Six Shocking Approaches to Shoulder Training

Re-energize your shoulder training and revitalize your growth.

By Greg Merritt

It’s ironic that the shoulder joint is capable of such a wide range of motion and, yet, shoulder training almost always focuses on the same few exercises performed in the same fashion and even the same order: overhead presses, side laterals, rear laterals. Bodybuilders often incorporate a variety of machines and exercises into their back training (which also relies on shoulder joints); however, imagination and innovation frequently fail when it comes to deltoids. If you can’t remember the last time your delts were sore after a workout, the following six approaches will re-energize your shoulder training and revitalize your growth. 

1 | PRE-EXHAUSTION Many people attempt to pre-exhaust their shoulders by doing side laterals (an isolation exercise) before overhead presses (a compound exercise). There’s nothing wrong with that sequence, but, because side laterals target lateral delts and presses target anterior delts, it won’t pre-exhaust all the muscles of the shoulders. Even preceding presses with front raises targets only the anterior heads. Our workout pre-exhausts all three delt heads. You can boost the intensity of this routine by supersetting the pressing and rowing exercises with the isolation lifts that precede them.

2 | DESCENDING SETSBecause shoulders are so effectively trained with dumbbells, they easily lend themselves to descending sets. Simply go down the rack, moving to progressively lighter dumbbells each time you reach failure. Using a machine, you can also conveniently set the pin at a progressively lighter weight. 

3 | OLD SCHOOL More than any other bodypart, shoulders received the most workout attention in the pre-Schwarzenegger era. Many of the exercises of decades past have slipped into history — some justifiably so, others not. Here are the best of the old-school shoulder lifts. 

Clean and Presses: By combining a cleaning movement with a pressing movement, you can work both your trapezius (clean) and front delts (press). Lower the bar only to your waist between reps, as a floor-to-waist cleaning motion works mostly the back and legs. 

Scott Presses: This exercise was named for its proponent, Larry Scott, 1965-66 Mr. Olympia. Start by holding two dumbbells together in front of your face, palms toward you, elbows directly under your hands. Then — while keeping your arms in the same position, forearms vertical to the floor — rotate your elbows outward. When your arms are out in the double-biceps position, press the dumbbells up. Return them to the starting position. This lift works two deltoid heads by combining rear laterals (posterior delts) with dumbbell presses (anterior delts). 

Side Upright Rows: Unlike a typical upright row, where you raise a barbell in front of your body, this exercise is performed by raising two dumbbells along your sides to a position just under your armpits. Keep your palms facing your body throughout the lift. Limit shoulder shrugging, and hold at the top of each rep for a count of two. This will work your side delts with a secondary emphasis on your trapezius. 

4 | GIANT SETS When doing giant sets, perform one exercise after another with minimum rest. This technique works well with shoulders, because there are four distinct areas: front delts, side delts, rear delts and trapezius, and you can therefore do one exercise for each in rotation. Complete three or four rotations of a giant-set shoulder workout.

5 | SIDE FOCUS When most people think of shoulders, they think of width. Your shoulder width is largely dependent on the length of your clavicles, and that is determined by your luck in the gene-pool lottery. The one way you can widen your shoulders is by expanding your side delts. Therefore, as opposed to focusing first and foremost on your anterior delts with overhead presses, place a special emphasis on your medial delts. Our side-focus workout trains the medial delts first, pre-exhausting them with an isolation lift before a compound lift. 

6 | UNIQUE LIFTS Break out of your overreliance on barbell presses and dumbbell laterals. Odds are most, if not all, of our four unique exercises will be new to you, and they can be performed in most gyms. Add one or two to your shoulder training, or try a workout consisting entirely of unique lifts.

Wide-Grip Upright Rows:This exercise is included in two other shoulder workouts in this article. It deserves extra attention because it is such an effective and yet neglected lift. Unlike a typical upright row performed with a close grip, this exercise focuses more on the side deltoids and less on the trapezius. Take a shoulder-width or slightly wider overhand grip on a barbell. Keeping the bar close to your body, raise it to upper-chest level. You can also perform these with a low cable or in a Smith machine. 

