We did a self assessment in my previous shoulder substack (link). Two were ROM assessments. The neat thing about the shoulder is you can use elevation to improve rotation, and vice versa. I’ll cover my go to stretches to improve ROM.
I find that ROM restrictions in the shoulder are mostly related to soft tissue more than joint restrictions. This makes logical sense. The ball and socket joint of the shoulder isn’t a true ball and socket, meaning the socket doesn’t actually cover the ball, and soft tissue provides most of the support. Our shoulders take a beating throughout out lives, and trauma, micro over time or one off events, really stiffens up that soft tissue.
It takes a fairly dedicated regiment to fight through those restrictions.
Lats and Pecs
For these stretches (and all of my exercises), it isn’t what you do, it’s HOW you do it. You have to create tension in the right places in order to truly stretch a muscle. Think of the old school hamstring stretch. If you bend your knees, it reduces the stretch.
For the shoulder, those places are the lats and teres major (pulling) and pecs and serratus anterior (pushing). I’ll usually just say lats and pecs for simplicity. These muscle groups actually hold the scapula in place and help it do what it needs to do.
Engage the lats
Here is HOW to engage the lats. Shoulders up to the ears, AWAY from the ears to feel the lats (AND pecs) engage. Try to keep this tension as you do the following stretches. You will have to continually shrug up/down to ensure you have the correct tension.
The Routine
This is a staple in my stretch routine. But remember, it isn’t what you do, it is HOW you do it. The how:
Assume this position, but hold the dumbbell with your palm facing DOWN (as in facing your legs. If you are still confused, it’s the same as the dumbbell fly below)
Create tension in the pecs/lats - remember, they stabilize the shoulder girdle. You should feel this. If you don’t, get your shoulders towards your ears (shrug), then get your shoulders away from your ears. Stay away from your ears.
Inhale as the arm comes back towards the table, exhale as the arm moves back to the starting position. The ELBOW is key, so visualize it initiating the movement back to the table and back to the start point. This movement should be deliberate, don’t just do it for the sake of doing it. FEEL it.
Two (2) sets of 1:00. Success is maintaining tension in the right places and using your breathing to control the movement. The weight is irrelevant, but it needs to be heavy enough to challenge you.
You can do both arms at the same time, but I recommend 1 at a time to start so you can learn the tension.
Dumbbell Fly
Same requirements as the above, the ONLY difference is the direction the arms are moving. The thumbs facing grip is very important since I want to ensure pec engagement to protect the shoulder girdle.
Tension requirements are the same, pecs/lats, visualize the ELBOWS moving towards the ground as you inhale, ELBOWS towards each other as you exhale. Two (2) sets of 1:00.
You don’t need your hands as far out as the photo. The only difference between a fly and a press is the forearm is at 90 (press) versus outside 90 (fly). The shoulder is making the same motion, forearm position just dictates how much stress is on the actual shoulder joint.
You can do 1 arm at a time, but there is a big anti-rotation component to that, so you’d have to play around with your feet/use less resistance.
Bicep Opener
The video explains it well enough. Again, the goal is to get into full shoulder extension without compensating with the upper trap. If you really struggle with this, do one arm at a time, or use an incline bench to support your back. Two (2) sets of the rep scheme from the video.
Programming
Feel free to do these daily, or at least before a training session.
Summary - Tension + Breathing
Remember it isn’t what you do, it is HOW you do it. The how is pec/lat TENSION as you move your arms away from the body. That tension is how you limit compensation from the traps/delts, which puts less stress on the actual shoulder joint.
Breathing is your true mobility. If you can’t breath while you move through a ROM, you don’t have that ROM. Breath holding is usually in indication of losing tension, so these two go hand in hand.
Give these a try, let me know how it goes.
My Go-to Shoulder Stretch Routine
Thanks again for doing this series