Specific shoulder flexibility and strength routine??

New to forum...

Been surfing the web looking for new ideas to put together into a prehab / rehab routine for shoulder health.. I am 45yrs old and very active... I am involved in bodybuilding, strongman, and powerlifting.... My shoulder discomfort is the direct result of these activities and has its roots in my heavy bench press training when I competed more... I, recently, am back to heavy bench press training and the discomfort is rearing its ugly head....

I did read thru the stickies, but rather than just randomly throwing something together, I was hoping to get some input as to the best stretches / flexibility exercises to compliment my weight training and hopefully keep me in the game with minimal to zero shoulder discomfort...

thanks

After getting shoulder impingement, I found out myself how important shoulder health is. After searching for a while i compiled a couple of things that definitely have helped me with my number one thing (handstands) and have also helped with shoulder openness, flexibility, mobility, etc.

These are both from Ido Portal. And work very well.

Shoulder dislocates and Inlocates http://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1760 are very helpful (just be careful not to put your hands too close together when you are doing it for the first time)

Bridges are wonderful for shoulder girdle if you do them correctly

If you cannot do bridges i find that reverse planks are great (with feet elevated)

Wall Extensions http://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1191 are very good for shoulder flexibility and rehab

And the number one thing you can do is go onto youtube and look up Foam Roller shoulder exercises. They can be slightly expensive (depending on how you look at price) 25-35 dollars, but very worth it. Since purchasing one it has helped me dramatically.

I hope this helps

-Ian

Considering the fact that I am training 4-5 days per week, how often (days per week) would be optimal for incorporating a shoulder flexibility routine?? Do it same day as upper body work, but at the end of the routine? OR do it on off days / day after to help flexibility post workout?

Finally, how does doing handstands help the shoulders? I'd be more concerned with closing the shoulder joint spaced from my bodyweight compressing the space while in a handstand position

moustache1023 said:

Considering the fact that I am training 4-5 days per week, how often (days per week) would be optimal for incorporating a shoulder flexibility routine?? Do it same day as upper body work, but at the end of the routine? OR do it on off days / day after to help flexibility post workout?

Finally, how does doing handstands help the shoulders? I'd be more concerned with closing the shoulder joint spaced from my bodyweight compressing the space while in a handstand position

I personally do my shoulder flexibility routine every day. It gives it more and more mobility every time you do it. I also usually do it before and after the workout. Do all the exercises before the work out and pick a couple and use the foam roller after your workout. its a good cool down.

thanks for the input...

Well, I do shoulder flexibility every day but that's also because my shoulders used to be a mess and I used to ring strength 2/week besides SSC 2-4x/week.

During the GB seminar, there are varying types of shoulder mobility series. I generally do the theraband variety every day because it's fairly quick and a bit of DB work and BW series every workout besides focusing on a lot more of it on saturdays (light training/mobility day).

moustache1023 said:

Considering the fact that I am training 4-5 days per week, how often (days per week) would be optimal for incorporating a shoulder flexibility routine?? Do it same day as upper body work, but at the end of the routine? OR do it on off days / day after to help flexibility post workout?

Finally, how does doing handstands help the shoulders? I'd be more concerned with closing the shoulder joint spaced from my bodyweight compressing the space while in a handstand position

Sub-acromial space actually opens up after 120 degrees of abduction, so there is plenty of space in the full handstand. When done properly, handstands strengthen the entire shoulder girdle evenly and teach you to actively use your upper back to be the support structure of your upper body strength. That's how our bodies are designed to operate, and proper handstand work really helps with this development.

As far as your shoulder flexibility goes, I would consider making it your #1 priority and doing mobility twice just like IJL says, with some strength work in between but only with whatever time you can spare for it. Once your flexibility and mobility are good, you can maintain them easily and focus more on the strength work.

Reason for the above approach: Without the proper flexibility you may have trouble using the right muscles in your handstand work. If you start using the wrong muscles and get strong THAT way you will A) have a hard time fixing things because you will have to start all over and it will be demoralizing and B) you may get hurt along the way.

It is much harder to stretch strong muscles than weak muscles, take it from me.

