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Shoulder mobility

A

Arfwit

WTF, I'm a Kunce too?
My shoulder mobility has never been good. I've injured my right rotator cuff in my old job twice and was told to get stronger.

I recently started lifting again after 11 months of being a lazy shit and my right shoulder seems to be tight and giving me dramas with my bench (but not my OHP). When I do squats I have to place my hands right at the collars for it to be comfortable. I haven't tried recently but before my break I don't think I could get the bar back over my head enough for an overhead squat.

Just wondering if there are mobility or strength exercises or stretches I can do to help?
 
This is something I have trouble with as well, moreso noticed once I started doing overhead squats, weighted pullups and turkish getups.

I went and saw a physio about 3 times, he gave it a bit of a massage each time and also advised on some exercises to do. One was to stand arms length from a doorway, hold onto the doorway and twist whole torso til you can feel it in your pec. May have to adjust the height you hold the door at to suit you.

But the thing that helped me the most was just lying on a lacrosse ball. Lie down on your back, with a lacrosse ball under your shoulder blade and and spend like 5 minutes going very slowly with that arm moving through full rom in all directions with shoulder as the pivot. Then put it under the other shoulder blade and repeat with the other arm.
 
I've had two shoulder reconstructions, so i know how you feel.

The best exercise i did was stand on the inside of the doorway facing the edge (5cm from your nose) and hold your hands together and using a towel slide your hands from your chest to as high as you can go, then back down again.

Also do rotator cuff exercises where you hold your elbow to your side pull away and towards your body keeping your arm in an L shape. Preferanble with cables first then dumbells
 
wingman said:
This is something I have trouble with as well, moreso noticed once I started doing overhead squats, weighted pullups and turkish getups.

I went and saw a physio about 3 times, he gave it a bit of a massage each time and also advised on some exercises to do. One was to stand arms length from a doorway, hold onto the doorway and twist whole torso til you can feel it in your pec. May have to adjust the height you hold the door at to suit you.

But the thing that helped me the most was just lying on a lacrosse ball. Lie down on your back, with a lacrosse ball under your shoulder blade and and spend like 5 minutes going very slowly with that arm moving through full rom in all directions with shoulder as the pivot. Then put it under the other shoulder blade and repeat with the other arm.
Click to expand...

^ This is good advice.

With the pec stretch, you can also just lean through the doorway while hanging onto the frame. That way you can use your weight to get a better stretch. Also, the pec is a fan shaped muscle, so to stretch along all its lines of pull, you should vary your arm height from horizontal to 45 degrees above horizontal.

With the ball massage, I also recommend sandwiching the ball between your back and a wall and rolling it around. If you find any tender spots, roll over them a few times. For better ball control, put the ball in a footy sock and use the sock to stop the ball from getting away from you.

Also try this exercise. Stand with your back to a wall with your butt, shoulders and head pressed against the wall. Tilt your pelvis backwards so that your lower back is flat against the wall. Now raise your arms to the side so that your upper arms are horizontal and pressed against the wall. Bend your elbows to 90 degrees so that your forearms are pointing upwards. Rotate your hands so that the backs of your hands are facing the wall. Try to press your forearms, wrists and hands against the wall while keeping your back and shoulders flat against the wall.

Next, slowly bring your hands to the top of your head while keeping your arms touching the wall and your lower back flat against the wall. Then slowly raise your arms so that they are 45 degrees above the horizontal with elbows extended. Lastly, slowly raise your arms overhead until your arms are touching your ears. Elbows should be extended and your arms should be in contact with the wall at all times. Same for your lower back.

If you are as tight as I am, you'll look like a mongoloid the first few times you do this. I still can't get my arms and hands flat against the wall in all positions, but my flexibility is slowly improving.

Hope this helps.
 
cricket ball FTW and roll away around the subscapular and those small areas in your shoulders .. like your life depended on it

then do shoulder dislocations with a band or broom stick before lifting
 
have had shoulder issues lately as well...doing plenty of shoulder mobility exercises along with stretching regularly seems to work for me (esp the pecs minor which can be quite tight and impair shoulder mobility if you do lots of benching)

also note that scapula mobility is also important for shoulder movement as well so mobilising that can help too!
 
My shoulder issues were due to my chest being tight and weak against my back muscles. Stretching out my chest has resolved alot of my shoulder and neck issues. Best advice is to see a good sports physio as they can pin point the direct area of trouble. Was the best $30 I spent!
 
Shoulders are tricky little bastards
for me;
I can dip until the cows come home.
Pressing with a barbell is badd juju
Pressing with a dumbbell is good
Side laterals are ok
Flyes are ok
A barrel chest and seated press is not a good combination.

You also need to be mindful that rotatator cuff exercises can make an issue worse if you shoulder girdle is not designed for some pushing movements.
 
Andy,
I do rotator cuff exercises occasionally. How do I know if my shoulder girdle is not designed for some pushing movements?
 
Little Hammer said:
Shoulders are tricky little bastards
for me;
I can dip until the cows come home.
Pressing with a barbell is badd juju
Pressing with a dumbbell is good
Side laterals are ok
Flyes are ok
Click to expand...

I'm in a similar boat....dips no problem, lateral raise no prob.....bb or db bench press, no chance....I can't even bench the bar anymore without pain to the anterior deltoid. I don't even dream of doing direct shoulder press anymore.
 
Pain?
I just feel that Physio's and such are too quick to prescribe rotator cuff exercises, rather than looking at excactly what exercises are being done around the shoulder...pushing and pulling.

Usually you'll see some young bloke do sets of bench press, decline, incline then seated press's followed by flys, then for back, narrow grip rows followed by wide grip pulldowns.
 
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