W Presses: To visualize this unique lift, imagine yourself going from the contraction of a wide-grip pulldown and then clapping your hands high over your head. Now, follow that same arc with two dumbbells. 

Start by holding dumbbells at shoulder height, with your palms facing each other and your elbows in line with your shoulders (your arms and torso will form an elongated W). Then, press the dumbbells overhead while pulling them together. It’s a shoulder press combined with an overhead flye, and it works both your front and side deltoid heads. 

Decline Front Raises: Try doing dumbbell front raises while lying face-down on an incline bench set at a 45-degree angle. Momentum is minimized, and you place more emphasis on the top half of the movement. 

Behind-the-Back Upright Rows: Doing upright rows behind your back creates an intense contraction in the rear deltoids and inner trapezius. Grasp a barbell behind your butt with a shoulder-width grip and with your hands facing away from your torso. Raise the bar as high as possible; the range of motion is limited. Hold and contract at the top of each rep. These can be performed with a barbell or a Smith machine.

SHOULDERING ON | If your shoulders aren’t responding the way you want, don’t continue slogging away at the same routine. Our sextet of fresh approaches will force your delts and traps to expand again. Use the exercises and suggestions here for a temporary workout jolt or as a replacement to your current unsuccessful ways, and shoulder on toward new gains. - FLEX

Trigger Points

Do Trigger Points (TP's) exist? That's the current debate du jour. 

All I know is, when I release a TP (or whatever you choose to call it) I feel so much better. My shoulder used to kill me with pain all the time until I released my Subscapularis and infraspinatus. Wow! Nobody else did it as part of my therapy, so I empowered myself to learn on my own. 

I remember the first time I discovered those points. Instant relief of pain that bothered for months. 

I personally combine the TP release with ground based primal patterns to load my shoulder and it feels wonderful. Discovering new patterns of movement for my brain and shoulder to help manage the points from returning. My pain used to exist. Now it doesn't. Worked like a charm for me. Смайлик «smile»

I show people I love and care about who are suffering in pain about trigger points and they get their life back. Life is too short to live it in pain. Empower yourself. It's your body. It's your life. If rubbing a whatchamacallit point makes you feel better...rub away. 

Side note: If your wrist hurts and treating your wrist doesn't help, try massaging the Subscapularis in the picture. Just might find it helps. A common cause of referred pain to the wrist. Also a huge player in posterior shoulder pain. Why? Just ask Ida. 

***'Where you think it is, it ain't.' -Ida Rolf

Существуют ли триггерных точек (ТП)? Это текущие дебаты du jour. 

Все, я знаю это, когда я выпускаю ТП (или все, что вы решили назвать) я чувствую себя намного лучше. Мое плечо, использовали, чтобы убить меня с болью все время, пока я выпустил мой подлопаточной мышцей и infraspinatus. Вау! Никто другой не сделал это как часть моей терапии, поэтому я себе право учиться на мою собственную.

Я помню первый раз, я обнаружил, что эти точки. Мгновенное облегчение боли, которые беспокоили месяцев.

Я лично объединить выпуск ТП с наземного базирования primal шаблоны для загрузки мое плечо, и он чувствует себя замечательно. Открытие новых моделей движения для моего мозга и плечо, чтобы помочь управлять точками от возвращения. Моя боль, существует. Теперь это не так. Работал как шарм для меня. Смайлик «smile»

Показать людям, я люблю и заботятся о боли о триггерных точек, которые страдают и они получают свою жизнь обратно. Жизнь слишком коротка, чтобы жить в боли. Наделять себя. Это ваше тело. Это ваша жизнь. Если растирание точки whatchamacallit делает вас чувствовать себя лучше... оттирать.

Примечание: Если ваш болит запястье и лечении запястья не помогает, попробуйте массировать подлопаточной мышцей в картине. Просто может оказаться, что это помогает. Распространенной причиной боли ссылается на запястье. Также огромный игрок в задней плеча. Почему? Просто спросите Ида.

«Там, где вы думаете, это, это не».-Ида Рольф

Автор перевода: Bing

The stretch is one of THE most powerful triggers for muscle growth.

Yet when it comes to stretch-tension, the problem with most shoulder exercises is that they don't really put a tremendous amount of stretch on the delts. With most exercises, the shoulders primarily grow due to volume overload and tension on the muscles.

