Metabolic Stability Series: Fixing Problematic Shoulders

There is nothing – not lack of equipment, time, or even space – that will kill a well meaning fitness program like injury and pain. That is why corrective exercise has become such a focus in fitness programs in the last 20 years. It can be a huge challenge when clients want to lose weight, look better, be stronger… but they also hurt!

I was fortunate that I got into corrective exercise in the late 90's as a means to really help myself, first and foremost. It was my sophomore year of college and I had been just retired from the Arizona State Men's basketball team because my low back injury was unable to be helped. In fact, the day came when, while running sprints for conditioning, my right leg completely gave out. Team doctors retired me but the pain continued even at just 19 years old.

Having pain didn't lessen my desire to be strong, competitive and, yes, look athletic. How do you do it, though? How can you train hard and improve your body at the same time? That is what is at the heart of our Dynamic Variable Resistance Training program (DVRT). Built on what has helped me and so many others recover from serious injury, I want to share with you how understanding how the body functions can transform the results you get for others.

One of the big three places that seem to nag people is shoulders (low backs and knees tend to be the other two). People often misunderstand that shoulder issues are a result of the body in other areas not working correctly, as well as not understanding HOW we should use the body to protect the shoulders.

The worst thing coaches do is avoid creating real solutions and just use exercises that they think allow people to work around the problem The issue with this approach is that if we just put a band-aid on the REAL issues, we never get people better like we truly desire. That is why this month's Metabolic Stability is devoted to progressive ways to addressing real shoulder issues.

Get The Core RIGHT!

Many of the issues with the shoulder are really core engagement problems. The shoulder is a rather unique joint that requires a stable foundation to really perform at its highest level. Leading spine expert, Dr. Stuart McGill, best explains how and why the core is so essential for the action of the shoulder.

"How does core stiffness enhance limb speed and strength? Consider the pectoralis major muscle – it attaches the rib cage at its proximal end, crosses the shoulder joint, and attaches to the humerus of the upper arm at its distal end. When muscles contract they try to shorten. Consider the specific action here – the arm flexes around the shoulder joint moving the arm from muscle shortening at the distal end. But the same shortening also bends the rib cage towards the arm at the proximal end of the muscle. Thus simply using the pec muscle would not result in a fast nor forceful punch. Now stiffen the proximal end of pec muscle attachment – meaning stiffen the core and ribcage so it can't move. Now, 100% of pec muscle shortening is directed to action at its distal end producing fast and forceful motion in the arm. In the same way a stiffened core locks down the proximal ends of the hip muscles producing faster leg motion. A loss of core stiffness causes the torso to bend when sprinting, and a loss of speed – some force was robbed that should have been expressed in leg velocity. Thus, a universal law of human movement is illustrated – "proximal stiffness enhances distal mobility and athleticism".

This sounds great, but HOW do we get the core to work correctly to provide that base for the shoulder?

One of the first key concepts is to learn how to develop tension. That is tension into the ground and against the object we are holding to engage the kinetic chains of the body. In this month's video series you see some different ways we accomplish this goal.

When we use the Ultimate Sandbag, one of the most misunderstood benefits is the way we can "pull apart", or create tension against it to engage the right muscles of the body. By doing so we instantly set the shoulder in the right position and get the core muscles turned on. That is why when you see some of our lift/chop variations we choose the Ultimate Sandbag. The hand position we can achieve puts the shoulder in a great position and when we create this tension we develop that strong foundation.

The same holds true when we use our feet and the ground. When we are in half kneeling positions in a suspension trainer or any such environment, we want to teach people to press into the ground with their feet. Using the feet in this manner turns on the glutes, hamstrings and, yes, the core that prevents unwanted motion like rib flare!

The best part is we show you how we start from a foundational position and move into more dynamic and athletic environments. Corrective exercise and strength training should be one in the same as long as we have proper progression.

When you see how we take rowing into more multi-planar training you will see how it isn't just about getting the upper back muscles strong and having balance in the upper body. Rather, it's about how we engage the ground and core to maintain that kinetic chain connection that makes us strong in AND out of the gym!

Our focus on functional training comes from showing people that there is a much bigger world of smart training they can achieve that allows for dynamic, fun, and effective training. Isn't that what it is all about?

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Josh Henkin, CSCS, is an international presenter on the topics of functional fitness, performance, and post-rehabilitation. Don't miss his and physical therapist Jessica Bento's brand new DVRT Shoulder Restoration Course HERE.