Scap shrugs: Can't keep my elbows locked, any tips?

On my scap shrugs, my elbows keep going ever so slightly soft at the bottom.

It feels like it's mostly a coordination issue or muscle activation issue rather than a strength problem. Somehow when I retract my shoulder blades it's like the "keep your elbow locked" muscle shuts off.

This happens even when do shrugs on an incline or against the wall, which is why I'm thinking it's mostly about keeping the right muscles activated.

Any tips or suggestions about how to perfect this specific part of the movement? Is there a scaled down version to practice elbow lockout that I can do in addition to the full reps I'm doing in my Upper workouts?

Hi Josh, 

Thank you for reaching out. To assist you to the fullest I would like to see a video of your shrugs.

You can warm up the elbows by going into a plank position and do a slight bend in the elbow and then straighten and lock out. Maybe do a set of 5-10 bent elbow to straighten. Take your time when doing scap shrugs, turn the crease of your elbow forward through out the movement.

Keep practicing, perfection will come with time. 

In addition, if tight biceps are a factor, they respond well to stretches such as the prone HBP ims in F2-3

Thanks, @Tanya Hill and @Jon Douglas.

Here's where I am right now. The problem is mainly with my right arm. It feels like I'm fighting a "bend" reflex.

On the fourth rep I started pausing and straightening my elbow at the bottom so you could see how it's slightly bent.

Looks like a mobility issue to me; should resolve itself with time. Biceps stretchin still a good idea; forgot to mention table holds and rocks to begin working on this

Thanks, @Jon Douglas. I'm doing table holds as part of the FL series. I'll try hitting them daily for a while and see if that helps. 

What specific mobility problem are you detecting?

Hi Josh, 

I agree with Jon. Id also spend time stretching the wrist, and work on keeping the eye of the elbow forward during the wrist stretch.

Thanks, @Tanya Hill. Just started H1, so the wrist prep will be perfect. 

I had/have the same issue. On closer inspection of the model, his hands are turned out. This modification made keeping my elbows locked much easier. I am curious of the coaches thoughts on this....

21 minutes ago, Mathew Schwar said:

I had/have the same issue. On closer inspection of the model, his hands are turned out. This modification made keeping my elbows locked much easier. I am curious of the coaches thoughts on this....

No problem at all. Highlights wrist mobility as a deficit though.

@Mathew Schwar thanks for bringing that up. I had the same question, since in the technique tip video the model has her fingers pointed forward. Pointing my fingers out and spreading my arms wider than shoulder width seems to help but it also feels like cheating. 

i noticed that in the bottom position you seem to almost fall into it and relax which shows when your shoulders shrug upwards.  i used to do this as well and that disengagement of the musculature of the shoulder joint at the bottom made it hard for me to keep the elbows locked.  just a thought related to my own experience.  mine i believe was due to tight anterior pectoral girdle muscles and a weak middle back and external rotator cuff muscles.

@Andrew Long That's a good description of how it feels—disengagement. I'm struggling to feel which muscles to activate during retraction, and it also feels like others are just shutting off, maybe my triceps. Did you do anything specific to address your issues, or did they just resolve with time and continued effort?

@Tanya Hill During my scap shrugs this morning with my fingers pointing forward and I noticed tightness in my wrists. This is preventing my forearms from moving forward and contributing to the instinct to bend my elbows.

I'm seeing some progress over the last few days just experimenting with this. Still a ways to go, but I'm getting there.  Thanks for the help everyone!

Hi Josh,

I had (and to a degree still have) the same problem; If the load is great enough, I can't keep my elbow straight which I think stems from tight biceps and a hunched over "desk back"/rounded forward shoulders. The biceps stretches from the TB-Series, table rocks, HS/PE2>im and a lot of patience have been helpful in both the overall ability to extend my elbows further as well as keeping them straight under load.

Good luck!

Thanks, @Leonhard Krahé.

It is definitely an eye opener to see how mobility issues show up in unexpected ways.

Almost makes me think this mobility stuff should be taken seriously.

Hi Josh

You have gotten great advice and I hope you will be able to overcome it. 

I would just like to share my story, I had the exact same issue as you have, but after a lot of practice it solved itself (probably close to 7 months). What also helped me was to stay in a plank position (the top of the scapular shrugs) for a few seconds, really focusing on locking the elbows and turning the elbow pits forward. After a few seconds of plank hold I would start to lower down to retraction slooooowwwwly and really focus hard on keeping the elbows locked. I made sure not to overdo this tho since after this I would still need to have the energy to perform my actual exercise. On my off days I often did this slow lowering 1 or 2 times throughout the day just to practice keeping locked elbows.

Time slowly made the issue go away and now I have no problem keeping my elbows locked. Unfortunately, now 13 months after starting the SPL PE1 I am still at the same progression doing 5x15 scap shrugs week after week since my swivel hips are  still holding me back, but on the bright side my scap shrugs are good. This morning I tried to max out how many scap shrugs I could do before loosing form and bending the elbows, I managed to do 43, so I guess practice does help 

Good luck!

Johan

14 hours ago, Andrew Long said:

 just a thought related to my own experience.  mine i believe was due to tight anterior pectoral girdle muscles and a weak middle back and external rotator cuff muscles.

You just described me to a T! This is exactly what I'm working with PT to resolve for me. 

2 hours ago, Johan Tideland said:

I would just like to share my story, I had the exact same issue as you have, but after a lot of practice it solved itself (probably close to 7 months). What also helped me was to stay in a plank position (the top of the scapular shrugs) for a few seconds, really focusing on locking the elbows and turning the elbow pits forward. After a few seconds of plank hold I would start to lower down to retraction slooooowwwwly and really focus hard on keeping the elbows locked. I made sure not to overdo this tho since after this I would still need to have the energy to perform my actual exercise. On my off days I often did this slow lowering 1 or 2 times throughout the day just to practice keeping locked elbows.

Time slowly made the issue go away and now I have no problem keeping my elbows locked. Unfortunately, now 13 months after starting the SPL PE1 I am still at the same progression doing 5x15 scap shrugs week after week since my swivel hips are  still holding me back, but on the bright side my scap shrugs are good. This morning I tried to max out how many scap shrugs I could do before loosing form and bending the elbows, I managed to do 43, so I guess practice does help 

Thanks, @Johan Tideland—I'm going to give this a shot too. Sounds like it would be a big help.

And I'm in the same boat with swivel hips, won't be going anywhere for a while.

On October 30, 2016 at 0:35 AM, Jon Douglas said:

Looks like a mobility issue to me; should resolve itself with time. Biceps stretchin still a good idea; forgot to mention table holds and rocks to begin working on this

You nailed my problem, @Jon Douglas. I was doing wrist stretches this morning for H1, and I realized that I can't lock my elbows on WRS #2, where the backs of my hands are on the floor and my fingers are pointed toward my knees.

I'm sure there's a strength component too, but mostly I think it's mobility.