Shoulder Pain Series: Scarecrow Exercise
Shoulder Pain? Improve your shoulder health
In order to maximize back development and maintain shoulder health, make sure to include small isolation movements for the middle and lower traps, rhomboids, and rear deltoids. โฃ
Compound movements will often leave these muscles underdeveloped. Itโs essential to train these small muscles with exercises such as:
- ๐๐๐ชโ๐ฌ โฃ
- Retract shoulder blades prior to initiating movement
- ๐
๐๐๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฌ โฃ
- Use a neutral grip so thumbs are facing you to bias external rotation โฃ
- ๐๐๐๐ซ๐๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฌ โฃ
- โPretend your biceps is a rotisserie chickenโ (๐ง๐ข๐ท๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ค๐ถ๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐) to maintain joint centration during rotation โฃ
- ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐ ๐
๐ฅ๐ฒ
- Maintain slight elbow bendโฃ
- ๐๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ฌ โฃ
- Straight elbows, initiate movement with shoulder bladesโฃ
- ๐
๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ฌ โฃ
- Hands pull away from body, keep elbows tight to body, maintain flexed elbow โฃ
These exercises can be done twice per week for a few sets of 12-20 reps. โฃ Make some room for these by adding them into your warm up, in between work sets as a filler exercise, or in between workouts whenever you have free time. โฃ
Scarecrow Exercise
The scarecrow exercise is an excellent exercise for improving shoulder health.ย During the scarecrow exercise you target abs and shoulders and also involves upper back & lower traps. ย This exercise can be performed using cable pulleys, dumbbells, or elastic resistance bands.ย The video below demonstrates the use of cable pulleys.