What's up guys? Jake Hutton from Fitness Culture. Today's topic is gonna be all
about shoulder mobility. So, we're really gonna be going over how to improve your
overhead position, but the stuff that we're gonna talk about really impacts a
lot of your lifts, right? So the things that we're gonna do is gonna clean up
your bench, make you a stronger bench presser, and it's gonna allow you to
get overhead pain-free, and that's the biggest thing. So I get questions
all the time, "Jake, you bench over 500 pounds. How do you have such good
overhead mobility, and how do you lift so much volume without your wrists hurting,
your elbows hurting, but specifically your shoulders hurting?" So, today
we're gonna show you the things that I do and the things that you can do that
are gonna help your shoulder mobility and your overhead position. What are we doing
all the time? Pressing a lot, right? A lot of the guys that follow us, they want to
get bigger upper bodies so we're doing a lot of pressing, even a lot of
pulling, a lot of pull-ups, things like that. And they're not doing anything to
work on the tissue around it. Brody here. We started him working out
again, he's working out all the time, he's our marketing guy. What does he do after
he comes and works out? He goes and sits at a desk, and then what happens?
He just gets stuck in this position, he tears up all this muscle tissue, and he heals
in this position. He spends a lot of time like this. And so that happens with a lot
of people. It's probably the worst thing you can possibly do, sitting.
We all know that sitting is probably one of the worst things you can do. And so we
need to fix that bad posture to be able to press overhead pain-free. So the
biggest thing here, and even Brody a little bit here, you're seeing a little
bit of an anterior tilt in his shoulder right here, and that's because of
those things. Sitting all the time, his chest is probably a little bit tight, his
lats are a little bit tight, and it's pulling everything down and forward.
And the biggest way to fix this is, number one, you need to
address the mobility in the area. And that's one thing that a lot of guys
don't go over. These exercises that we're going to show you today, it's gonna be so
hard to do and you're gonna get defeated when you try to do them if you don't
have the mobility to get through the range of motion. What you really want to
do is try to squeeze your low trap down and back and then externally rotate the
shoulder a little bit. And that's obviously gonna be good posture right
here. And then from there when you press overhead you can press pain-free.
So, the goal when you set up is always going to be, I mean even when you're just
standing, is to turn those upper traps off. So when you stand, a lot of guys
you'll see, they start getting these huge traps and
they start getting into this position, their traps are just always turned on.
You want your traps to be relaxed when you're standing.
If you look at someone from the side, and then from there your upper back is erect,
your shoulder blades are turned on a little bit, meaning your lower traps are
turned on to give you that correct posture, and then when you press you're
gonna want to externally rotate the shoulders a little bit. And from there, so
we always say squeeze your shoulder blade down and back before you set up,
and that's basically in any movement. Squat, bench, anything. You're gonna
squeeze your shoulder blade down and back and then from there you're in a
good pressing position for anything you do. Another reason that's good,
strengthening this lower trap muscle right here, is bringing that shoulder
blade in, is really how you're gonna stabilize your shoulder joint, especially
in the bench press. You always see guys do this huge arch on the bench.
Really what they're trying to do, most of them, is squeeze their
shoulder blades down and back so much that it's setting their shoulder in
a really stable position. So if I'm here just relaxed, my shoulder is gonna be
all over the place. You see guys bench that aren't set up and that's
a plateau buster, really. One of the reason guys hit plateaus
is because they don't set their shoulder blades down and back, and they're all
over the place. So by setting your shoulder blades down and back you're
gonna be in the most stable position and the strongest position to press through too.
So like I said, all these things we're gonna talk about today, they're not
only just gonna help you press overhead pain free, but they're also gonna help
you increase your bench, increase your dumbbell pressing power, everything.
First thing we need to address is your mobility. So the first thing we're
gonna do is look at Brody, we're gonna test just a simple Y raise mobility test,
see where he's looking. But then we're gonna just show you guys some things you
can do to help improve your mobility. The mobility test we're gonna go over today is
just a simple incline bench Y raise, so it's gonna look like this.
You're gonna set up the bench, set with your knees on the bench.
From there, your arms are gonna hang out, thumbs are just gonna point away from
your face straight ahead. From there, what we're gonna do is squeeze
those shoulder blades down and back into this position. Flex your triceps and then
raise your hands as high as you can. All right, so ideally your arms are gonna
come up past your ears. Even Brody, though, would pass this test in my book.
But a lot of people, you'll see that have really a lot of shoulder pain and have a
hard time pressing overhead, I mean, I tested a guy the other day that was
stuck right here. Do this first, see where you're at. It's just kind of gonna be a
measure of how good your shoulder mobility is right now. And you can kind
of assess it from there and then we'll move onto the mobility stuff.
