Improve shoulder mobility, stability and strength with an effective scapular routine

We recently saw with the Ido Portal Squat Clinic , that it is very important to prepare your body before a physical activity. This involves a phase of joint mobilization and a muscular warm-up adapted to the movements that we will have to do during the upcoming training session.

Good preparation is simple, effective, suitable and time-efficient.

In this article, we'll dig a little deeper into the topic of pre-workout preparation and try to better understand how to prepare one of the joints that causes the most problems for most people: the shoulder.

One of the most popular pulling exercises, the Pull-Up, is also the one that causes the vast majority of people who incorporate it into their workout routine to get injured.

How to do a pull-up correctly? What is the correct form? Is there one? Which muscles should you engage? In what order? How can you avoid injury?

In short, a lot of questions to which we will try to provide some answers by analyzing my shoulder preparation routine with the pulling sessions .

You can watch the full video just above to get a glimpse of the routine, then dive into the theory, technical details, and practical details by reading on.

Very good reading my move.

Why do we tend to injure our shoulders? (for example, when doing pull-ups)

Before pointing the finger at this or that physical practice as being good or bad for the health of our shoulders, let's take a step back and observe our daily activity .

How many times a day do you raise your arms above your head?
How many times a day do you reach for an object behind you without turning your back first?
How many times a day do you put pressure on your shoulders?
How many times a day do you actually try to stretch your arm as far away from your body as possible…?

If you're a modern human, the answer to these questions is probably: zero .

For most of us, the situation is not glorious; we only use a very small part of the natural functions of our shoulders.

We are therefore trying to move from a sedentary lifestyle , in which we sit almost all day, stand or lie down in the evening, handling objects that are most often in front of us, below eye level (computer, dishes, glass, etc.) to wanting to perform complex movements such as Pull-ups, Muscle Ups, Throws (throwing movements), etc.

You naturally understand that without adequate preparation to combat the almost anesthetic effects of our sedentary lifestyle, we are heading straight for injury!

Jumping on a pull-up bar to chain Kipping Pull Ups during a CrossFit WOD without any preparation, hoping to maintain correct form by repeating Kettlebell Swings for 3 minutes without any prior warm-up or even wanting to roll in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for 5 times 5 minutes trying to survive Kimura, Omoplata and Triangle without having a base of stability...

It's a miracle at that level.

Lack of range of motion in flexions and extensions for example, or lack of stability in the rotator cuff, or weaknesses and muscular imbalances in the shoulder girdle are all consequences of a lack of attention paid to pre-session preparation work.

This leads to compensatory mechanisms, overdevelopment of muscles in some areas relative to others, and sometimes increased tightness or stiffness. All of this creates faulty motor patterns that, if repeated over the long term, lead to pain and injury.

Several appointments with physiotherapists and osteopaths later, you start to “move badly” again and there you go again.

Mobility and stability go hand in hand when maintaining the health of a complex joint like the shoulders, and simply shaking your arms around before starting a session with pulling movements is not enough to prevent injury.

To break out of this vicious cycle, it is important to understand how the shoulder works so that you can finally regain control over the health and longevity of your shoulders.

Understanding the different movements of the shoulder

The shoulder is a complex joint that must be both mobile and stable .

The shoulder is a shallow ball-and-socket joint compared to the hip joint. The ball is attached to the end of the humerus, and the socket is part of the scapula. The rotator cuff muscles wrap around the head of the humerus, holding the joint in place through a series of contractions, maneuvering the arm.

The acromioclavicular joint (where the collarbone and shoulder blade meet) sits above the head of the humerus and provides additional support during overhead movements.

The shoulder blade or scapula , from which the arm hangs, is also not a solid joint allowing freedom of movement at the back of the rib cage.

Shoulder problems occur when the shoulder joint is stiff , causing overuse of certain rotator cuff muscles, or when the shoulder blade is unstable, preventing a solid base for the arm to move.

In the article on the Hanging Challenge by Ido Portal , we saw the importance of reintegrating hanging exercises to unlock the shoulders, decompress the spine and strengthen the shoulder complex.

Combining static suspension exercises, such as the Dead Hang, with dynamic suspension exercises, such as the Scapula Push-Pull, are ways to restore shoulder joint health and improve shoulder longevity.

