We teamed up @crossoversymmetry to bring you a little PSA on how to get the most bang for your buck out of your banded shoulder work! Typically when incorporating any horizontal abduction (rowing) movements for shoulder health, the goal is to target the trapezius muscles with our pulling techniques. . Divided into 3 parts—upper, middle and lower—the trapezius plays a major role in proper shoulder movement and health. We often neglect to hit this muscle simply due to the fact that most of our "back days" at the gym are focused on the rhomboids and lats. When you perform "rows" with the elbow lower towards your side, you are primarily hitting your rhomboids and lats. There's nothing inherently wrong with that if you're trying to get big! But if you're aiming for better shoulder health, you need to RAISE YOUR ELBOWS to at least shoulder height to properly hit the middle and lower traps! . At shoulder height (90deg), we get the best MIDDLE TRAPEZIUS activation during our pulling techniques. At higher than shoulder height (120deg), we get the best LOWER TRAPEZIUS activation during our pulling techniques. . Arm height isn't the only thing you need to keep in mind during your pulls, but also the position of the shoulder. Particularly, is the shoulder in a neutral or fully externally rotated position? . In a neutral position, the posterior delt is able to join the party and thus put your traps at a disadvantaged position. Again, nothing wrong with this for bodybuilding but not the most optimal for building shoulder health. . With the shoulder fully externally rotated, you put the posterior delt in an extremely shortened position where it is not able to generate much force known as active insufficiency. In this position YOU GET MORE TRAPEZIUS ACTIVATION!!! . Moral of the story - make sure to fully externally rotate the shoulder during your @crossoversymmetry work to build healthy and strong shoulders!
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