When it comes to training the shoulder, I’m all ears. I have to be. Considering that a great deal of my business consists of training baseball players, I have to be very conscious of the health of an already very unstable joint. How unstable? Picture a golf ball sitting on a tee. The shallow socket of the shoulder (glenohumeral joint) does allow for more range of motion than any other joint, but it also relies on the supporting ligaments and muscles of the rotator cuff for stability.
Good shoulder health is important whether you’re throwing a baseball for a living or an Average Joe going through the functional demands of daily life. So, considering how delicate the shoulder is, it’s important that your upper body workout plan takes measures to avoid things that will compromise the joint.
First of all, behind-the-neck exercises should be avoided. This school of thought has been around for awhile, but it never fails that I see individuals performing behind-the-neck pull-downs every time I go to the gym. This movement involves extreme abduction and external rotation of the shoulder. It’s usually also complimented with bad cervical flexion. No es bueno.
Next, stay away from bars. Since they don’t bend or rotate, the bar forces the mechanics of the shoulder instead of you having control over it. To allow the multiple joints of the shoulder to rotate through their natural spiral-diagonal patterns, you’d like for your hands to finish movement in a neutral position as they settle next to the shoulder.
Dumbbells will serve as a better option than bars when it comes to pushing movements, while TRX bands and cables provide the same benefit for pulling movements.
When it comes to overhead athletes like baseball players, volleyball players, tennis players, and quarterbacks, there are some additional considerations. A narrow-minded approach suggests that, “because their sport involves so many overhead movements, they should be performing a lot of overhead pressing.”
On the surface this appears to be a sound argument, but in reality throwing a baseball is a much different stress on the shoulder than performing an overhead press. To simplify, throwing a baseball is a traction stress, meaning that the humeral (upper arm bone) head is pulled away from the shoulder socket. On the other hand, overhead pressing is an approximation stress, where the humeral head is driven into the socket creating the potential for rotator cuff impingement.
There are plenty of other options to train the shoulder, so I rarely, if ever, have my throwing shoulder athletes perform overhead presses.
A great tool for overhead athletes is the medicine ball, which helps them develop core power that’s critical to throwing. The medicine ball also offers great eccentric work for the rotator cuff. Here’s an example of a medicine ball throw my baseball players perform . . .
We all go through a little shoulder pain at one point or another. The key is to have an upper body workout plan in place that doesn’t compound your issues. Give these simple adjustments a try, and notice how much better your shoulders will feel and function.
Your Coach,
Brian
 |
|||
|
Sign up to become a VIP today. Receive free coaching, cutting edge training content, and instant updates on weekly coaching lessons. Plus, gain access to FREE video training on the secret to improving performance and decreasing injuries. |
|||
2 Responses to “An Upper Body Workout Plan to Save the Shoulders”
This is a great article, Brian! It seems that the train of thought is to always recreate the same movements performed in one’s specific sport, than to apply a more functional approach using different exercises that reinforce the affected joint. You’re on the cutting edge, and I am learning so much!
Thanks Lana. I train more general movement patterns early in the off-season and become more specific to the sport as the season draws closer. You nailed it on the joints. Some of the them need to be trained to stabilize while others need to be trained for movement in a variety of angles, loads, and speeds.
Brian