These are also the recommendations of Dr. John Kirsch in his book Shoulder Pain: The Solution and Prevention, which I once again invite you to obtain to understand how these different movements will help your shoulders heal and even change the shape of the acromioclavicular joint.

Correct arm movement must begin with core strengthening securing the spine, then the scapula allowing a stable platform from which the arm can operate.

Just like your hip movements, stabilization moves from the inside to the outside in milliseconds and hopefully in the right order.

The scapula stabilizers are the serratus anterior and inferior trapezius muscles. Problems begin to arise when you use the neck and upper trapezius muscles to assist in the stabilization process.

The shoulder is mechanically disadvantaged when you consider the small size of the shoulder muscles and the long lever they must operate.

When we study the shoulder from an anthropological perspective, we quickly realize that the shoulder is a formidable throwing weapon . It is largely our ability to throw objects like stones, spears, etc. that has allowed us to hunt more effectively and defend ourselves.

With this in mind, it is vital to ensure we have good mobility and flexibility in our arm, so that it can move and align correctly to make our throwing movements much more efficient.

Weak, overstretched, or traumatized shoulders can lead to frequent dislocations or abrasions as the head of the humerus moves away from the scapula joint.

Of course, we are no longer in caveman times and most of our daily movements consist only of shoulder movements inwards (unstable internal rotation) rather than outwards (stable external rotation).

This closes the body and creates uneven shoulder strength . Shoulder problems will persist as some muscles continue to weaken and others strengthen.

A shoulder complex with imbalances in muscle strength and length leads to simple injuries that feed off each other and perpetuate the problem, leading to chronic pain and repetitive injuries.

Let's break out of this cycle simply by reintegrating training routines to improve and maintain the micro movements of our shoulders: internal and external rotations, flexions, extensions, scapular movements and of course arm relaxation.

For this last point, we address it in the NAKMUAY ARM training to help with the work of relaxation and the improvement of kinetic energy transfers for sports such as boxing (English, Muay Thai, Kickboxing, MMA, etc.) or even throwing sports (handball, baseball, volleyball, etc.).

For now, here's a complete routine to work on shoulder mobility and stability using static and dynamic suspension movements.

This routine can be ideal before pulling sessions in bodybuilding, calisthenics, CrossFit, when you do parkour or even before a movement training session.

Exercise #1: Dead Hang (Passive Suspension)

The first exercise in this routine couldn't be simpler: hang completely from a bar or rings.

We relax the body completely , we let gravity pull us down completely without any restraint until we have sufficient mobility to cover our ears with our shoulders completely.

If you don't have that cushion around your ears yet, you still have some room to grow.

To approach static suspension, there are no big secrets or hacks.

At the very beginning, it's difficult , your hands hurt. You can't hold on for long. You slip. Your forearms quickly get congested. It's hard to relax because you're afraid your body will give out...

It's normal! *breathes calmly*

I recommend starting with what you can do, even if it's just doing short sets of 5 to 10 seconds before taking a break. No problem.

Ido Portal , a famous movement coach, recommended, for example, in his challenge The Hanging Month, to achieve a total suspension time of 7 minutes per day . A cumulative duration of course and not 7 minutes without interruption.

This is a guideline and not a professional health recommendation. Even 3 minutes a day is great.

A simple way to accumulate hang time would be to have a bar at home or rings attached and return to it several times during the day , in small chunks of 20 seconds here, 45 seconds there, etc.

Exercise #2: Arching Scapula Pull In (Arched Pull)

This is a somewhat complex movement that will require good body awareness and increased control of the various muscles in the back and shoulders.

The idea is to tilt your body while keeping your arms straight .

This is one of the intermediate strength exercises needed before you can get to movements like Front-Levers, but I also use it very often to strengthen my back muscles and the ability to hold static positions longer.

If you have trouble doing a pull-up, or even just Scapula Push-Pulls (see just below) or if hanging from a bar is already a challenge for you, I recommend you skip this exercise.

For others, simply try to arch your back (extend) with the intention of pulling your head back and down as if you wanted to stand fully upright with your head upside down and your legs straight and pointing towards the sky.

Be patient with this exercise, it requires a lot of strength and a lot of time before it can be performed correctly.

