# 27 Tips for Healthier Shoulders



## Curt James (Mar 28, 2011)

*27 Tips for Healthier Shoulders*

By Jason Ferruggia

I???ve spent the last two and a half decades pounding the shit out of  my shoulders. While that sucks for me it???s actually good news for you.  Why, you ask? Because when you???ve torn traps, rotator cuffs and labrums  you develop a pretty keen interest in avoiding shoulder injuries. You also develop a pretty good MacGyver instinct about how to work  around them. And today I???m going to share some of that information with  the Renegade Army.

 Here is a list of 27 tips that will help you keep your shoulders strong and healthy.







*1) Do YTWL???s as a Warm Up Before Every Workout-* This is an awesome way to fire up all the muscles you need to protect your shoulders against injury.

*2) Do 30-50 Reps Per Day of Shoulder Dislocations With a Broomstick-*  This increases mobility and pumps healing nutrients into your  shoulders. Do this every day of the week for a month and I can almost  guarantee you that your shoulders will feel better.

*3) Do Vertical Pressing Before Horizontal Pressing-*  If you are going to do some form of military press and some form of  bench press in the same workout try doing the overhead work first. I  have found this to be a great way to avoid pain and strengthen your  shoulders. I can???t explain exactly why but the overhead work just seems  to prepare you better for the bench pressing variations. I have had  numerous people try this (many of whom had pain with any form of  benching with a bar or dumbbells) and they all reported feeling  significantly better.

*4) Begin the First Rep of Any Set of Military Presses with a Slight Leg Drive- *You  don???t have to turn the whole set into push presses but you do want to  use a slight leg drive to at least get the very first rep moving. The  reason for that is because pressing the bar off your front delts from a  dead stop with no momentum can be very stressful. It???s the most  stressful part of the entire rep. Unless you are competing in some kind  of strict pressing contest I???d recommend using the leg drive. If you  have preexisting shoulder injuries you may want to do a slight push  press on every rep.

*5) At the End of Each Set of Military Presses You Do Hold the Bar in the Top Position- *This  is sometimes referred to as structural integrity work and can help  strengthen, stabilize and bulletproof the shoulders. I recommend holding  the bar up there at lockout (the joints are meant to lock and support  load so forget about that myth that you should never lock out) for three  to five seconds. On the last set of the day you could hold it up there  for ten seconds or longer.

*6) Use a Swiss Bar Instead of Straight Bar for Horizontal Pressing- *The  Swiss bar allows you to press with your palms facing in towards each  other which is far more natural and a lot safer. If you train at home or  some type of small warehouse gym I highly recommend ordering. I would  ALWAYS make that my bar of choice if I were ever to bench press again.

*7) Swap Out Bench Presses For Low Incline Presses-*  Most regular readers know by now that I???m not a huge fan of the flat  bench press. But I do like having big barbell movements in the program  as indicator lifts. The low inline press, with the bench set to  somewhere between fifteen and thirty degrees was a favorite chest  exercise of six time Mr. Olympia, Dorian Yates. This variation hits the  pecs more effectively and is less stressful on the shoulder. Even better  is the low incline press with the Swiss Bar.

*8] Never Bench Press With a Wide Grip- *In  powerlifting it???s known that using a wider grip reduces the range of  motion and thus, theoretically you should be able to press more weight.  The downside is that the wide grip puts your shoulders through hell so  you should really consider avoiding it and only benching with a close to  medium grip width. The widest I would ever recommend is pinkies in the  rings and even closer than that for most people. You have to think long  term and remember that if you shoulders are destroyed you won???t even be  able to bench the bar eventually.
 The great Konstantinovs knows the importance of this and has  discussed it in the past. Here he is in the video below benching 507 for  3 with what many might consider a close grip.






YouTube Video











*9)  If You Do Flat or Incline Presses With Dumbbells Always Use a Neutral Grip-*  As mentioned above, the neutral grip is a lot more natural and allows  you to keep your elbows in tighter while sparing your shoulders.

