HOW: Place the foam roller perpendicular to your spine onto a segment which you want to work on (personally I like to work from bottom to top). Now elevate your arms as far back as you can-in an attempt to touch the floor. This movement is very similar to a wall angel. Spend a few repetitions on each segment-then move up toward the next. FEEL: You will feel this in the middle of your back, specifically the area that is hinging over the foam roller. COMPENSATION: Don’t allow your but to come off the floor or your ribs from flaring out this is typically due to compensation from your low back!

HOW: Begin with your arms elevated on something like a bench shown here while grabbing onto something like a dowel or pipe- The more spread your hands, the greater the stretch. Then hinge back into a child’s pose position, this will bring the arms overhead. Slowly work into and out of this position. FEEL: You will feel the muscles on the side of your torso being stretched, specifically in the Lat region. COMPENSATION: Avoid arching the low back as you go through this, if your elbow are being irritated with this stretch then bring your hands a bit more narrow.

HOW: Begin on your back with your hips bent to a 90 degree position with your knees also bent 90 degrees. Make sure to keep your core engaged while you perform this. I have a foam roller between my knees to keep my legs straight. With your arms out about 90 degrees slide your arms overhead as high as you can overhead, then return to starting position and repeat. If you can’t place your wrists flat against the floor, it’s ok- work within what you have. COMPENSATION: Avoid excessively arching the low back or shrugging your shoulder as you reach overhead. FEEL: You will feel the muscles of the shoulder blade and shoulder working, you may also notice a stretch in the middle of your back as you push into the overhead position.

HOW: Begin on your hands and knees; hands under shoulders and knees under hips. Spread your shoulder blades by pushing your body away from the floor. Elevate one arm out to your side into a 90/90 position, the slowly reach over head. Attempt to keep the arm as close as you can towards the ceiling, as you reach overhead rotate your thumb towards the ceiling. Return to starting position and repeat! COMPENSATION: Avoid allowing your shoulder blade to sag during this exercise. Make sure to keep your torso straight towards the floor, as many reach their arms towards the ceiling they are compensating with trunk rotation. FEEL: You will feel the muscles of the shoulder blade work with this exercise.

Here is a Shoulder preparation routine I like to use prior to an upper body day in the gym or I like to prescribe prior to competing for any overhead athlete. Perform 5 repetitions of each.
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1️⃣Shoulder External Rotation with arms at side
2️⃣Shoulder T’s
3️⃣Shoulder External Rotation with arms elevated to 90 degrees of abduction
4️⃣Shoulder Internal Rotation- Don’t forget Subscapularis is the strongest rotator cuff muscle
5️⃣Resisted Wall Angel
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I particularly like this cross over symmetry unit because of the external demand into horizontal adduction, this also allows me to go through more range of motion with exercises such as the T or shoulder external rotation with arms at side compared to a normal pulley with the anchor directly in front of my shoulder.

Your scapula aka your shoulder blade is often very difficult for people to find. If you don’t initiate movements like rows or pull-ups from the scapula = you will “arm” the movement. Meaning you will rely heavily on shoulder and arm muscles. Your scapula is able to handle more load than your arm muscles.
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With any movement you want to move proximally to distally, the scapula should initiate the motion when performing a movement like the Row, Lat Pull-Down, or when performing pull-ups.
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Shown here are a couple movements that will help improve scapula control.
Realize that at First implementing this strategy may decrease your performance, however the potential to improve your performance increases.
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1️⃣start in open chain with your arms moving in space
2️⃣add a resistance band which will help give a resistance cue to target the scapula retractors (muscles that pull your shoulder blade back)
-keep minimal elbow flexion here
3️⃣perform scapula pull-ups also with minimal elbow flexion

HOW: Begin half kneeling with the leg towards the wall elevated. A foam roller is used here to separate me from the wall, begin roughly upper arm distance from the wall for this exercise. Start with your palm by your side facing your body, then slowly elevate your arm. You will feel a sticky spot, which is where you can rotate your palm towards the wall and continue this motion. Once you have reached the end position you can rotate back around to the starting position. This motion should be very slow and controlled! COMPENSATION: Avoid rotating at the trunk when performing this exercise, allow a majority of this motion to be coming from the shoulder. Alter your distance from the wall, the closer you are to the wall the more challenging, the further away the easier this exercise becomes. FEEL: You will feel the muscles of your shoulder working with this exercise.

HOW: Lift the kettlebell up to your shoulder. Keep the scapula neutral and maintain the forearm vertical to the ground for the entirety of this exercise. Maintain shoulder and elbows flexed to 90 degrees as you walk. FEEL: The shoulder musculature. COMPENSATION: Excessive shrugging of the shoulder and rounding of the shoulder blade.

HOW: Lift the kettlebell up to your shoulder. Wrap triceps in towards your armpit, this will help stay engaged at the scapula. Maintain this overhead position for the entirety of the walk. FEEL: The shoulder musculature. COMPENSATION: Excessive shrugging of the shoulder and rounding of the shoulder blade.

HOW: Begin on your side, then bring the leg that is elevated over and across your body. Hold this leg onto the floor with the opposite arm. Make sure to keep the knee close to your chest to avoid motion coming from the low back. With the arm closer to the ceiling alternate between reaching in front of you and reaching back towards the floor. Perform slowly and attempt to reach as far back as you can towards the floor. Exhale as you are rotating. While laying on my left side shown here, I am working on my Right rotation.

 

FEEL: You will feel a stretch in the middle of your back, specifically the thoracic spine. You may additionally feel a stretch in the front of the shoulder reaching back towards the floor.