A must-have for progressing towards more advanced Calisthenics figures.

Exercise No. 3: Scapula Push Pull (Depression)

One of the essential exercises along with exercise #4 for good health, control and longevity of the shoulder blades.

Lower the shoulder blades vertically downwards in order to raise the body and release it from its initial resting position (the Dead Hang of exercise no. 1).

Hold this position for several seconds. Control (slow down) the raising of the shoulder blades, in other words the descent of the body downwards, to return to the initial Dead Hang.

Be careful not to move the body forward or backward, that is, avoid performing protractions (moving the shoulder blades away from each other) and scapular retractions (bringing the shoulder blades closer to each other): this will be the next exercise.

Absolutely control every step of the movement:

1. Lift the body (dynamic)
2. Pause for several seconds at the top
3. Slow down the descent as much as possible
4. Pause at the bottom then repeat steps 1, 2, 3

Target 5 to 15 repetitions depending on strength level.

Exercise No. 4: Scapular Protractions and Retractions

As indicated above, this time it is no longer a question of evolving on the vertical plane (going up and down), but rather evolving on the frontal plane (moving forward and backward).

For this we have 2 movements in our arsenal which allow us to do this:

1. Scapular retraction: bringing the shoulder blades together
2. Scapular protraction: moving the shoulder blades away from each other

Caution! Maximum concentration.

Scapular retraction and protraction are also the two absolutely essential movements for all arm pushing exercises.

Yes, it is essential to understand that in order to manipulate your body in relation to a surface like the ground, whether you want to do simple push-ups, hold a plank position on your hands, try to balance, learn breakdancing tricks,

or even create your first animal locomotion flows with complex movements like monkey walks, lizard walks and other fantasies,

You must be able to control, manipulate freely and, above all, maintain your shoulder girdle in a protracted position for a long time.

I'll explain this in detail in an upcoming full video on how to do a push-up correctly on my YouTube channel, but I talk about it all the time in all movement training that introduces floor movements with upper body pushing:

Scapular protraction combined with pelvic retroversion allows you to put your spine in a Hollow Body position.

This position causes flexion of the spine, engagement of the abdominal belt and the vast majority of the muscles surrounding your spine,

which helps keep your spine in a neutral, very stable position.

Be careful not to confuse the neutral position with the upright position of the spine, but I will come back to this in detail in a future article.

You can try this free, live-action mobility routine to practice protracting and retracting your shoulder blades, then strengthen them with unilateral movements.

For now, try to focus on one thing while performing these scapular protractions and retractions from the hang: move your shoulder blades apart and together:

1. without bending or arching the rest of the back
2. without initiating the movement with the legs or using them to generate momentum
3. without bending the elbows or bending the knees

It can be difficult to feel that you are performing the movement correctly using only your shoulder blades, but if you have any doubts, do not hesitate to comment below the article so that I can help you.

Exercise No. 5: Balance

For this exercise, we try to use another natural movement of our shoulders, one of their almost ancestral functions, that of swinging .

We speak of Swing in English, to designate the swinging movements that we can observe in our distant primate cousins ​​but also what we are still capable of doing.

In this case, there are no major gains in particular for mobility, strength or stability of the shoulders as could be obtained from previous exercises such as Push-Pulls or Scapular Retractions/Protractions,

However, I am a proponent of incorporating diversity into your training routine, continually stimulating the body with new data , and most importantly, not making the mistake of thinking that because we no longer really use these functions, that maintaining them does not contribute to the good health of our shoulders.

Serious error!

Of course, if you do Parkour, climbing, or even practices like Ninja Warrior, you are used to performing these kinds of sudden weight transfers , and putting more workload on one shoulder at a time.

This is the main reason why I like to incorporate this kind of swinging movement: it's a simple, fun way to gradually move towards unilateral strength movements like One Arm Pull-Ups or even locomotion.

Even if you don't have a short- or medium-term goal of being able to support your body weight on one shoulder at a time, the benefit of one day being able to do so is a definite advantage in reducing the risk of injury , improving longevity and athletic performance in all your other physical activities.

I often repeat this during training courses or during my online training courses on strength: the idea of ​​a body that is completely impervious to injury, which we can truly count on in all circumstances, implies, for me,

a mastery of each of the members independently.

