Shoulder Mobility

Training Injuries
1

I need more shoulder mobility. I got a staff which I use for shoulder mobility, so I’m looking for cool tricks to use the staff with which also improves mobility.
I do a lot of regular shoulder stretches and mobility exercises nowadays, too.

I realized how important and good shoulder health is and it’s looking good so far, so if you people have any shoulder mobility exercises to share with words or videos, that would be greatly appreciated.

Here’s some videos I looked up when looking for shoulder mobility.

2

zhealth r-phase and i-phase drills for the shoulder
(scroll down this link: begin to dig: What is Z-Health b2d Article index: what is it, reviews and more)

indian clubs (with ed thomas, brett jones and gray cook)
http://bit.ly/9A2Ujr

and just fyi,
understanding a bit more about the shoulder

best
mc

3

That’s good. I’ve noticed that stretching the shoulders and improving mobility helps me escape submissions. I still lift heavy weights, but adding this has helped a lot.

4

I tried the wall slides in the first one, and I couldn’t even get my left arm to go back enough to touch the wrist. Not at all, that’s just sad.

Double sad since it’s my right shoulder that was the one giving me trouble.

5

[quote]MrZsasz wrote:
I tried the wall slides in the first one, and I couldn’t even get my left arm to go back enough to touch the wrist. Not at all, that’s just sad.

Double sad since it’s my right shoulder that was the one giving me trouble. [/quote]
Same. I had a very tough time keeping my wrists close.

6

[quote]silkyhorse wrote:
That’s good. I’ve noticed that stretching the shoulders and improving mobility helps me escape submissions. I still lift heavy weights, but adding this has helped a lot.[/quote]

i’d actually suggest you consider pulling back on the stretching unless it’s in the very careful context of building strength as opposed to joint opening.

mobility work mob work mob work
like shoulder cam shafts for instance at various speeds - speed control form super fast to super slow can be way more valuable to work than arbitrary stretch

food for thought or to test
mc

7

ps for the second vid - better for your shoulders to use a band than a stick - just fyi

8

also, the “y squat” from the first vid is often more effective as a screen than as a practice.
eg
what do you do if you find that your arms pitch forward? or that you can’t (as this guy doesn’t) break parallel to get deep? do you just keep doing these, despite the problems, or do you want to unpack the move?

indeed, the functional movement screen uses this kind of squat first except with a dowel, and then if there are problems, comes back to it by another 6 assesments first - in other words the overhead squat is a diagnostic for reality checking the improvements too on the other screens.

if there’s an issue in the squat there’s an issue somewhere else, goes the philosophy.

http://www.functionalmovement.com/SITE/functionalmovementscreen/whatisfms.php

kinda the same question comes up for the wall thing too - what does that do for you if you can’t get your arm back? just keep doing it till you can??

best
mc

9

[quote]-mc- wrote:
also, the “y squat” from the first vid is often more effective as a screen than as a practice.
eg
what do you do if you find that your arms pitch forward? or that you can’t (as this guy doesn’t) break parallel to get deep? do you just keep doing these, despite the problems, or do you want to unpack the move?

indeed, the functional movement screen uses this kind of squat first except with a dowel, and then if there are problems, comes back to it by another 6 assesments first - in other words the overhead squat is a diagnostic for reality checking the improvements too on the other screens.

if there’s an issue in the squat there’s an issue somewhere else, goes the philosophy.

http://www.functionalmovement.com/SITE/functionalmovementscreen/whatisfms.php

kinda the same question comes up for the wall thing too - what does that do for you if you can’t get your arm back? just keep doing it till you can??

best
mc[/quote]
I found this post the most valuable. It hit a problem I’ve been thinking about a lot. Doing the Y squat and the wall squat, but failing. I’ve been wondering a lot about whetever to keep doing them to “get better” at them, or if I should work on other things. I get your point… But what can I do to improve my shoulder mobility? Should I just keep doing the things I found on Youtube?

10

[quote]-mc- wrote:

[quote]silkyhorse wrote:
That’s good. I’ve noticed that stretching the shoulders and improving mobility helps me escape submissions. I still lift heavy weights, but adding this has helped a lot.[/quote]

i’d actually suggest you consider pulling back on the stretching unless it’s in the very careful context of building strength as opposed to joint opening.

mobility work mob work mob work
like shoulder cam shafts for instance at various speeds - speed control form super fast to super slow can be way more valuable to work than arbitrary stretch

food for thought or to test
mc[/quote]Considering I fail at most shoulder mobility tests, I just want to get good mobility. I want to be able to do a Y squat, OH squat and the wall squat.
If you tell me to lower the stretching volume, then I might do that, but only if it won’t do much for shoulder mobility.

11

[quote]-mc- wrote:
ps for the second vid - better for your shoulders to use a band than a stick - just fyi[/quote]
Why? How come? I’ve been using a stick without any problems. It’s a great warm-up when I train my Bo-jutsu techniques. I might use the drills for both warm-up and cool-down for Bo-jutsu training.

12

[quote]silkyhorse wrote:

[quote]-mc- wrote:
ps for the second vid - better for your shoulders to use a band than a stick - just fyi[/quote]
Why? How come? I’ve been using a stick without any problems. It’s a great warm-up when I train my Bo-jutsu techniques. I might use the drills for both warm-up and cool-down for Bo-jutsu training. [/quote]

it’s not about problems, it’s about work.
tell you what, before i go into detail here, why dont you grab
your dowel and do your move, and then grab

a good jump stretch band such that you have to work to hold it pulled out to the same length as where your hands are on your stick - so you’re working through the whole movement - and see if you think there’s a difference and if so where, and why that might work the shoulders better - just be gentle, and initially go slow to feel the whole movement.

mc

13

[quote]silkyhorse wrote:

[quote]-mc- wrote:
also, the “y squat” from the first vid is often more effective as a screen than as a practice.
eg
what do you do if you find that your arms pitch forward? or that you can’t (as this guy doesn’t) break parallel to get deep? do you just keep doing these, despite the problems, or do you want to unpack the move?

indeed, the functional movement screen uses this kind of squat first except with a dowel, and then if there are problems, comes back to it by another 6 assesments first - in other words the overhead squat is a diagnostic for reality checking the improvements too on the other screens.

if there’s an issue in the squat there’s an issue somewhere else, goes the philosophy.

http://www.functionalmovement.com/SITE/functionalmovementscreen/whatisfms.php

kinda the same question comes up for the wall thing too - what does that do for you if you can’t get your arm back? just keep doing it till you can??

best
mc[/quote]
I found this post the most valuable. It hit a problem I’ve been thinking about a lot. Doing the Y squat and the wall squat, but failing. I’ve been wondering a lot about whetever to keep doing them to “get better” at them, or if I should work on other things. I get your point… But what can I do to improve my shoulder mobility? Should I just keep doing the things I found on Youtube?[/quote]

ha indeed. Free and worth every penny, eh?

ideally you’d get with a movment specialist who can look at your particular form, and help you work particular drills to open up your mobility. If you’re competing which your avatar suggests you are it may be worth it to consider such a session.

Else, there are many mobility programs out there, from sonnon to t’ai chi. Personally, i use z-health r and i phase drills with the athletes i coach because i can work specific joints and specific ROM’s to get rapid responses for performance.

If a coach is a hardship right now, you can get the r-phase discs for instance that come with a great 12 week program and manual. If you scroll through this post you’ll find links and discussions.

if i can help, pm me - i coach a lot on line with web cams, but pending where you are, i can hopefully recommend a person close to you.

thanks for the feedback, and best with your practice
mc