There's nothing wrong with that...however, lack of a meaningful stretch means you're missing out on potential growth in the deltoids. And for many people with stubborn delts, that can be a BIG problem because it sets you back before you even begin.

In normal shoulder exercises, the stretch-tension either gets absorbed by the triceps at the bottom (i.e. the shoulder press) or the stretch position can be potentially injurious to the joint. For example, a cross-body cable lateral raise allows for stretch at the bottom but puts the shoulders in a sensitive position, preventing the use of much resistance without risking injury to the joint.

The specialized movement I've got for you here produces excellent stretch-tension on the delts (especially the lateral delt as a "pre-exhaust" for the press part of the exercise.

Granted, it does look a bit strange, but it's VERY effective.

I highly recommend starting with a pair of light dumbbells the first time you do it (I'm using a pair of 35's in the demo here). You can progress upwards from there, once you get an idea of how the movement is performed, as long as you don't use so much that you lose the stretch-tension in the delts.

Start with the dumbbells in the bottom of the standing shoulder press position.

Now, make sure your shoulder girdle is locked down tight. Squeeze your lats as though finishing a pulldown (this helps lock down the shoulders).

Next, slowly lower the dumbbells directly down to the sides, keeping your upper arms pressed against your lats. Keep your forearms a bit higher than horizontal. We want to keep the upper arm flexors (biceps and brachialis) above the 90 degree point so that they stay in a strong position and don't limit the exercise or become the focus of the exercise). 

Hold this bottom position for 5 seconds.

This is important as it's what allows you to "sink" into the stretch. If you just come down then right back up, it becomes an awkward hammer curl...and not a very effective one. Holding that stretch is key.

Now, bring the dumbbells back up to the bottom position of the dumbbell press.

Then press to the top.

Because the triceps aren't involved in the first "stretch" part of the exercise, they'll be relatively fresh and will help you push you already-fatigued delts harder. I find this technique very effectively targets the side delts.

Bring the dumbbells back down to the bottom press position, then repeat.

Perform this for a set of 6 to 8 reps (2-4 sets total is good).

Remember, the big key is to HOLD that bottom stretch for 5 seconds on EVERY rep. That is non-optional. The exercise won't be effective without that stretch hold.

You can use this exercise at any point in your shoulder workout, however I prefer to use it either on it's own as my only shoulder exercise for the day or AFTER the heavier pressing is done. It will fatigue the shoulder muscles and it won't be effective to do any heavy pressing following this.

Give this exercise a try next time you hit shoulders...I think you'll be happy with the tension it puts directly on your deltoids!

To see this exercise in action (it'll help a lot!), watch the video on my YouTube channel here:

ANATOMY OF DUMBBELL KICKBACKS | HOW TO DO THEM RIGHT

 Written by Stephen E. Alway, Ph.D., FACSM

Anatomy of Dumbbell Kickbacks

How to do them right

Maybe the triceps muscle cannot best a shredded biceps containing a pipe-like cephalic vein coursing towards the forearm. Yet, even an arm with the biceps peak of a Colorado Rocky-top would somehow be lacking if it were under-girded by a triceps that is as flat as a west Kansas highway. While functionally the triceps helps generate full elbow extension on a multimillion-dollar ballplayer who knocks the ball out of the park or a lineman that knocks a defensive opponent on his backside, it is this same triceps that will stretch the tape measure past 20 inches on a great bodybuilder’s arm.

Sure the triceps are recruited with pushing activities,¹ but some different approachesare needed to activate the hard-to-recruit fibers in this muscle. Dumbbell kickbacks will activate (albeit by an almost painful draft) the fibers that have been unwilling to be engaged in other triceps exercises. 

Muscle Structure and Function

The long head of the triceps brachii (“inner head”) muscle begins on the scapula (shoulder blade) just inferior to (below) the head of the humerus bone at the shoulder joint.² The muscle belly of the long head of the triceps gradually forms the triceps tendon that crosses the elbow joint posteriorly and attaches on the ulna bone near the elbow.²

 

Dumbbell Triceps Kickbacks

Dumbbell kickbacks activate all three heads of the triceps but preferentially recruits the lateral head of the triceps brachii, in part because the arm is pulled into extension.³

1)Grab a dumbbell in your right hand. Lean forward and place your left hand (and if you have lower back problems, your left knee) on a flat bench for support. Your knees should be slightly bent to reduce the risk of back strain. 