Also, think about what is happening in the shoulder during a handstand: The space between the acromion and the humeral head is being opened, not closed. Of course, a lot of this has to do with proper scapular positioning (largely a function of being able to use your traps actively and having flexible serratus anterior)

I have found that increasing the volume on my manna has really helped. I think there may be something to that.

There is. You are training a lot of scapular stability and strength! It helps keep you healthy. That's part of why the basic support work, when done properly, is also excellent for shoulder health and should never be abandoned completely.

I just played around with reverse plank shrugs and they feel really good.

slizzardman said:

There is. You are training a lot of scapular stability and strength! It helps keep you healthy. That's part of why the basic support work, when done properly, is also excellent for shoulder health and should never be abandoned completely.

I just played around with reverse plank shrugs and they feel really good.

I took your advice on the reverse plank shrugs and really liked them. It is just a little hard finding a way to increase the difficulty. I want to make them harder because I think they will help me attain my manna. I tried elevating my feet more but it isn't getting as difficult as I would like.

Yep, I have a friend who has said working Manna can do a lot of shoulder health. However, you have to be able to work it to really benefit for it. Thus, I just do quite a bit of reverse plank and skin the cat stuff.

Blairbob said:

Yep, I have a friend who has said working Manna can do a lot of shoulder health. However, you have to be able to work it to really benefit for it. Thus, I just do quite a bit of reverse plank and skin the cat stuff.

It's similar if you do floor l-sit work with hands backwards.

One good workout for the shoulders is the Y-T-I circuit.. You can also add the L and the W to the circuit if you want..

blackcat said:

One good workout for the shoulders is the Y-T-I circuit.. You can also add the L and the W to the circuit if you want..

Yes, but a key component of this is A) don't do it as a circuit, do them as individual sets and B) retract the scaps completely at the beginning of each rep, hold them there through the concentric AND eccentric, and then relax them at the end of the rep, so that you have to do the retraction all over again each rep. This is key. If you try just doing the movements and then doing them the way I am suggesting you will feel a substantial difference, and this more specific way leads to far greater strength gains.

Keep the weight light and increase slowly. just a few lbs is challenging at first, and if you get to where you can do 6-7 perfect reps with a 313 tempo using 8-10 lbs in a single set you are f-ing strong.

Just doing the motions with 10 lbs isn't that bad, I can do that right now without too much trouble. Doing them as outlined above, I can barely handle 5.5 lbs for 3-4 reps per set. It is a big, big difference. If you feel your shoulder blades move at all during the rep, the weight is too heavy.

slizzardman said:

blackcat said:

One good workout for the shoulders is the Y-T-I circuit.. You can also add the L and the W to the circuit if you want..

Yes, but a key component of this is A) don't do it as a circuit, do them as individual sets and B) retract the scaps completely at the beginning of each rep, hold them there through the concentric AND eccentric, and then relax them at the end of the rep, so that you have to do the retraction all over again each rep. This is key. If you try just doing the movements and then doing them the way I am suggesting you will feel a substantial difference, and this more specific way leads to far greater strength gains.

Keep the weight light and increase slowly. just a few lbs is challenging at first, and if you get to where you can do 6-7 perfect reps with a 313 tempo using 8-10 lbs in a single set you are f-ing strong.

Just doing the motions with 10 lbs isn't that bad, I can do that right now without too much trouble. Doing them as outlined above, I can barely handle 5.5 lbs for 3-4 reps per set. It is a big, big difference. If you feel your shoulder blades move at all during the rep, the weight is too heavy.

Thanks for the tips, I was doing this as part of my warm up, right after shoulder mobility drills. I was doing this in circuit, 3 rounds of 10 reps for each exercise but without any weight and in a stability ball.

I will try your suggestion Sliz, thanks

blackcat said:

One good workout for the shoulders is the Y-T-I circuit.. You can also add the L and the W to the circuit if you want..

Hi, i'm intrigued!...what is this Y-T-I circuit ?? I've been looking for a good safe shoulder workout

serpentide said:

blackcat said:

One good workout for the shoulders is the Y-T-I circuit.. You can also add the L and the W to the circuit if you want..

Hi, i'm intrigued!...what is this Y-T-I circuit ?? I've been looking for a good safe shoulder workout

http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/exercise-week-10

read slizzardman guide to this exercises for better results..