‘Fugged Up’ Shoulders? These 2 Moves Just Might Fix That
If you’ve been training for any length of time, odds are you’ve run into some shoulder issues at some point or another.
Without question our shoulders are our most articulate joints. And while that gives them the greatest degree of freedom, it is also fraught with danger.
The sexiest exercises — pull-ups, military presses, pushups, etc — only train a select few of the degrees of freedom that your shoulders are capable of. And if these are the only upper body exercises you’re doing in your training, you’re leaving a lot of blind spots where niggling aches, stiffness, and discomfort can sneak in.
And given enough time, believe me: they will sneak in!
Typically when people encounter shoulder discomfort due to their training, their answers are one of two things (maybe both):
1: stretch
2: stop training until your shoulders feel better.
The problem?
Stretching is useful all-around, but when we’re talking about a strength imbalance, it’s about as useful as changing the oil on the Titanic: it’s not necessarily gonna hurt anything, but it’s also not addressing the REAL issues.
As far as just stopping your training all together, in extreme cases that just might be your best option.
However, for many humans I’ve trained, I’ve found that what often offers the biggest bang for the buck in healthy, happy shoulders is simply…
Filling in their strength gaps!
Strengthening the oft-ignored positions that our favorite moves don’t quite get to not only helps soothe your sore shoulders, but also lends a hand at increasing your upper body strength, since you’ve now got more muscle you can throw at your pull-ups, military presses, and more.
There are loads of great and worthy exercises to improve how your shoulders feel. But for my money, the two best never-fail moves that borderline bulletproof all those overlooked nooks and crannies are the following:
1: Shoulder external rotations
2: YTWL
Doing even one set of each of these a day is often enough to help your shoulders take a beating without retreating.
Here’s a quick breakdown on the two moves.
#1: Shoulder external rotations
Most of our favorite upper body exercises involve a great deal of internal rotation at some point or another (think pull-ups, pushups, overhead presses, etc). There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but too much of a good thing is still too much. Balancing out all that internal rotation with a bit of external rotation is often just what the proverbial doctor ordered to keep your shoulders in proper working order.
Here’s how you do ‘em:
Step 1: get in your best “Glamor Shots” pose and splay your legs out awkwardly as I’m doing below. Rest your working arm on your knee, make a proud chest, and hold a light dumbbell in the classic “flexed biceps” position (without actually flexing your bicep)
Step 2: While keeping your proud chest, slowly lower the light dumbbell to about the halfway point, then bring it back into the starting position
(NOTE: You can go as low as shown in the above picture, just so long as you do NOT feel it in your bicep or the front of your shoulder. If you do, stick to the halfway mark — trust me on this!)
#2: YTWL
YTWLs got their name because…well, just look at them.
I first got wind of these a number of years ago and started putting them into my daily diet of activities to soothe my sometimes unhappy shoulders, and found that my students loved them as well. They are gentle on the shoulders, tough on weakness. Win/win.
Here’s how you do them:
The Y Position
If you’ve ever done the YMCA dance at a Bar Mitzvah or other rite-of-passage type celebration, you already know how to do this first move. Now all we’ve got to do is tweak it ever-so-slightly and it’ll be perfect.
Put your hands overhead in a Y position, do that “proud chest” thing again, and make sure your thumbs are pointing behind you (this will help externally rotate the shoulders). Hold the position for 10 seconds.
The T Position
For this position, simply put your hands out to the sides — thumbs still facing backward — and maintain the proud chest position.
The W Position
The W position will have you bending your elbows as though you’re trying to put them into your pockets while still pointing your thumbs behind you (think “palms to shoulders”. If you can actually manage this, you need to pump up those biceps!) Once again, keep a proud chest.
The L Position
This one maybe doesn’t have the best name since you have to use your imagination a little bit (if you look closely, both arms look kind of like they’re making the shape of an L). By now you know the drill: proud chest, thumbs pointed behind you, etc.
Here’s a short video of each move so you can grasp the finer points and squeeze the most out of it with the shortest learning curve.
https://youtu.be/-tGXs8RvDcE
Now, you might be asking yourself, “O wise and mighty Hammer, how do I put these together into a routine?”
Excellent question, friend-o. Here’s how:
2–3 days a week, do the following routine:
- 2–3 sets of 10–20 reps per arm of shoulder external rotations
- 2–3 sets of 5–10 seconds paused at each position of the YTWL
At this point, you can either hit the showers (if you even need to), or move on to your regularly scheduled workout.
Whether you do this before or after your workout is up to you, but experiment a bit to see which one helps you crush weakness the best.
Once you’ve made it a regular part of your routine and your shoulders start feeling more like a million bucks and less like a smashed-up piggy bank, you’ll probably wanna start (intelligently) pushing your training a little bit harder.
And once you’re re-reminded of all the awesome things your shoulders are made to do, you’ll probably wanna branch out beyond the standard workouts you’ve been doing since the last time Arnold Schwarzenegger was in a good movie.
And if you REALLY wanna take your lean, head-to-toe strength to the next level (and you’ve got at least a kettlebell or two and 9 minutes to spare) my 9 Minute Kettlebell & Bodyweight Challenge will show you how to take 4 super simple, take-no-prisoners drills and ratchet up your strength, boost your physical vitality, ramp up your resilience, and unlock your natural human movability — quickly, easily, and effectively.
Best of all, you don’t have to put your current workouts to the side; you just tack the 9 Minute Challenge on to the beginning or end of your training and BAM — you’ll be unlocking new and exciting levels of strength you never even knew you had in you in no time flat.
(who knows, they might even accelerate your succe
And who knows? You might even break a PR or two. In the words of George and Ira Gershwin, “who could ask for anything more?”
Have fun and happy training!
Aleks Salkin
Aleks “The Hebrew Hammer” Salkin is a level 2 StrongFirst certified kettlebell instructor (SFG II) and an Original Strength Instructor.
He grew up scrawny, unathletic, weak, and goofy until he was exposed to kettlebells and the teaching and methodology of Pavel in his early 20s, and took his training and movement skills to the next level upon discovering Original Strength in his mid-20s.
He is currently based out of Omaha, Nebraska where he spends his time teaching students online and in person, as well as spreading the word of strength, movement, and healthy living.
He is the author of the popular free ebook The 9-Minute Kettlebell and Bodyweight Challenge as well as numerous articles scattered around the farthest-flung reaches of the web.
Find him online at www.alekssalkin.com
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