Today’s special edition of Technique Tuesday reviews our recent shoulder physical therapy clinic held at Reverb and led by Dr. Zach Leal of Forged Physical Therapy. You’ll get Dr. Leal’s two most important shoulder exercises for the CrossFitter.
Dr. Leal started with a quick review of shoulder anatomy, the myriad benefits of CrossFit for all ages, and the most commonly observed shoulder issues in CrossFit.
In our modern world, we spend a lot of time “hunching” forward with closed shoulders and upper spine. Meanwhile, common CrossFit movements such as the snatch, the jerk, toes-to-bar, and kipping movements require us to open and extend our shoulders and upper spine.
This commonly reveals a lack of strength / stability / mobility in the overhead positions – and can lead to injury if the athlete doesn’t take a step back, modify/scale, and improve the shoulder limitation over time before pushing to more weight/volume.
At the clinic, our attendees each performed Dr. Leal’s 4 initial assessment tests to measure:
- cervical mobility
- shoulder internal and external rotation
- thoracic spine mobility
- all 3 of the above combined
From these tests, our attendees learned about their individual weak points and compensation patterns with Dr. Leal’s observation and explanation.
Next, we learned Dr. Leal’s two most important shoulder exercises for injury reduction, stability, and mobility improvement.
1. “Cover Girls” – builds rotator cuff strength; improves resilience to shoulder injury
- sit on the ground
- left leg extended straight, right leg w/ knee bent toward ceiling with heel close to butt
- left arm propped behind you for support
- right arm: elbow resting on inside of right knee, bent at 90 degrees
- right hand: hold a 2.5 lb plate (should be very light, some may progress to 5lb plate).
- raise right arm (external rotation) to 45 degrees, then slowly lower back down to the range of motion limit over 5 seconds.
- complete 2-3 sets of 10 reps on each side. Repeat 3-5 times per week – consistency over time is key
2. “Prone Pull-downs” – builds range of motion, stability, and strength
- loop the smallest, lightest band (orange) around a post
- lay face down on the ground so there is some tension on the band when you grab it in an overhead “Y” position with hands wider than shoulder width.
- strive to keep forehead on the ground with neutral spine, arms parallel to floor and retracted up towards ceiling throughout the rep.
- slowly with control, pull down from overhead “Y” position to “W” position with hands in a straight line with your head.
- return to starting “Y” position
- complete 2-3 sets of 10. Repeat 3-5 times per week – consistency over time is key
- for a scaled down version which is easier to get started: loop that band around an overhead bar and perform the same movement from a partially bent over position, maintaining “flat back” neutral spine.
For both of these exercises, the gains are made by consistency, not by doing a heavier weight/band or extra sets/reps on the same day.
Doing your 2-3 sets 3-5 times per week during or before your warm-up at Reverb is the perfect place to start on improving your shoulder stability and range of motion and reducing your risk of shoulder injury!