Your Shoulders…

There are 4 major shoulder mistakes that women are making without even realizing it.

Your shoulder joint is the most complicated joint on your body - there is no other joint like it, and because your shoulder joint is so complicated, it means that there are multiple points of vulnerability. And if you’re not intentional about how you treat your shoulder, you’re going to experience problems, like Frozen shoulder, impingement syndrome, rotator cuff tears - all of which could possibly be prevented with smarter training. But most women are going about it all wrong.

In this week’s podcast episode, you’re going to learn what you should be doing NOW to create really healthy shoulders.

Shoulder Mistake #1 - Your Shoulders Are an Afterthought

The first mistake you’re making is that you’re not thinking about your shoulders enough!

I wanted to do this episode because most people don’t think about their shoulders until they become a huge problem. They’ve suddenly developed frozen shoulder, impingement syndrome, or even a rotator cuff tear, which could ALL have been prevented if they prioritized smarter training for their shoulders earlier.

Think about how many people you know that have dealt with:

• Shoulder replacements - College prof who had shoulder replacement surgery, overuse from swimming
• Frozen shoulders - super common in midlife (we’ll talk more about that later)
• Thoracic outlet syndrome - like sciatica of the shoulder
• Rotator cuff tears
• Pinching and severe inflammation at the top of the shoulder
• General weakness - Having weak arms can instantly make your entire body feel weak and useless
  • You want to be able to reach down to pick up a heavy toddler and hold them for a while

“Squeaky wheel gets the grease” - Don’t let the wheel get squeaky, but even if it already has gotten squeaky these tips WILL help!!

Let’s learn more about your shoulder for a minute:

Your shoulder girdle is a really complicated joint.

• I want you to think of it like this: imagine if I handed you a big stick with a round ball on the end of it, and then a plate that was shaped like a triangle that had two prongs sticking off of it, and then another much smaller stick, and then I handed you a bundle of bra straps and thick rubber bands, and told you to put the ends together. But it has to be extremely mobile, and yet extremely strong and stable at the same time. That’s your shoulder!!
• Humerus, scapula (shoulder blade), collar bone. Lots of muscle wraps up and around to lift, twist, pull and glide the shoulder joint. There is no other joint like it on your body.
  • Rotator cuff - 4 small muscles
  • Bigger, more beefy muscles - lats, deltoids, pecs, serratus, teres, rhomboids
    • By the way, if these bigger muscles are weak, then your rotator cuff muscles usually have to pick up the slack
  • There are a lot of tendons and ligaments and moving parts
• Lots of points of vulnerability

Shoulder Mistake #2 - Mirror Muscle Training

Have you ever heard of “Mirror Muscles”? These are all the muscles that you can see in the mirror, and because you can see them, they get your full attention in your workouts.

• Classic bodybuilder method - pecs and biceps, maybe triceps, definitely abs

Women do this, too: Choosing exercises based solely on the spots you want to “tone”. Visual-based training, NOT smart training.

PROBLEM WITH MIRROR MUSCLE TRAINING

• Creates major imbalances - you tend to overwork an area really bad
  • pec deck, lat raises, shoulder raises, push-ups, chest press - all use primarily your front deltoids and pecs
  • Two things happen - 1) Overtrain those muscles 2) They fatigue so smaller muscles (rotator cuff & neck muscles) take over
• Scapular stabilizers & upper back muscles get grossly overlooked

HOW TO AVOID THIS MISTAKE

Train smarter!

• Start thinking in terms of training movements, not mirror muscles
• Horizontal pushing, Horizontal pulling, Vertical pushing, Vertical pulling
• For the same number of pushing exercises you do, do at least the same amount of pulling exercises if not more.

Shoulder Mistake #3 - Stretching Wrong

If you were to ask me, “How would someone go about stretching their shoulder incorrectly?”

• The thing that would immediately come to mind would be the stretches you see little kids do as a warm-up before a baseball game (pull across your body and hold, pull overhead and hold - usually that’s about it)
• Unfortunately, this is often the only way that adults are stretching their shoulders too, if at all.
• Most adults go through VERY MINIMAL range of motion for their shoulder during the day.

Because your shoulder joint is the MOST mobile joint on your body, your stretching (or mobility) work for you shoulder needs to be very thorough.

PROBLEMS WITH STRETCHING WRONG

• Loss of shoulder mobility
• Something called Frozen Shoulder can suddenly develop
  • Frozen shoulder (adhesive capsulitis) -
    • severe inflammation of the tissues that make up the joint capsule, where the tissues become really stiff, inflamed and swollen
    • Not entirely sure what causes it - inflammation due to sudden changes in hormones, lack of regular mobility work, much higher in individuals with diabetes

HOW TO STRETCH PROPERLY

• Combination of passive and active stretching
  • Some passive - doorway chest stretch, thoracic extension stretch,
  • Mostly active - Diagonal arm swings, shoulder blade glides, cactus arms with circles
• While doing active stretching, pay attention to your shoulder blade - make it glide!

Shoulder Mistake #4 - Shrugging Too Much

Shrugging - shoulders elevated and rotated forward slightly

• Shrugging is a common physical reaction to stress and tension
• Shrugging uses your neck muscles

PROBLEMS WITH SHRUGGING

• Lifts the joint into an unnatural & compressed position (impingement or shoulder bursitis)
• Overworks the neck muscles, creating massive pain, headaches and even TMJ-like symptoms
• Can create excessive rounding in your thoracic spine

HOW TO STOP SHRUGGING

• You probably don’t realize you’re doing it
• Stop and do shoulder circles periodically throughout the day
• Make sure your training is strengthening the opposing muscles that will help hold your shoulders down

Big Takeaways

The biggest thing here is awareness. Because your shoulder joint is so complicated, it means that there are multiple points of vulnerability. And if you’re not intentional about how you treat your shoulder - and you only train your mirror muscles, you never stretch properly and you shrug constantly - you’re going to experience shoulder problems, if not already.

More Resources & Links

Grab the FREE Posture Masterclass Here!

Research article on Frozen Shoulder

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