2)Keep your back straight and look up to make sure it stays straight and tight. Bring the upper arm holding the dumbbell up to the side of your rib cage so that it is parallel to the floor and in line with your spine. Your elbow should be pointing directly backwards. The forearm should be at 90 degrees to the upper arm and hanging towards the floor.

3)Keep your upper arm close to your body and push the dumbbell back and up by extending (straightening) the elbow joint.

4)Stop the dumbbell just short of having your elbow locked out straight. Without moving the elbow or arm, laterally flex the wrist so that the end of the dumbbell closest to your forearm moves closer to your wrist. Pause for a count of one at the top position (this should really bite into the deepest fibers of the triceps).⁴ Be sure to keep control of the weight, and keep your arm in the correct positions (this is not easy to do when you start to get tired).

5) Slowly reverse the movement by moving the wrist back to a neutral position, then flexing the elbow as the dumbbell is lowered to the starting position over a count of three.

6)Continue into the next repetition by straightening the elbow without pausing and repeat until your set is done. Use a medium-light weight but try to get through 10-12 repetitions.

7) Take a short break, then switch the dumbbell to the left arm, and position yourself with the right knee if needed, and the hand on the bench for support.

 

IMPORTANT POINTS

It is important to keep your upper arm and elbow close to your rib cage. The only movement should be from the elbow and wrist, but not the shoulder. To help you do the exercise properly, you can use the mirror to see that your elbow is stationary against your side and the extension of the elbow is complete. You should also be careful to use your triceps muscles to straighten your elbow. At all costs, you must avoid jerking the weight upwards with body momentum. 

     You should avoid forcibly and rapidly locking the elbow joint, as this could irritate the bursa in the elbow joint and over time, this could become inflamed and painful. Rather, it is preferable to stop the extension phase of the lift just short of fully locking out your elbow joint because this will ensure that you have placed constant tension on the triceps muscle throughout the entire set, and it will minimize any risk of bursa injury in your elbow.

It is not necessary to hoist super heavy weights for this exercise and in fact, you will find that medium light weights are best for maintaining exercise form and maintaining constant tension in triceps muscle throughout the set. The constant tension and the extra lateral wrist flexion at the end of the movement make it tough to grind out the reps, but this is needed if you truly want to awaken any sleeping fibers in your triceps. Dumbbell kickbacks have the potential to reach the deepest fibers in the triceps and turn a flat muscle into a thicker, fatigue-resistant,⁵cut-to-ribbons landscape through an eruption of striations across the back of your arms.

Injury Prevention: Shoulder Pain and CrossFitters

 http://www.airrosti.com/blog/injury-prevention-shoulder-pain-and-crossfitters/

As a CrossFitter, it’s important to keep your body mobile, strong and pain free. Equipping yourself with the knowledge and skills to prevent shoulder injuries optimizes your workouts and can help get you to your next PR.

Shoulder Mobility and Stretching

Working some shoulder mobility exercises and stretches into your post-WOD recovery is an easy way to ensure your shoulders stay pain free. Below are some effective stretches and exercises to keep your shoulders loose and mobile.

Upper Trapezius Release. Begin by bending forward at the waist while standing in a doorway. Next, position a single lacrosse ball in the fleshy area between the neck and shoulder with the ball closer to the neck than the shoulder. Then, lean with the ball against the door frame pressing into the body. Move slightly to reposition the ball and hold pressure on tender areas for ten seconds before moving on to a new area.

Pec Release. Start in a doorway or on a wall corner. Next, move your arm up and out from your body at a 45-degree angle from your torso to stretch the tissue. Then, standing two feet away, face the wall. Next, position a lacrosse ball on the pectoral muscle and lean into the wall so that the ball pushes against you. Scan the pec muscle area for tender spots and move your arms in an arc motion five times per area. Repeat this exercise on the opposite side.

