Dane's Favorite Shoulder Saving Movement

Shoulder Strength and Mobility for Injury Prevention

I train a lot of Olympic weightlifters, shot putters/discus throwers, wrestlers and swimmers.  All of these sports HAMMER the shoulders.  We do a significant amount of pressing, a large amount of pulling and of course a plethora of overhead work.  This leads to some serious stress on the upper back and shoulder girdle.  What is my favorite movement to “prehab” this area?

The external rotation!  Lately, I have been seeing a ton of weird machine exercises to target external rotation and to help with shoulder health.  This leaves me completely befuddled.  The seated DB external rotation is easy, cheap and very, very effective.  It is also easy to vary the movement by slowing down the eccentric and altering the rep range.  Contrary to most recommendations, I prefer to keep the rep range a bit lower.  I have found much of the shoulder girdle responds well to higher threshold training, basically using the range of 5-8 reps.  In the video below, you can see me demonstrating a seated external rotation at 2:38.  Use them for 4-6 weeks and your shoulders will be ecstatic!