So the first thing we're gonna do is we're gonna go over a roller routine.
First thing's gonna be your serratus. Start on the roller and just roll back and forth
basically through your rib cage right here. You can also roll and raise your hand up while
you're doing it. From there you're gonna roll over and just hit your lat, all the
way through and it's gonna be really uncomfortable. Especially over your
scapula into your armpit right here. If you're having a ton of pain just work
through it, the pain's gonna go away at some point. Alright, so then from there
we're gonna work onto the tricep. I usually just start with my arm out here,
and then grab my arm behind my head and roll all the way through it. And from
there I turn over into my back just a little bit and just try to roll out my trap.
And then from there I come over to my chest and just finish off with my chest.
So just start with my arm out like this, and then I'll transition my
arm behind my body like this. So the first mobility thing that I'm going
to show you is probably my favorite stretch of all time.
You can relax in it and it really just helps correct your posture and it opens
up your whole upper body. Start by just assessing where your pain
tolerance is. If you're really, really tight then you're gonna want to just
sit back on the roller with your head on the roller, your butt on the bottom of the
roller, and just basically relax like this. If your forearms are easily touching
the ground, you feel relaxed, and you're not feeling any tension, then from
there you can grab some weight. Once you can do this with no pain, then
we're gonna move on to the weight. So I just grabbed 45 pound plates.
And then from there you're basically gonna, I mean for me it's almost the same
thing right now so I'm not getting any stretch, but you're just gonna push out
with the plates so that you're on your forearms, and then from there you're
gonna drive your elbows into your sides like this, and that's really
gonna open up your chest. Alright, the next thing that I do is go into a band
mobility routine. Grab a heavy band, and what I like to do, just wrap your hand
around just like that, and that way you're not gripping it, and you can totally relax.
Start off by just hanging straight back, just letting that hang out, just relaxing.
So then I'll step my foot forward, poke my head through the window,
and now I'm feeling a great stretch. The next thing is gonna be to get your chest, so
externally rotate, point your thumb to the sky,
step away, and stretch like that. And I usually work more external rotation
while I'm stretching. I try to press into it and then come back down.
Externally rotate. From there we're gonna work shoulder behind the back.
Try to keep your core nice and tight. By doing this it's gonna allow you to get better
activation in these exercises that I'm about to show you. So now that we're done
with the mobility, I'm going to show you our 10 favorite exercises to work your
external rotators and your low traps and upper back. You're not gonna be able to
use a ton of weight on these, so they're great to superset with your
bench or any pressing movement that you're doing, dumbbell bench, any
overhead pressing that you're doing. If you don't have the mobility, this is
where you need to start. We took just two small bands, the mini bands, and we looped
them together. After you loop it on, you're gonna put it right around your palms
like this, and then you're gonna set up into position. Let your head get down to
the floor press, your thumbs to the sky, get a nice Y position. And then from
there you squeeze your shoulder blades down and back,
and then you're gonna alternate. You're gonna press out and then go up to the
sky, and spend three seconds getting as high as you can. We usually do about
three sets of this and then just five reps each arm. So really focus on a
lot of tension at the top, really squeeze it up there for three seconds at least,
and then come back down. Alright guys, the next exercise we're gonna go over is just a
trap three raise. On this one you'll set up
back nice and flat, put your forehead on your arm. You want to keep
your forehead connected to your hand the entire time, focus on this area right here.
From there you're gonna point your thumb straight out. You're gonna squeeze
your shoulder blade down and back.
And then from there you're gonna lock at the tricep, and then raise it above your head.
Squeeze for three, two, one, good. Then come back down. If you try to go heavy on
this one it's gonna be really hard and you're not gonna able to it as high.
Really, you want full range of motion on these. None of this, you know?
Take your time, and then squeeze it. Once it gets up there, you don't want to swing it
up at all. That's gonna defeat the whole purpose of this movement.
The next exercise is gonna be an incline bench Y raise, so this is actually the same
exercise that we use to test the overhead mobility. So you're gonna set up
on a bench, legs on the bench just like this, head in a neutral position. Let your
shoulders out, then you're gonna squeeze your shoulder blades down and back.
And then from there you're gonna raise overhead. Make sure you're using those lower
traps to shrug everything down into position, head's neutral, arms are straight.
And then really squeeze it at the top. We usually do three to four sets of
six to ten reps, and then we change the time under tension at the top, so it might
be three seconds, might be a six second hold, just whatever we're doing for that week.
The next exercise is just a dumbbell external rotator off your knee.
Sit down on the ground, try to slide your heel close to your butt.