*10) Always Keep Your Shoulder Blades Fully Squeezed Together During Horizontal Pressing Movements-*  Whenever you are lying on your back and pressing a bar or dumbbells you  want to maintain a very tight, bunched up feeling in your upper back  and never allow your shoulder blades to come apart. This keeps the  shoulders in a much stronger and safer position.

*11) Do More Pushups-* Pushups are still one of my top  ten favorite exercises and always will be. They are also significantly  better for your shoulders than any other form of horizontal pressing  with a bar or dumbbells. Pushups are highly underrated because people  don???t know how to load them properly or do advanced variations.

 For loading you can get a weighted vest, chains, a Power Pushup (which  is awesome) or even have a partner hold weight plates on your back. A  great loading variation, and one that is very comfortable is to place a sandbag on your back with or without additional weight vests.

*12)  Do Suspended Pushups- *Suspended pushups with rings or the Jungle Gym XT call even more muscles into play and force your stabilizer muscles to  fire even harder. This is great for building up injury proof shoulders.

*13) Do Kettlebell Turkish Get Ups-*  If you could only do one rehab/prehab/shoulder stabilization exercise  this would probably have to be it, in my opinion. Make them a regular  part of your routine and your shoulders will feel better.

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14) Practice Handstand Holds-*  This is very similar to the concept of holding the barbell overhead  only in this case you are holding your own bodyweight which increases  neuromuscular activation and makes it significantly more effective. I  recommend kicking up into a handstand against the wall at the end of  each upper body workout and holding it for as long as possible.

 When you get good at that try removing the wall. This is great for shoulder stabilization.

*15) Walk on Your Hands-* Once you get comfortable  with handstands start walking laterally along the wall with your feet  still in contact with it. Eventually, once you master your handstands  you can start walking without the wall. In the meantime, slap a Power  Wheel on your feet and walk up and down the gym floor or across a field.  A great goal to shoot for is being able to walk 100 yards on your  hands.

 You can make hand walking even more challenging by doing Alligator pushups with the Power Wheel. Any type of dynamic range of motion exercise like this that has you  moving positions on each rep is great for strengthening the shoulders.

*16) Don???t go Excessively Heavy On Curls-* Heavy  barbell or dumbbell curls can place a lot of stress on the biceps tendon  and lead to shoulder issues. For this reason I rarely recommend curls  below six reps. With more advanced trainees I always keep curls in the  10-15 rep range.

 Heavy curls can beat your shoulders up a lot worse than you might think. I recommend avoiding them.

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*
This might be just a tad bit excessive.

*17) Initiate Each Rep on Curls With a Slight Cheat- *Just  like the bottom position of the military press, the bottom position of a  curl is very stressful to the shoulder. I recommend hitching at the  waist and leaning slightly forward then extending your hips and cheating  the weight the first couple inches out of the bottom.

 This doesn???t mean you heave the weight up and get sloppy. Quite the  contrary. Just use the momentum to initiate the movement and then keep  maximal tension on the biceps throughout by squeezing and contracting  them as hard as you can. On the eccentric actively contract your triceps  by imagining doing a pushdown.

 Using  this cheat technique can extend the life of your shoulders and elbows greatly.

*18)  Don???t do Curls on the Same Day You Do Heavy Pressing-*  After a heavy pressing workout the shoulders may be pretty trashed. If  you stress them even more with heavy curls the biceps tendon may start  acting up and giving you problems. I have found in a large majority of  cases where guys where getting shoulder pain from doing curls, that if  we moved it to another day or didn???t do the curls after heavy pressing  the problem started to dissipate. If you have no shoulder issues this  probably won???t be a problem.

 Now, if you don???t have any shoulder issues, this recommendation isn???t  for you and I wouldn???t really worry about it. But if you are having  shoulder problems you might want to give this one a try.

*19) Don???t do Incline Curls at an Angle Any Lower Than 60 Degrees-*  Incline curls are great for training the biceps from a stretched  position, but they also stretch the ligaments as well as the muscles. If  you have shoulder issues make sure to keep the bench set no lower than  60 degrees.