Lat Release. Begin by laying on the floor with a lacrosse ball on the back of your shoulder in the fleshy area around two or three inches below your armpit. Relax and hold pressure on tender spots until the discomfort decreases by at least half and then move on to the next spot. It’s important to not continually treat the same spot during the same treatment session as it may cause numbness and tingling. Scan the entire length of your shoulder blade making 10 passes right to left. Repeat this exercise on the opposite side.

Shoulder Stability and Strengthening

Strong shoulder, arm and back muscles are key to pain-free shoulders. The exercises below focus on big and small muscle groups to build up strength.

Standing Band “Pull Aparts” Behind Back. Begin standing while holding a light Theraband behind your back and actively bracing your abdominals. Make sure to keep your core braced throughout the entire exercise. Also make sure the Theraband is wrapped around both hands and sitting at the glute level before you begin. Next, rotate your thumbs so they are pointing out and away from your body. With shoulders down and back, stretch the band apart as arms move upward and away from your sides. Do not allow the Theraband to stretch and rise beyond the level of low back and keep your shoulders down and back. Repeat this exercise ten times.

Chair Press Up. Start by sitting on the edge of a chair. Next, point your fingers forward and place them on the chair next to your hips. Make sure your hands are directly inline with your shoulders and keep wrists, elbows and shoulders stacked. Once you’re set, push into the chair as if trying to life yourself off of the chair. Pushing down should naturally draw your shoulder blades down and back. Hold this active position for five to ten seconds and release. Repeat this exercise ten times.

Airrosti and CrossFit

As Head of Athlete Services for the 2015 CrossFit Games, Airrosti knows there is no time for CrossFitters to miss a workout due to aches and pains.

Our Airrosti providers identify and treat the underlying cause of pain directly at the source. This leads to fast and effective relief with little to no time away from the box. At Airrosti, we also educate our patients and equip them with the knowledge and skills to prevent future injuries by incorporating active recovery exercises into their normal routine.

If aches or pains have been keeping you from your best Open score, contact Airrosti today to find a provider near you.

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Lifter's Shoulder: The Cause & The Cure

by Dr John Rusin  

NEW

 https://www.t-nation.com/training/lifters-shoulder-the-cause-the-cure 

1. If you're an athlete or a lifter, chances are your shoulders have given you some trouble. In fact, no other body part is as prone to dysfunction.
2. Movement is king. Where crisp, clean movement is found, the ability to train without pain is soon to follow.
3. You can access your own movement with self-diagnostic testing, then rid your shoulders of nagging pain.

The Shoulder Complex is... Complex

When it comes to strength training and fitness, there may be no region in the body that's as chronically dysfunctional and painful as the shoulder complex.

Simply put, the four joints comprising the shoulder girdle are battle-tested on a daily basis, not only in training but also sports like desk jockeying and frantic finger pounding into your smart phone (which are both up for review to be added to the 2020 Olympic Games.)

Related:  Lifter's Elbow: The Cause & The Cure

This region is termed the shoulder "complex" for a reason – mostly due to the insane complexity of the soft tissues that encompass multiple joints all working together to elicit smooth and powerful movements in coordination with the rest of the body.

Even with advanced orthopedic evaluation, the likelihood of even the most talented sports medicine specialist pinpointing the exact origins of pain with palpation alone is about as likely as that snowball's chance in hell you've heard about.

One thing holds true: Movement is, and will always be, king. Where crisp, clean movement is found, the ability to train without feeling like you're being impaled by ice picks every time you bench is soon to follow.

Movement: It's Kind of a Big Deal

These days, assessing posture in my physical therapy practice has become a useless waste of time. No matter if we're evaluating an elite overhead athlete that cashes million dollar checks or an overweight mother of four, one thing holds true: their postures are atrocious.

Computers and smart phones aren't going anywhere soon. The posture of the general public is going to get worse. But athletes, lifters, and fitness fanatics are still going to move.

Assessing shoulder mobility and movement patterns with just a few simple screens can largely influence whether they move well while continuing to move often.

All you need is your own body, a mirror, and the willingness to stare at yourself shirtless without a pump.

Isolated Movements of the Shoulder

The ball and socket type shoulder complex has the ability to move within the three cardinal planes of motion, making it one of the most mobile joints in the body.

