I work with athletes all the time who are constantly using their shoulders to push, press, pull, hold and carry. Sports like CrossFit, powerlifting, olympic lifting and bodybuilding put the shoulders through a lot of work. Across the board, every shoulder pain client I see has one thing in common, they all have weak upper back and rotator cuff muscles.
We do a lot of the big, cool stuff. Snatch, clean and jerk, pressing, bench, handstands, kipping pullups, muscle ups, etc. Nobody does enough of the small stuff, training the smaller muscles on the back of shoulder. These guys are CRUCIAL for keeping your shoulders healthy and balanced over time.
If you neglect these muscles, the bigger ones on the front of the shoulder girdle will become much stronger and bigger in comparison. This is how impingement and tendon issues build up over time. We are supposed to be using the muscles of the upper back and rotator cuff when we go overhead. When you don’t, your injury risk goes up and the efficiency of your lifts goes down.
My Top 5 Shoulder Exercises:
There are literally thousands of possible exercises you could do. These are 5 of my favorite ones to add in on a weekly basis. Performing these as a warm up 2-3 x / week goes a long way and it will help to keep your shoulders strong and moving well.
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1) Band Face Pull + Shoulder External Rotation
Trains infraspinatus, rhomboids, middle trap and teres minor
2) Lat Pulldown
Trains the lats, rhomboids and lower trap
3) Prone PVC Lift
Trains the lower trap and rhomboids
4) Prone Snow Angel
Trains rhomboids, lower trap, mid trap, infraspinatus, teres minor/major and subscapularis
5) Reverse Shoulder Fly
Trains posterior delt, middle trap, rhomboids and infraspinatus