*20) Do Dips on Gymastic Rings Instead of Parallel Bars-*  Unlike the bars which keep you in more of a fixed plane, the rings  allow you to move naturally and you can work around the pain.

 If I could only do one upper body pressing exercise to build and  strengthen the chest, shoulders and triceps this would probably be it.

 That???s not to say that dips on parallel bars aren???t great, because  they are. But if you can???t do them due to injury this could be a better  option for you.

*21)  Eliminate the Eccentric Component of Olympic Lifts by Dropping the Bar- *Olympic  lifting variations can be hard on those with shoulder injuries mainly  because of the stress that comes from lowering a heavy load so rapidly.  If you do high pulls with a lot of weight it can yank away pretty good  at those shoulders on the way down, no matter how good your technique  is. The simple solution is to simply do singles and drop the bar between  each rep.

*22) Use a Sled for Explosive Pulls Instead-* Louie  Simmons turned me onto sled work back in the 90???s and I have found it to  be an invaluable asset in the training of clients ever since. A great  way to use the sled is to replace barbell Olympic lifts with explosive  sled pulls.

 Simply hook up a pair of TRX straps to the sled, get in the same position you would be to start a high pull  (except that your hands will be out in front of you holding the straps  instead of by your knees holding the bar) and then explode up the same  way you would with a bar, shooting for triple extension while pulling  the straps up toward your chest. Walk backwards to pull out the slack in  the straps, bend over and repeat for the prescribed number of reps.

 This is an awesome way to get explosive pulling in and simulate Olympic lifts when you can???t do them due to shoulder problems.

*23) Don???t Do Excessively Heavy Weighted Chin Ups-*  Each year I get more and more down on heavy, weighted chins. They just  seem to lead to too many injuries and shoulder problems. In the past I???d  had guys do weighted chins for three reps. Nowadays I would never go  below a 6RM weight on weighted chins in most cases simply because the  injury risk is too high. There???s just too much stress on the shoulder  when you???re hanging from the bar with a bunch of plates around your  waist.

 And from a hypertrophy perspective, most people seem to turn a good  lat exercise into a shitty biceps exercise when they start loading  chins.
 Now, don???t get me wrong. Some people can do weighted chins with no  problems. If you can do ten reps with perfect form and a 45 pound plate  around your waist more power to you. I???d stick in that rep range and,  again, never really go below six reps. If you want to do triples make  sure it???s for a multiple sets with a six rep weight.

 But if your shoulders are a bit questionable you???re definitely not  one of the guys who can or should do weighted chins. You???d be better off  keeping the volume up and progressing by adding more total weekly  volume over time.

*24) Don???t Go Excessively Heavy On Rowing Exercises- *All  the same things that apply to heavy chins apply to heavy rows, although  I think the heavy rows are slightly less dangerous and would be more  likely to increase loading on those before chin ups. Over time, however,  you will find that a lot really heavy low rep rowing starts to yank  away at that shoulder pretty good and can lead to long term damage.  Again, best to keep the weights a little lighter and the reps a little  higher on these types of exercises. This advice doesn???t necessarily  apply to beginners but when you get stronger this is something that you  might want to heed.
 I prefer to have my guys do their heavy pulling in the form of deadlifts.






*25) Do Band Pull Aparts-* Simply grab a medium strength band hold it out in front of you and try to rip it apart. Pull it out all  the way so that your arms are straight out to your sides (while  maintaining a very slight bend in them throughout) like a T and squeeze  your shoulder blades together for 30-60 seconds. Hitting a few sets of  these to strengthen your upper back and prevent injuries is a great way  to finish off your upper body day.  Heck, they take so little out of you  because there is no eccentric, that they can be done upwards of 5-6  times per week if need be.

*26) Don???t Squat With a Low Bar Placement-* Low bar  squats are great because of certain mechanical advantages they give you.  They also put the shoulder under a hell of a lot more stress than high  bar squatting does. Stick with high bar squatting or find a comfortable  happy medium. But never use an extreme low bar position if you have  shoulder problems or want to avoid them in the future.