Wide ranges of movement capabilities also make the shoulder joint more susceptible to injury, especially when lifters are pushing their bodies to the absolute limits in both hypertrophy and strength.

It's important to know and appreciate the movements of the shoulder joint in order to screen yourself for possible mobility impairments and movement dysfunctions. Here are the three cardinal planes of motion and the movements the shoulder is capable of using within these planes:

Sagittal Plane: Flexion / Extension

Frontal Plane: Abduction / Adduction

Transverse Plane: External/Internal Rotation

Transverse Plane: Horizontal Abduction/Adduction

Remember, we aren't cyber-kinetic organisms. We have the capability to coordinate smooth movements in all planes of motion simultaneously.

This makes the isolated shoulder movements described above all but obsolete, especially for assessing your own movement with self-diagnostic testing with goals of corrective movement and ridding your shoulders of nagging pain.

Multi-Articulated Movements of the Shoulder

Screening functional internal and external rotation of the shoulder joint can play a huge role in not only identifying mobility deficits, but also identifying painful local areas within the shoulder complex.

The term "functional" doesn't mean we're going to test mobility while flailing around on a physio-ball. It simply refers to a combination movement that correlates more specifically to coordinated movements of the shoulder complex as a whole.

Functional internal and external rotation can be described as the combination of three distinct shoulder movements all performed in conjunction with smooth and rhythmical movement patterns in a certain range of motion.

Here are the breakdowns of both of these functional mobility tests:

Functional Internal Rotation = Internal Rotation + Extension + Adduction

Functional External Rotation = External Rotation + Flexion + Abduction

Shoulder Mobility Screen

These movements can be tested unilaterally or in reciprocal fashion. First thing's first: Get both arms moving simultaneously while in a standing position.

The Apley's Scratch Test will show how both shoulder girdles work in coordinated movement along with mobility capabilities of each of the shoulder girdles separately.

The right will be moving into functional internal rotation while the left is moving into functional external rotation all at the same time. The goal is to try and approximate the fingertips of each hand to touch behind your back while being symmetrical from shoulder-to-shoulder when both sides are tested.

No cheating on this one by breaking neutral posture at the spine or ratcheting your hand up your back little by little.

Take into account the distance between your hands for both sides moving through functional internal rotation and external rotation at the same time. Also note any pain or movement differences from side to side.

What you feel internally is the most important aspect of this test, with the coordinated dual shoulder range of motion a close second.

Unilateral Functional Internal/External Rotation Testing

If after completing the Apley's Scratch Test and finding asymmetrical movement, pain, or notable mobility deficits (your fingers not even close to touching), it's time to break the functional movements down to identify where the faulty movement is originating.

By moving one arm at a time, the thoracic spine and ribcage are largely taken out of the mobility equation.

While moving both arms reciprocally during the Apley's Scratch Test, the thoracic spine is also being tested in how well it's able to coordinate a stable extended position while the shoulder girdles are approximating end-range motion. This leaves us able to focus in on the shoulder movement itself.

Screen one shoulder at a time in both functional internal and external rotation. While moving into functional external rotation, the goal is to be able to touch your fingertips to the bony spine of the contralateral shoulder blade.

As for the functional internal rotation screen, touching your fingers to the inferior angle of the shoulder blade on the opposite side shows normal mobility within that pattern.

The testing positions are the same as the pictures above showing proper functional internal and external rotation.

Thoracic Spine Mobility Deficit?

Chances are, when you broke down the test into one shoulder moving at a time, your range of motion, along with the rhythm of the movement, was notably better. If so, your shoulder pain may be secondary to poor thoracic spine mobility.

This is a great finding because you're well on your way towards taking action steps in your p/rehabilitation program. Focus on these three thoracic spine mobility drills before and after your training:

Gleno-Humeral Rhyme and Rhythm

Now that we have some metrics on the amount our shoulders are moving through functional internal rotation both reciprocally and unilaterally, it's time to assess rhythm and coordination.

As your shoulder moves into elevation, a few things must happen in order to complete a full and pain-free range of motion to end range. First, all joints of the shoulder complex must be working together, but also kicking in at advantageous times.

