Does your shoulder hurt when you overhead press, squat, or snatch?

If the answer is yes, keep reading. The shoulder is a ball and socket joint with tons of range of motion but two other important pieces also need to be considered: the thoracic spine, or mid-back region, and the scapula, or shoulder blade. This post is going to focus on the shoulder blade, but the thoracic spine must be able to move and extend to allow the other parts to do their job. You can read more about the thoracic spine and it’s affect on shoulder mobility HERE.

When you lift your arm overhead, the ball most rotate in the socket to move the arm up. But the SOCKET must also rotate upward to lead the arm. The socket is part of the shoulder blade and this is where we introduce scapular upward rotation, or the ability of the shoulder blade to rotate upward as you move your arm overhead. If it can’t do so or doesn’t move enough, the shoulder joint takes on excessive load and can end up causing pain.

Often, a few exercises as part of a warm up can prep your shoulders for a heavy press, squat, or snatch day. The problem is most people just grab a band, hold their arms DOWN at their sides, pull on it a few times, feel a heavy rotator cuff burn, and call it quits.

However, if we are going to be pressing OVERHEAD, we should warm up OVERHEAD.

We need to get the rotator cuff, serratus anterior, and traps ready to go for the barbell. These muscles work together to bring the shoulder blade up and around the rib cage as the arm rises overhead.

Here are a few exercises you can try adding in as a warm up:

Plank to Down Dog - push yourself against the floor to lift.

Landmine Press - can add the lean shown at the end to push into end range of motion. You can push the edge of the barbell into the bottom of the wall if you don’t have the attachment

Uppercuts - band is anchored from the side and arm pushes forward and out (as shown when I turn to the side)

Give these a try before your next overhead barbell day. If you’re still struggling, come see us for an evaluation. We’re here to help!