Shoulder Strength: Power Up Your Freaking Joints…

Are you here to shoulder the load, to get something off your shoulders, or to shrug it off? The shoulder joint is quite a joint my friend. As a ball and socket joint that moves in a 360 degree range of motion it comes in handy, but this is also the reason as to why a lot of things can go wrong. Most of the shoulder issues that I come across are developed issues as a result of a combination of being an old injury in addition to poor programming in one’s training. As the world turns so does the shoulder! Keep reading to learn how to power up your shoulder strength…

Where Is Your Shoulder Strength?

So where exactly is your shoulder strength? Brandon, what in the hell are you talking about? Well, I mean is it primarily locked up in your bench press? Is your shoulder stable/ unstable? Do you have ROM issues? Where is your strength (or weaknesses for that matter)?

People can experience shoulder issues due to a lot of reasons, but for the purpose of today’s killer blogisode I’m going to address some common lifestyle and training reasons as to why your shoulder strength might be on the skids!

The Lifestyle Of Johnny Cubicle…

Yep, Johnny Cubicle is a fictional art imitating life kind of a guy. The point of Johnny Cubicle is that he sits on his arse at his desk 8, 10, to 12 hours a day fully geared up into SLOUCH mode! All day long he’s sitting at his desk literally training his shoulders to be in a forward protracted position. Over time this can lead to a shortened pectoralis, weak rhomboids and other posteriors, along with a weak anterior core.  The result of this cubicle train wreck is that he will more than likely start to encounter issues with both his shoulders and back over time. The immediate step is that he needs to be mindful of his sitting posture by engaging at least a slight tension of the abs followed up by maintaining a more externally rotated position of the shoulders while sitting.

To externally rotate the shoulders all Johnny Cubicle has to do is sit up straight, place his arms beside his body and turn his palms out so they are facing forward in a supinated position (imagine the anatomical chart). When setting this position during the time of sitting it is crucial to NOT allow the shoulders to track back to SLOUCH mode. Ok, enough with the Johnny Cubicle act YOU need to be doing this.

The Training Factors…

So Johnny Cubicle, I mean YOU might have good intentions of going to the gym to get into shape in order to get your body back to where it was during those active athletic days before the rigors of real life started to slow down the process. Anyways, I commend you for wanting to put your fist in life’s face in order to get back into shape. However, if you are not careful with how you go about the programming for your training life can counter your punch by giving you a major Brock Lesnar-like ass whoopin in the form of back and shoulder pain.

I have pet peeves that concern both men and women when it comes to strength training misconceptions, but guys tend to get the blunt end of the stick from me when talking about shoulder strength or lack thereof in this particular instance involving their training. You see it seems that guys may often have good intentions of going to the gym and pumping some iron to get into shape.

However, in between the flexing in the mirror sessions they might even be capable of slapping some respectable weight onto the bench press for some serious upper body action. The problem with this is that guys and girls (guys in this example) tend to train for their WANTS instead of their NEEDS particularly when it comes to shoulder strength. The over emphasized act of pressing will cause some huge imbalances with their body by developing their chest and shoulders while they often neglect the development of their posterior chain (traps, rhomboids, lats, etc.)

This is why they should focus more on pull related drills in relation to their push related exercises. As a general rule of thumb I like to implement a 3 to 4 more pulling oriented exercises to every single push related one on most training days. By doing this you will ensure the development of what I like to refer to as those GO muscles or the muscles consisting of your posterior chain. As I like to tell my young Jedi’s of strength, “There is a difference between SHOW muscles and GO muscles!”

The bottom line is that in order to ensure the sound development of your shoulder strength and to power up your freaking joints you’ve got train smart! Smart training only comes through rock solid principles and the application of a program that is based off of those principles. If you need help ensuring the success of your shoulder strength or any other part of your training for that matter then you’ve got to get your copy of my Better Than Steroids ebook today!

If you are a Kindle user and enjoy following my blog you can also sign up to allow me to infiltrate your Kindle right here through Amazon! That’s right my friend. I can now come in to take over your digital reader while you’re sitting poolside on vacation in Vegas, or wherever you choose to take your vacation. Remember that most anyone can train hard, but only the best train smart my friend.