Weighted shoulder dislocates

Is there any benefit to adding small amounts of weight (2.5-5lbs) on the shoulder dislocates if I'm just outside shoulder width distance? Or would it be wiser to stick with just the dowel until I can get the appropriate distance with my hands?

Thanks!

All IM's sound be done with weight (2.5/5 lbs is fine to start with), after achieving the necessary width you should increase the weight and work again towards the necessary width.

Small amounts of weight from the get-go. Using only a stick makes the drill far less productive-- and I would venture much less safe too, since you're relying on flexibility and rotator mobility you may not yet have developed.

Even the 2.5lb makes a big difference in activation

Good to know. Thanks for the advice!!

I have a 1.5in dia x 48in poplar wood dowel. Feels like it weighs about 5 pounds, but I don't have a scale to really know for sure. Would the dowel alone be enough for dislocates? I can tie a full water bottle to the dowel just in case.

check the weight, 3-5lb is fine to start but make extra sure you aren't dislocating a heavier weight than you can dislocate in a HEALTHY way

Jon Douglas said:

Small amounts of weight from the get-go. Using only a stick makes the drill far less productive-- and I would venture much less safe too, since you're relying on flexibility and rotator mobility you may not yet have developed.

Even the 2.5lb makes a big difference in activation

I can completely relate to that. I was actualyl uing 1.5kg and thought things were going fine. I reached my mastery width for 1 set and was working my way for more sets, so reducing the width of the initial sets (going from 80,75,70,70,65 cm to 75,70,70,65,65). But this proved a bit too much and I had some bad levator scapula pain. This seemingly small jump was enough to set me back a few weeks. I decided then to start again from 100 cm and using 2kg. That felt good and easy, so I went to 3kg. I'm now down again to 80,75,75,70,70 but my shoulders feel much stronger and stable than ever before! Of course I also learned a lesson and I will take my time with this one, but I do agree that a having a weight which is not too light is more beneficial. Just watch out for signs your body send you.

Only extremely locked people could take benefit from free weight bar. But in this case I would suggest extremely slow reps. E.g. 20-30 seconds for both front and back phase.

alex87 said:

Only extremely locked people could take benefit from free weight bar. But in this case I would suggest extremely slow reps. E.g. 20-30 seconds for both front and back phase.

I'd suggest bands.

Yes also bands is fine. Probably is necessary to avoid "forced range of motion" due to elastic property on some parts of the dislocate. for example. i had a client that could manage dislocate only too wide, so wide that he must bent the head down in order to move backward, for him the elastic bad was especially useful at the beginning coupled with tons of additional stretch.

alex87 said:

Yes also bands is fine. Probably is necessary to avoid "forced range of motion" due to elastic property on some parts of the dislocate. for example. i had a client that could manage dislocate only too wide, so wide that he must bent the head down in order to move backward, for him the elastic bad was especially useful at the beginning coupled with tons of additional stretch.

I had exactly the same experience after I took that barbell dislocate video at local crossfit. Suddenly I had a load of wannabe clients who needed somewhere to start