3 Best Exercises To Improve Your Shoulder Stability For Olympic Weightlifting

If this is a snapshot of your warm-up, you’re definitely not alone, my friend…

All the face pulls
Banded external rotations
Shoulder dislocates with a PVC pipe

Shoulder injuries can take you out of the game for weeks.

Potentially just as bad, if you have shoulder pain so bad that you need to take 45 minutes just to warm up before touching a barbell, you’re spending almost 4 hours warming up per week (assuming you train 5x/week).

 *Gaassspppp😱

(kinda freaky when you look at it that way)

Unfortunately, these types of things are not all that uncommon when it comes to Olympic weightlifting. 

Clean & Jerks and Snatches both require you to get some seriously heavy loads overhead in an intense, explosive manner. I think it’s pretty safe to say we can all agree that this means that overhead stability is highly important.

Sure, doing all the face pulls, banded external rotations, and shoulder dislocates with a PVC pipe will help get the shoulders feeling a little more…buttery

But you gotta realize where the bang for your buck really is.

💬 *The shoulder blades have entered the chat

In this article, we are going to be chatting about

• Why we need to address scapular mobility when dealing with shoulder issues
• Where most athletes go wrong with shoulder mobility (so you can avoid making the same mistake)
• 3 of our favourite mobility exercises to get rid of shoulder pain
• And what to do next time you experience shoulder pain (beyond mobility work)

Let’s hop in.

Why is scapular stability important?

When looking at the structure and mechanics of the shoulder, the shoulder blades are an inevitable part of the equation.

The shoulder joint is where the humerus and the glenoid fossa of the scapula meet (the true anatomical name for the shoulder is the glenohumeral joint)

When the humerus moves, so too does the scapula.

The scapula is always there guiding the movement.

Getting the arms overhead 👉 Scapular upward rotation
Bench Pressing 👉 Scapular retraction and downward rotation
Catching a clean 👉 Scapular protraction
Rowing 👉 Scapular retraction

Without movement from the scapula, the shoulders will be completely limited in their performance.

Now, to bring this back to the concept of Olympic weightlifting, we need to make sure that you feel strong AF when you’re throwing (and catching) heavy ass weights overhead…

In order to do this, we need to not only make sure that the scapula is moving well into the necessary positions, but that it’s stable as well.

The efforts behind this might sound a bit boring, but it’s necessary for long-term shoulder mobility, preventing shoulder injuries, and long-term shoulder health in general.

We’ll jump into the 3 shoulder mobility exercises in a second, but first, it’s important to understand where most athletes go wrong with shoulder mobility..

That way, you can avoid spinning your wheels and get your bang for that buck.

Where most athletes go wrong with shoulder mobility

First of all, many athletes really struggle to get into the overhead position appropriately to begin with..

Their overhead mobility is at a point where there is a need for all sorts of compensations just to get the barbell overhead.

While compensations certainly aren’t always a bad thing, they can lead to increased stress placed on the shoulders that the shoulders aren’t prepared for yet. 

Here are 3 of the main things I see Olympic weightlifting athletes doing that could slow down their progress and leave them spinning their wheels:

1. Focusing on just stretching the shoulders
2. Not addressing stability or strength in a systematic way that promotes adaptation.
3. Hardly targeting the scapula and thoracic spine

Let me quickly explain...

Focusing just on stretching the shoulders

Stretching is the act of lengthening a muscle tissue which can reduce the tension that surrounds a joint. As the most mobile joint in our body, the shoulders probably aren’t all that tight to begin with. 

In many cases, if a joint is weak or unstable, our nervous system will create local stability by “tightening” the surrounding muscles to help protect it. 

Aside from temporarily reducing the perception of tightness, if you don’t address the stability of the joint, the nervous system will just keep coming back to do its job.

Not addressing stability or strength in a systematic way that promotes adaptation.

If you’ve been in the gym and following a logical lifting protocol for longer than a month, you have likely experienced some form of progressive overload. 