*27) Do Kettlebell Snatches- *As I???ve mentioned in the  past, I don???t think that doing millions of reps per week on this  exercise is a good idea as some diehard kettlebell enthusiasts do. But  doing a more tolerable number like a few sets of 10-20 reps a couple  days per week can be a great shoulder strengthener and help prevent  against future injuries.


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## Klutch (Mar 28, 2011)

thanks... my right shoulder is jacked up bad... i cant even bench anymore...


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## Curt James (Mar 28, 2011)

Ferruggia is one of my favorite authors. Good luck with your shoulder, man.


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## Lordsks (Mar 28, 2011)

*2) Do 30-50 Reps Per Day of Shoulder Dislocations With a Broomstick-*   This increases mobility and pumps healing nutrients into your   shoulders. Do this every day of the week for a month and I can almost   guarantee you that your shoulders will feel better.

Heard alot of good things in doing these. I have read alot of guys doing DC training do this.


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## gtbmed (Mar 28, 2011)

This is pretty good.  I disagree about going heavy on chins and rows and replacing O lifts with sled pulling, but the other stuff I follow.


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## Diesel618 (Mar 28, 2011)

good man.


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## pitbullguy0101 (Mar 29, 2011)

post a vid of these dc broomsticks please! great thread


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## hill450 (Mar 29, 2011)

I don't know if this will work but these look painful! Dislocation Exercise Broomstick

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33P5AI27eiU

EDIT: I think this should be a sticky too with all the shoulder problems in weightlifting!


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## Diesel618 (Mar 29, 2011)

hill450 said:


> I don't know if this will work but these look painful! Dislocation Exercise Broomstick
> 
> YouTube - Shoulder Dislocations
> 
> EDIT: I think this should be a sticky too with all the shoulder problems in weightlifting!


 
good god. wtf. people can do that?


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## hill450 (Mar 29, 2011)

Diesel618 said:


> good god. wtf. people can do that?



Kinda what I was thinking? Is this a normal exercise I should be able to do?? I'm all for it if it helps my shoulders!


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## Curt James (Mar 29, 2011)

hill450 said:


> I don't know if this will work but these look painful! Dislocation Exercise Broomstick
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## vader (Mar 29, 2011)

I completly disagree with the dislocation broomstick thing but vereything else is good stuff


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## ihateschoolmt (Mar 29, 2011)

I've done the broomstick thing. Widen your grip to what you feel comfortable doing. Most anyone should be able to do these if your grip is wide enough, start moving your hands closer together over time. That's what I was taught.


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## buddhaluv (Mar 30, 2011)

great tips!


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## hill450 (Mar 30, 2011)

ihateschoolmt said:


> I've done the broomstick thing. Widen your grip to what you feel comfortable doing. Most anyone should be able to do these if your grip is wide enough, start moving your hands closer together over time. That's what I was taught.



Thanks man I may try that out sometime...just looks painful and not so much of a good idea lol


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## ihateschoolmt (Mar 30, 2011)

It does look weird that's for sure. And it doesn't really dislocate the shoulder i don't know why they call it that.


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## joesmooth20 (Apr 2, 2011)

Great information!!! This should be a sticky.


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## pitbullguy0101 (Apr 2, 2011)

wow i doubt this is gunna feel good! ill try it my shoulders are really starting to bother me


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## Ravager (Apr 2, 2011)

I'm game!


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## LightBearer (Apr 4, 2011)

thanks! any specific info on training with a torn labrum in shoulder?


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## Arem (Apr 5, 2011)

Thanks! Sensible advice.


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## flexmob (Apr 5, 2011)

Awesome post.


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## elbkind (Apr 9, 2011)

Nice read thanx


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## hill450 (Apr 12, 2011)

Been doing those shoulder dislocations whenever I can and they really seem to stretch out my shoulders and my upper bicep a lot. Haven't been doing them long enough to notice a difference yet. I'd love my shoulder to heal though so I'm down for whatever!


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