Are Your Shoulders Tight?

Are your shoulders tight?

Written by Dave Lipson

Shoulder mobility is an essential component of good human movement and effective training programs. If we

are training the upper body to pull and push in multiple planes through a full range of motion, shoulder

mobility is a necessity. Too many times I have walked into CrossFit gyms and watched tight shoulders muscle

through compromised range of motion. There are lots of unstable spinal positions and open rib cages

working in an effort to steal movement for tight shoulders, lots of pressing in front of the head, and grinding

kipping pull-ups. For many people it is not a matter of if, but rather when they will injure a shoulder. Before we

start adding load and intensity to those overhead exercises, let’s look at the ability to stabilize the spine while

opening the shoulder in an overhead support known as the active shoulder position.

What is Active Shoulder Support?

Active shoulder refers to a position of the body at which the bones of the upper extremities stack up evenly over

each other to provide a structural support overhead, while the midline (spine) of the body stays braced and

locked down by the rib cage. It is indicated by the following:

Elbows locked out and shoulders shrugged up

Actively and continually applying upward pressure

Braced belly with a closed rib cage

Shoulder angle open with arms directly above the mid foot. bi-secting the hip and knee in the frontal

plane

Self Shoulder Assesment# 1

Preparation: Raise one arm, bend elbow, and reach down across back, with palm facing upper back. Position

opposite arm down behind back and reach up across back with back of hand against back. (As shown in

photos above.)

Execution: With fingers extended, try to cross fingers, upper hand over lower hand. Repeat with arms in

opposite position.

Measurement: Measure distance from finger tip to finger tip. If fingers overlap, score as a plus. If fingers fail to

meet, score as a minus.

Shoulder assessment #2

Preparation: Lay on the ground in a supine position (belly up) with a dowel in an overhead position, hands

slightly outside of shoulders.

Execution: Go into a hollow position (feet and shoulder blades off the ground 1-2″) belly tight and rib cage

closed, lumber spine pressed into the ground. With arms locked out, keep the hollow and try to pull the bar

back towards the ground.

Measurement: Measure the distance from the ground to the dowel in inches.

Scoring:

Bar on ground = excellent

1-2″ = good

3-4″ = fair

5″ or more = poor

Where to go from here?

So the point here isn’t to make anyone feel bad or inadequate. Tight shoulders don’t make you a bad person,

a bad crossfitter, or un-fit. We just want you to have a long, fruitful, and injury free experience with CrossFit and

in life, as well as allow you to reach your highest athletic potential. Here are some methods, taught to us

byKelly Starrett – performance guru and founder of MobilityWOD, to work on and maintain good shoulder

mobility:

Banded Shoulder Distraction – place superband on rack 2” above head, face into rack and hold band

supported on the back of the wrist, go into lunge and allow band to pull arm up and forward, palm up to

the sky, drive chest towards knee.

Lacrosse Ball Posterior Capsule Release – lay supine on your back, lacrosse ball on the back of

shoulder, roll over onto ball and work into the back of the shoulder

Lacrosse Ball Subscap Release – Lay supine with ball along the edge of the shoulder blade proximal to

the spine, take straight arm thumb down to the opposite hip, move diagonal across body to an overhead

position thumb into ground, perform 5 reps slowly, adjust ball up edge of scapula, rinse and repeat in 3

different positions.

Partner Posterior Cuff Stretch – lay supine, bent knees, soles of feet on the ground, go into a hip

bridge, hips high, femur congruent with torso angle, place the back of the hands on the lower back, have

partner hold down shoulders as you slowly lower hip to the ground, rinse and repeat.

Kneeling Shoulder Stretch – on knees facing 24’’ plyobox, approximately 3 feet away, place palms on

box and drive chest down, brace abdomen and relax with straight arms.

Reach, Roll, Lift – lay in a prone position face down, make a fist and place thumb on forehead, with

opposite arm reach and pull arm overhead out of retraction crawling with fingertips, when you can’t go

any farther turn thumb up and lift arm for 1 sec., rinse and repeat on both arms.

The following video demonstrates these techniques, and for a more comprehensive guide to all things related

to shoulder mobility, please check out MobilityWOD’s “shoulder” mobility posts.

Test and Re-Test

Test and assess your shoulder mobility. These stretches and exercises are great preparation for overhead or

upper-body intensive workouts. They are also great ways to cool down and make substantial gains post

workout, when the tissues and tendons are hot and malleable. I would encourage you to test your mobility, go

through some mobility work, and then test again to assess which protocols work best for you.