Many training methods share this philosophy and thus help their practitioners achieve complete unilateral control over the fundamental pushing and pulling movements :

1. One-handed pump
2. One-handed pull-up
3. One-Leg Squat (Pistol Squat)

Keep this in mind when performing this little swinging exercise, and why not, later on, start exploring other swinging movements like Swing Jumps (jumps with momentum).

For the execution of the pendulum movement that I propose here, it is quite simple.

Like a pendulum, try to swing your body sideways, keeping your arms and legs straight and both hands on the bar. You will feel a muscle stretch along the entire side of your body.

You can then challenge yourself and simply try to hang on one arm at a time, a sort of one-arm Dead Hang . Once you are comfortable for several seconds, or minutes, you can have fun performing the swinging movement while only keeping one hand hanging from the bar.

Exercise No. 6: Rotation of the Spine

The last movement of this routine is another dynamic suspension movement which this time will allow us to work on the rotation of our spine.

More precisely, we perform twisting movements of the spine .

Why might this be interesting? We'll take a closer look at the biomechanics of the spine, the different forces that can be exerted on each of our vertebrae, and then understand how we can develop a more resilient spine with this type of training.

Torsional forces are applied by actively rotating the torso, called a "twisting motion," or by attempting to rotate the body while holding the torso stationary, which is called a "twisting moment."

Although twisting forces are a common force leading to lower back injuries, many ligaments and bones work to prevent excessive twisting forces.

So, don't panic when introducing this type of movement into your workout. Choose the right exercise selection and load management, add awareness to your practice, and you'll be able to maintain spinal health.

The human body has evolved to support a wide variety of movements and activities. Each sport creates specific demands that allow the body to produce an equal and appropriate adaptation: the beautiful Law of Hormesis.

All the muscles surrounding your spine work together to provide 360° support to the entire structure, resisting all those compression, shear, and twisting movements.

These core muscles, when properly strengthened, increase the stability of the lumbar spine , allowing movement to occur in other joints, such as the ball and socket joints of the hip and shoulder.

Hence the importance of developing “sheathing” , that is to say the set of muscles surrounding the spine and not, as Modern Fitness often confuses, with work focused mainly on the abdominal muscles, flexion movements such as Crunch or maintaining static positions such as planks.

Do you want powerful core strength to protect your spine? You need to work on your static core strength, your rotational core strength, and your anti-rotation core strength.

You must therefore develop transverse, abdominal and back muscles and stimulate your body in flexion, extension and twisting movements to develop a real shell that is both flexible and strong.

This is the key to the longevity of your spine.

Do you want me to write a full article on how to actually develop a powerful core?

To perform this exercise correctly and without injury, start slowly and be careful not to use too much momentum if you do not yet have complete confidence in your body to hold the movement .

1. Spread your legs
2. Draw a circle with your feet
3. Try to rotate the spine as much as possible
4. Alternate between left and right rotation

Be careful to respect your body and your abilities.

To go further in your practice

Once again, the idea of ​​pre-workout preparation routines is a way not only to properly lubricate the joints, to warm up the body, to stimulate the body to perform the movements that we are about to do during the upcoming session and above all to gather our thoughts on the present moment and our practice.

It comes back to the same point, no routine is perfect or ideal and no physical practice is safe for the body, it is always about adding awareness to your practice .

This is what I want to share through these articles in which I analyze joint mobility and muscle preparation routines.

This isn't about giving you a list of exercises and promising that this combination of exercises is the best for you, and that it will guarantee you reach your goals, without ever getting injured. No!

The idea is to provide you with the tools to allow you to regain control over your body, your health and your movements.

As with my free mobility training, I only offer you here a short guide drawn from my personal experiences and those of my students, from my knowledge and my understanding of health.

As always, it's up to you to practice and make your own mix of tools that will work for you at this time in your physical development.

If you have a question about one of the exercises, if you are not sure you are doing it correctly, if you would like to talk to me about any pain or discomfort you are feeling or if you would like me to give you variations more suited to your level,

Head to the comments to discuss everything and let other readers benefit from these pearls of wisdom.

Move well my move!

Nomad Slim
Founder of MOUVERS