your back. But yeah they do minimize possible future pain if correct technique is used.

Yeah I generally try to do more rowing in a similar bench grip width to keep the shoulders healthy.

 

[Deleted member 8744]

Okay so the time limit expired but Im just going to stick the new update guide in here jfl sorry guys.


If your gymcelling, then this is very important. Many people start working out and do bench press far more than they do rows or pullups, and even when they are, many aren’t doing it as to where it’s helpful or building back or anterior deltoid muscle. This often results in shoulder impingement or some other shoulder problems and terrible posture.

The shoulder blades: whenever doing any pulling movement, rows for example, your shoulder blades should be pulled back and then pushed down. If you have a very underdeveloped scapula then you probably won’t be able to do this.

If this is the case, then you should start practicing while standing straight up. Just pull your shoulder blades back and then try to push them down. This may take a few weeks to really be able to feel the squeeze and contraction, but it will be the base foundation.

Next, you want to start doing one arm bent over rows with a very light weight. Keep doing these until you fully feel your back muscles being sore. Once you can do these and feel your back muscles working, then you should start adding more weight and adding more exercises, inverted rows, etc.

Rotator cuff: A strong and healthy rotator cuff is extremely important to any level of lifters. Without it, you can say goodbye to pretty much any upper body lift. To strengthen the rotator cuff you have to be able to retract and squeeze your shoulder blades back. For the exercises you will need a band or partner(to mimick to tension of the band). Do these two exercises with squeezed and retracted shoulder blades:
View attachment 562165
I highly suggest that you slowly build up on these, and go slow and start with good slack in the band and low range of motion and build up week by week.
After this, you can then start implementing overhead movements, while being aware of your shoulder blades. It’s important to feel them when doing any daily activities, ie. opening a door or lifting your back pack off the ground. I advise just lifting your hands above your head and back down. Then you can progress onto overhead dumber press and then barbell press.

Pull-ups and hanging: when doing pull-ups, you need to Be able to feel your shoulder blades pulling downwards while your pulling upwards. The mind-muscle connection here is the most important part of the movement. The hardest part will be getting from the relaxed hanging position into the pulling movement.Practice this often once you are to this stage and you will get better.
Lower trap shrugs. When doing shrugs, do them while keeping your shoulder blades retracted, if you don’t, then you will only be working your upper traps and training bad posture. Your head will probably stick out while doing this so take about 5 minutes each day a work on your posture.

Pullovers: this is a great exercises for posture and opening up the upper back. This exercise can cause shoulder impingement if done incorrectly. You don’t want to force any range but rather just work with what you can do and slowly build up. To do this, you lie down on a bench with a dumbbell in your hands at eye level over you, then you slowly let it “fall” back over your head, and you hold it at a comfortable point while it’s back there, then you pull it back to the starting position. This is probably a shitty description and I’m finding hard to find the right words to describe it so here’s a picture:

Exercises to avoid at all costs: Lateral raises with internal rotation. This is when you point your thumbs down as if your pouring a glass while doing lateral raises. Doing this will probably destroy your rotator cuff and will cause painful impingement of the shoulder structure.
Guillotine press. This is when you bench press with your arms so far out that the bar is above your neck. This exercise for most people will probably cause pain right across the front side of the shoulder. I know, because I was once stupid enough to do bench presses like this. It’s a big no go.

If your shoulder blades are underdeveloped and you have shoulder pain or bad posture, then this will probably help a lot.

 

[Deleted member 8744]

You could add a lot to this thread, rotator cuff exercises, exercises to avoid, scapular pull-ups or even dead hangs (for lower trap strength).

Hey I left the updated version in a seprate comment at the bottom because the edit time expired. Btw the first picture didn’t show up (sorry abt that) but the exercises are external rotation and internal rotation with an exercises band.

 

[Ocelot]

Hey I left the updated version in a seprate comment at the bottom because the edit time expired. Btw the first picture didn’t show up (sorry abt that) but the exercises are external rotation and internal rotation with an exercises band.

Includes pretty much everything, I'd just add that upright rows are also an exercise to be avoided at all costs since it literally puts your shoulder joint in a provocative position (while weighted) which is normally used to test for impingement by physios.
Good effort thread.

 

[Deleted member 8744]

Includes pretty much everything, I'd just add that upright rows are also an exercise to be avoided at all costs since it literally puts your shoulder joint in a provocative position (while weighted) which is normally used to test for impingement by physios.
Good effort thread.

Shit yeah I forgot about that one. I also forgot about face pulls which pisses me off because I was thinking about that while doing one of the other sections. If you have exercises bands than I highly recommend face pulls. Also, I’ve experimented with certain exercises and was able to really improve my back pain. Should I make another thread for that? It’ll be much simpler and easier to make it detailed since the movements are more basic.

 

[Ocelot]

Shit yeah I forgot about that one. I also forgot about face pulls which pisses me off because I was thinking about that while doing one of the other sections. If you have exercises bands than I highly recommend face pulls. Also, I’ve experimented with certain exercises and was able to really improve my back pain. Should I make another thread for that? It’ll be much simpler and easier to make it detailed since the movements are more basic.

I mean I haven't heard a lot of people here complain of back pain, since the majority of users here are quite young. There have been some threads made about fixing postural issues like anterior pelvic tilt and upper cross syndrome, and some of them have mentioned back exercises since, well, the majority of the population doesn't have a strong enough low back or thoracic mobility. I guess it would help some users out there, so why not, if you wish.

 

[blacktablet]

@looksmeester
What are best excercises for shoulder muscles?
I usually do seated overhead dumbbell press and lateral raises. Anything else to add?

 

[Deleted member 8744]

@looksmeester
What are best excercises for shoulder muscles?
I usually do seated overhead dumbbell press and lateral raises. Anything else to add?

Well those are great exercises that I do (except I do standing) and I think that everyone should do. You should also do an exercise for rear delts (back side of the shoulder) such as any rowing movement (barbell, cable, dumbbell, etc.) the exercises mentioned in my main post are things that should be done either if you have bad posture, shoulder pain, or just want to prevent any future shoulder pain. Just keep putting in work and keep good form. It’ll pay off bro

 

[Deleted member 5145]

View attachment rogue-wood-rings-th_1.webp
Thoughts on rings OP?

 

[Deleted member 8744]

View attachment 562345
Thoughts on rings OP?

Being able to perform on rings and do things like chin ups, L sit, dips, and muscle ups is very high level calisthenics and strength. It takes a lot of core stability to do those. If you can do them on the rings, train them on the rings. I think the rings are a great goal to build up to for everyone. Thank you for bringing that up.

 

[ageistheblackestpill]

Good tips. Also barbell shoulder presses are underrated for shoulder health. Important that when you do them, you shrug your shoulders up at the end, this prevents impingement.

 

[Deleted member 8744]

Good tips. Also barbell shoulder presses are underrated for shoulder health. Important that when you do them, you shrug your shoulders up at the end, this prevents impingement.

Yeah you’re right. Shoulder impingement is such a bitch too. Thanks for the addition man.