Hey all!! So I am constantly trying to find new exercises to do for my pre-habilitation work… and there are TONS of T-Nation articles devoted to this type of work. However, reviewing all of these articles before each pre-hab workout is not very conducive to a busy schedule… so I went through the articles and organized the exercises and thought I would share my list with you!
****** Please NOTE: Many of these warm-ups, exercises and stretches will be the same or very similar between the different joints. This is because as many of you know, when one joint of the body is weak, tight, misaligned, etc… it often affects many of your other joints as your body naturally compensates for it’s problem areas… Creating further problems!
Therefore, the problem with your ankle may actually start in your glute or even your shoulder! Also, there will be some exercises that you will have to look up yourself as they can’t be explained here in a concise manner. Just use the Search function on the T-Nation site. Once you know what each exercise is, you will just be able to refer to this list and quickly plan your workout. Enjoy!
SHOULDERS:
Warm Up:
- DC Broomstick Exercise (Holding a broomstick and keeping arms completely straight, raise your arms over head and bring the broomstick behind your back, still keeping arms straight. Then raise it back over your head and bring it in front of your body again. That is 1 rep. As you get more flexible, move your hands in closer together, but ALWAYS keep your arms straight. Shoot for 20-50 reps)
- Applying Blue Heat lotion from Elite FTS to your shoulder when warming up
Exercises:
-Scapular Pushup (2-3 sets of 15-20 each week)
- Supine One Arm Dumbbell Protraction (2-3 sets of 15-20 each week)
- Scapular Wall Slides
- Behind the Neck Band Pulldowns (Band wall slides)
- External Rotations (cable, band, DB, weight plate)
- STRICT Seated Cable Row
- Lateral Raises with arms 30’ forward and thumbs pointing down
- Taking a BREAK from squatting and pressing with barbells and instead do Overhead Pressing and Bench Pressing with Dumbbells and a neutral grip (Palm-in) and squat using a cambered bar, safety bar, etc or do front squats. Do this for a couple weeks every couple of months.
- Also take a break from full range of motion pressing. Try floor press, pin press, board press, or overhead rack lockouts.
- Prone Lying Internal Rotations
- Unilateral Movements (1 arm OH press, 1 arm DB Press, Alternating DB Press, etc)
- Deceleration or “Catch” drills
- Isometric Elevated Push-up Holds (exactly what they sound like)
- High Rep Pushups and Scap Pushups on unstable surfaces (swiss ball, dyna-disc, Bosu Ball, etc)
Stretches:
- Regular ART, rolfing, deep-tissue massage, foam rolling, etc
- Thoracic Extensions on the foam roller
- Shoulder Traction with bands (or a partner pulling on the arm)
- Doorway Stretches for Pecs