Your warmup consists of light cardio work and stretching prior to movement…but don’t forget about priming your nervous system and muscles too! This is one of my favorite shoulder warmups, with inspiration taken from @drjohnrusin and @thebarbellphysio. I’ll break down the 3 parts of the warm up and tell you why you should be incorporating them too:
1) Face-Pull: The face pull is a modified row movement. So we’re getting good RHOMBOID and more importantly, MIDDLE TRAPEZIUS activation. Additionally, EMG studies have shown that the face-pull has one of the highest average and peak EMG activities for the posterior AND middle deltoids too!
2) Shoulder External Rotation in a 90/90 position: BAM. Get your ROTATOR CUFF activation in and even better, in a 90/90 position. This is the exact same shoulder position of any overhead movement like the press or snatch. So strengthening in this position is key for carry over into crossfit.
3) Resisted Y-Upward Rotation: Prime your serratus anterior, upper traps, and especially your LOWER TRAPS due to the particular angle of the arm here in the scapular plane.
BOOM. Now get out there and hit some new PRs. That’s the end to our Shoulder Series PT III, hope you enjoyed it! Tag a friend who needs some shoulder prehab!
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