It really depends on your anatomy, but that's just gonna raise your knee up and
get your elbow and your arm at the angle that we want it. So we want it up nice and
high at a nice 90 degree angle right here. And from there you're gonna come
all the way down, try to face your knee just like Brody is here. So this is a
great exercise for external rotators. If you're having a hard time just getting
into this position, if you lack mobility getting this position, you can also do it
basically on a bench. All right, the next one's gonna be a Cuban press.
So on the Cuban press you want to set up so that your hands are wide enough that you're
about 90 degrees when you row up. Your elbows at 90 degrees right here.
So you're gonna start, squeeze your shoulder blades down and back. You're gonna row
it up, keeping that bar nice and tight to your body, get it up as high
as you can. From there, like you could go a little bit wider with your hands here.
And then from there we're gonna row it up, keeping your elbows nice and
high, press to the sky, and I usually like to add a little shrug
at the top as well, just get a little extra work in there. Then come back down.
You're gonna control it down with your elbows nice and high, and then back down.
So the biggest mistake we're gonna see on this one is people going to heavy, and
when they rotate, their elbows are just dropping and they're pressing it out.
So make sure that elbow is stuck right here and it's just rotating in the same spot.
All right, this next movement is gonna be the band pull apart. So you have
probably done this one before. What you're gonna do is set up, grab a
light band, lock out your triceps. You're gonna be right about shoulder width.
You want to maintain tension the entire time on the band, so we're not coming back in
and losing tension. We're gonna maintain tension the entire time. You're gonna
shrug your shoulders away from your ears, and now you're gonna pull the band apart
across your chest, squeeze, and then come back in. Keep tension, shrug down, good.
The next one's gonna be an incline bench. We just call this a W to Y press,
and you'll see why in a second. So you're gonna set this one up on a
little bit less of an incline here. You'll initiate the movement the same way,
just make sure your squeeze your shoulder blades down and back.
From there you're gonna row your elbows up, straight up. You're gonna come into a
nice W, rotate, you're gonna press out to a Y, extend all the way. And you're gonna
come back down, elbows down. And then control back down and then back all the way out.
The next move we're gonna show you is going to be the YTW on a TRX.
You can also use rings. The biggest thing on this one is make sure that you're not
standing too far under the bar, or it's gonna get really, really heavy.
So start off standing almost straight up, see how it feels, and then if
you can keep perfect form, then you can work your way down on this one.
So you're gonna start with the Y. We want to focus on keeping our arms completely
straight, flex the tricep, and from there you're gonna squeeze your shoulder
blades down and back, and then come into a nice Y position.
Control it on the way down. And then from there we're going to go into a T.
And then from there we're gonna go into a W. Squeeze it back into W.
So since one rep is really like three reps, we usually cut these off at a set
of five on the YTWs. Alright guys, the next movement is going to be a single arm
cable wire raise. So you really want to focus on your body positioning on this
one. It's not about going heavy, it's about doing it right. So the biggest thing here,
you're gonna split your stance The arm opposite that forward foot.
And then from there you're going to focus on keeping your chest up, but
at the same time you're gonna squeeze your ribcage down to your belly button.
So that's gonna set your core in place. From there you're gonna squeeze
that back glute. Nice and tight, everything's tight here, so you're
not gonna compensate with your low back. And then from there, everything's tight,
you're gonna squeeze your shoulder blade down and back, and then raise it overhead,
elbows straight. Raise it up, core tight, core tight, glutes squeeze,
and then come back down, good. Perfect movement on this one.
It's not fast. So this one we usually just do about six reps on each arm.
Alright guys, you've probably done this one before. The next one's gonna be a face pull.
I usually do this a little bit different than most people. I like to flip my hands
to grab like this on the rope or the straps. So basically your palms are
facing each other like this. From there, what that's gonna allow you to do is
keep your elbows a little bit higher, and on the way back
you're gonna externally rotate and finish with your hands right here.
So you're getting the pulling and the external rotation all the way through.
So you'll start out here, squeeze your shoulder blades down and back,
pull, squeeze at the back. Really focus, try to get your hands past your ears.
The last exercise on our list is one that you probably see everyone doing in any gym
around the world, but it does work great, so we threw it on the list, is gonna be
a standing cable external rotator. So on this one you're gonna set up with
your palm at your stomach, grip that handle. From there get your shoulder in a
nice position, try to pin that elbow next to your side, and then you're just gonna
rotate out to the side. We never really go that heavy. We only do higher reps on
this one, sets of 20, stuff like that. So that wraps it up with our favorite
exercises. I hope that all that information that we gave you
today is helpful and you can start using it with your clients or with
yourself and your own training. So we're gonna post a link in the description on
how we would pair the mobility and all these exercises within
an actual day of exercise, so if you want to check that out click the link and
download it. Appreciate you guys for watching, and stay tuned for next time.