The human body is an adaptation machine. It seems like we are almost designed to progress in order to prepare for and meet an increased stimulus.

If you’re doing the same weights, reps, sets, rest periods, tempo, etc., week after week, your body has no opportunity to continue to adapt.

This is a catalyst for a mobility plateau.

Mobility IS strength; remember that.

Hardly targeting the scapula and thoracic spine.

As mentioned above, scapular movement is absolutely crucial for the shoulders to accomplish any particular position. 

Without it, the shoulders are limited to a very small range of motion

Now that we know that the scapula is important, how do we make sure the scapula is able to move appropriately?

This is where the thoracic spine comes into play.

In order for the scapula to move, it must glide across the rib cage.

A restricted rib cage that can not move to support the scapula will limit shoulder movement by proxy.

In order to help the ribs move efficiently and allow the scapula to track accordingly, we will want to look at the thoracic spine.

Healthy thoracic movement 👉 Healthy rib movement 👉 Healthy scapular movement 👉 Healthy shoulder movement

It’s all connected, ya know?

Anyways, this information is important so that you can not only throw bandaids on your problems but truly start to solve them.

Let’s move on to the juicy stuff…

Three shoulder mobility exercises

Okay, let’s keep this portion short and sweet. I’ll give you the exercises and briefly explain why they made the cut.

1: Kneeling Scapular CARs

Keeping the scapula moving well is key, but so is learning how to control the deep ranges that it may be required to perform in. 

CARs are a solid technique to help you learn how to move a particular joint without compensating from other areas.

This one will teach you where your scaps are in space, how to move them independently from the spine, and build stability along the way

 2: Primal Shoulder Checks

Working the thoracic spine is a game changer for a lot of issues, especially in the overhead position.

This spicy beast will challenge your thoracic in extension and rotation, all while keeping your scapula stable.

Play around with this one, and make sure to move slowly despite the fact that your brain will be screaming at you to hurry up.

3: Overhead Rotations

This one certainly looks like it’s directly targeting the shoulders, but it’s so much more than that.

With the arm remaining locked out in the overhead position and rotating, the liftoffs will target the often neglected middle and lower traps while simultaneously developing control in overhead shoulder rotation.

These muscles play a large role in scapular function and dynamic stability and can go a seriously long way in helping your overhead position feel strong as hell.

What to do if you experience shoulder pain (beyond mobility work)

Mobility work will always be a powerful approach for reducing pain, improving performance, and lowering your risk of injury.

But what else can you do to make sure you’re able to continue going to the gym and making progress despite the presence of these things?

Here are 3 tips that you can follow:

1. Decrease your range of motion
2. Reduce the stimulus
3. Challenge the joint in alternative patterns

Decrease your range of motion

If there are certain ranges that are causing you pain, you can still continue to perform the movements, just through less ROM. Try limiting your range of motion JUST outside of your pain point to help maintain your joint function while continuing to build through the pattern.

Reduce the stimulus

Try lowering the load, reducing the time under tension, decreasing the volume (sets/reps), and/or increasing the rest periods. This will help you reduce fatigue build up and make sure you’re able to control your movements with more precision.

Challenge the joint in alternative patterns.

If lateral raises hurt, try moving to front raises or reverse flys for a few weeks. In the presence of pain, you can often still train the particular joint,  you may just need to switch it up to avoid the pattern that triggers the discomfort.

Conclusion

Remember, my advice is not to replace physical therapy or a particular rehab protocol. These are simply things that can have a serious impact in the context of avoiding pain and injury, as well as overcoming discomfort.

If you feel as though you’ve had an injury, go see a trusted physical therapist and follow a logical rehab process. 

This article is intended to guide you in the direction of understanding the nuances of what may be influencing your pain and give you tools to help you start to address them.

If you feel like you need more information on this topic, you can access our Pain-Free Shoulder Guide, our blog on Hanging For Shoulder Pain, or schedule a complimentary meeting with our head coach, Bekah. 

She will point you in the right direction and help you find out if the services we offer at Primal Mobility are a good fit for you!