An asymptomatic shoulder joint with normal range is usually able to get to about 180 degrees of motion at end range. Obviously every shoulder girdle is as unique as the person it's connected to, so this is a ballpark number.

For the shoulder to move through this range without compensation patterns dominating the movement, the shoulder blade and humerus (bone of the upper arm) must be moving in synergistic and rhythmical fashion. We call this scapula-humeral rhythm.

Pristine scapula-humeral rhythm simply means that for every 2 degrees of motion the humerus moves into elevation, the shoulder blade must upwardly rotate 1 degree of motion to achieve end range.

However, the numbers don't tell the entire story. The point at which the shoulder blade starts to kick in is also very important.

Testing Scapulo-Humeral Rhythm

When assessing your own scapula-humeral rhythm, it's important to not only look at ranges of motion, but also when the shoulder blade starts to move.

At approximately 120 degrees of upper arm elevation, the shoulder blade should just be starting to upwardly rotate. If you find your shoulder blades become highly visible at the sides of your body before 120 degrees while slowly moving your arms into elevation, this is indicative of posterior shoulder soft tissue tone and tightness.

Also, assess the symmetry of the movement from left to right. Are your shoulder blades starting to rotate at the same times, or is the rhythm off and asymmetrical?

If your rhythm is off, your best course of action is to start in on a posterior shoulder girdle soft tissue and mobility program.

This can simply be movement targeting the latissimus dorsi and other surrounding muscles with foam rolling or Hands-On SMR, or mobility focused movements such as loaded stretches into your programming.

Related:  More on Hands-On SMR

The choice is yours, and the only wrong decision is to not address these issues at all.

The Painful Arc of the Shoulder

Finally, if you nerd out on mechanics of human movement and dysfunction, you most likely want to figure out what exact anatomic location in the shoulder complex is causing you discomfort every time you hit the gym.

Let's go back to the scapula-humeral rhythm testing position and switch our focus on pain provocation.

The most commonly injured sites in the shoulder girdle are the gleno-humeral joint (GH-Joint) and the acromio-clavicular joint (AC-Joint). Though these two joints work together in upper extremity function, they're responsible for playing in primary movements at different points of the movement arc into shoulder elevation.

The painful arc of the shoulder states that if pain in the shoulder is present when your upper arm is within 45-120 degrees of motion, the most likely culprit causing pain is within the GH-Joint.

On the other side of the arc, if pain in the shoulder is only present at end range shoulder elevation, between 170-180 degrees, the AC-Joint is likely the portion of the shoulder complex that isn't functioning correctly.

If your own self-diagnostic findings point to GH-Joint pain and dysfunction, enhancing your dynamic and static shoulder positioning, especially under load, is going to be the one of the most efficient ways to leave pain in the dust while continuing to train hard.

As for the AC-Joint, relieving unwanted joint stresses at end range can be avoided by decreasing the tone of the muscles and structures of the posterior shoulder girdle, allowing better tracking patterns of the scapula and shoulder joint as a whole.

ТРАВМЫ ПЛЕЧА: КАК БОРОТЬСЯ?

Если Вы чувствуете боли в плече, тут могут быть два варианта:

1) Вы потянули переднюю группу дельтовидной мышцы.

2) У Вас, вполне вероятно, тендинит бицепса. Хотя, как правило, это считают травмой дельтоида (ведь болит именно плечо), однако же, фактически, тендинит бицепса - это выход из своего ложа верхнего сухожилия бицепса на верхнем торце плечевой кости (хамеруса). Ноющая боль чувствуется под передней связкой дельтовидной мышцы и именно поэтому зачастую ошибочно принимается за травму плечевого сустава. Как правило, это не верно диагностируется, как растяжение либо бурсит суставной сумки плеча.

В том случае, если сухожилие мышцы бицепса нельзя вернуть на место, тогда в плече будет ощущаться боль, поскольку бицепсовая связка является своеобразным стабилизатором плечевых соединений. И когда она располагается не там, где ей надо находиться, задние и боковые плечевые соединения начинают испытывать дополнительный стресс, и уже через некоторое время воспаляются и тяжело заболевают. В итоге, все может привести к сепарации плечевого соединения.

Во-первых, необходимо пройти рентгеновское обследование плечевого сустава, сделав снимок именно под таким углом, чтобы узнать на месте ли располагается верхнее сухожилие бицепсной мышцы. Если Вы подробно объясните хирургу в чем примерно дело, то он, бесспорно, разберется.

Если мышечная связка находится на месте, это означает, что у Вас на самом деле растяжение передней дельтовидной мышцы и необходимо начинать ее активное лечение. Прекращайте, по возможности, всяческие нагрузки, заставляющие работать данную мышечную группу (разведения рук лежа, жим лежа, жим в положении стоя и др.), снижайте воспаление при помощи прикладывания льда на 10-15 мин примерно 2-4 раза в день. Как правило, через полторы недели опухоль (если она образовалась) спадает. Затем начинайте "нагружать" дельтовидную мышцу активной работой с небольшими весами и значительным числом повторений (около 15-20), используйте различные согревающие мази (deep heat, финалгон, бен гей и др.) на ночь. Обобщая вышесказанное, Вашей задачей на данном этапе является обеспечение максимального кровотока в данной области без оказания какой-либо дополнительной нагрузки на выздоравливающую мышцу (именно поэтому необходимо использовать небольшой вес). Ориентировочно через четыре недели можно плавно начинать приводить мышечную связку в тонус, плавно увеличивая нагрузку. Но нельзя торопиться, так как повторная травма намного тяжелее первой. Ведь, бодибилдинг - это не Формула 1, огромная скорость здесь вовсе не нужна.

Если же все дело именно в сухожилии, аналогично, прекратите всяческие нагрузки на плечевой пояс. Поскольку нужно снять опухоль, чтобы впоследствии вернуть мышечную связку в ее собственное ложе (поскольку в опухшем состоянии она попросту туда не поместиться). Необходимо прикладывать лед по схожей методике, как рассказано выше, принимайте какие-либо противовоспалительные препараты, к примеру, Ибупрофен.

Отлично действует и методика наружного применения ибупрофена - специальный крем "Долгит".

В том случае, если это не помогает, можно попробовать применить более сильнодействующее средство Диклофенак.

Когда опухоль немного спадет (ориентировочно 2 недели), надо обязательно обратиться за консультацией и помощью к мануальному терапевту либо травматологу. Опытный врач методом манипуляций с верхней частью большой плечевой кости (хамеруса) под мышечной связкой вернул ее на прежнее место. Далее начинайте ее не спеша "нагружать", как уже рассказано выше, а уж затем плавненько приводить ее в тонус, НО...

Вообще позабудьте о нагрузке рук на Pec Deck, поскольку именно данное упражнение наиболее травмоопасно для Вас, а какой-либо пользы от таких движений все равно очень мало. Перед очередной тренировкой основательно прогревайте мышечные связки, не используйте очень широкий хват при выполнении жимов, лучше всего использовать хват на ширине плеч либо немного шире, необходимо отводить локти назад таким образом, чтобы они, точка прикосновения грифа к груди и руки находились на одной траектории непосредственно под самим грифом. Когда вы подводите локти близко к торсу либо касаетесь груди немного ниже данной точки, основной акцент действующей нагрузки перераспределяется с груди на все сухожилия передних дельтовидных мышц и расположенную ниже бицепсную связку в ее ложе.

Если у Вас не получится поставить связку на место, тогда любая дополнительная нагрузка будет вызывать ее значительное трение о кость в тщетных попытках вернуться в обычное положение. Любые движения и упражнения будут вызывать ее раздражение еще в большей степени, и Вы получите самовозобновляющуюся травму. Однако, если Вы все-таки не прекратите тренироваться, то будете ощущать не только лишь локальную боль - через некоторое время невозможными станут любые движения всего туловища. Вы просто напросто дестабилизируете всю плечевую суставную сумку.

Если у Вас, не приведи Господь, именно такая травма, необходимо отнестись к ней весьма серьезно, ни в коем случае не запускайте. Пока вы еще достаточно молоды, все легко лечится. Плечи вместе с поясницей и коленями- это самые травмоопасные места и относиться к ним необходимо особенно внимательно и бережно.