Shoulder prehab on a benching / pressing day.

Hail 2 Da Chimp

Hi all,
Just a quick question on shoulder prehab work.
Normally when I'm benching I'll warm up with a few sets of:
5 push ups.
5 scap push ups.

Then while benching I'll add in some dumbbell external rotations, in between each set:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VGI8grVweQ

Usually I'll add in some reverse flies or front / lateral raises or band rotations, if I feel I need to mix things up.

Basically I just wanted to know how other people managed their prehab work. I.e. do you do all your prehab work at the end of your work out?
Do you do it on a totally separate day to your benching / pressing.
Anything else I should be doing?

With regards to stretching, I keep that to my cardio days. So when I'm well warmed up, I'll stretch out the shoulders - I try to avoid stretching them when I have DOM's, again, thoughts on this?

Thanks for the input,
H2DC.

Scuba Ste

I usually do any prehab at the end. At the start of a workout I'll do some scap pushhps, band pull aparts, ytwl, scap pull ups for activation like one set of each.

At the end I do the full prehab stuff of about 3-5 sets.

I always stretch at the end too, I think if you leave it to the next day or so your gonna be too tight already, sometimes I'll stretch on off days too depending on how tight I feel.

That's just the way I do it.

Hail 2 Da Chimp

Scuba Ste wrote: »

I always stretch at the end too, I think if you leave it to the next day or so your gonna be too tight already, sometimes I'll stretch on off days too depending on how tight I feel.

I should mention, I do a light stretch out after any pressing work, although I'm always in a rush home from the gym so probably not as much as I should be doing. I also find it a lot more comfortable doing it after cardio work.

Will Heffernan

Quick answer....scap push ups are great...but...you used the term prehab...are you talking about some specific prior condition...or just general prehab?

Because whether it is general or specific you are only dealing with a specific plane...you need to think a little broader than that.

Hail 2 Da Chimp

Will Heffernan wrote: »

Quick answer....scap push ups are great...but...you used the term prehab...are you talking about some specific prior condition...or just general prehab?

Because whether it is general or specific you are only dealing with a specific plane...you need to think a little broader than that.

Hi Will, I have injured my shoulder in the past, Rotator Cuff to be specific. Seems to be fine now but I do still get discomfort when pressing and benching heavy, or after a tough MMA session. Have been to the physio in the past and completed all my rehab.

I'd like to work on injury prevention and making my shoulders as strong and as flexible as possible, without injuring them in the process, so I'd like to start seeing some gains in my pressing motions, with out any detrimental effects to my shoulders.

Hope that makes sense...

Brian?

Scuba Ste wrote: »

At the start of a workout I'll do some scap pushhps, band pull aparts, ytwl, scap pull ups for activation like one set of each.

I do this every workout. Do the scap push ups/pullups and ytw's as part of my warm up. Then do band pull aparts, band face pulls and band shoulder dislocations in the breaks between squats or deadlift, which are always my first excercise.

Never had any shoulder injuries, just tightness which is getting a lot better thanks to the above.

Will Heffernan

Hail 2 Da Chimp wrote: »

Hi Will, I have injured my shoulder in the past, Rotator Cuff to be specific. Seems to be fine now but I do still get discomfort when pressing and benching heavy, or after a tough MMA session. Have been to the physio in the past and completed all my rehab.

I'd like to work on injury prevention and making my shoulders as strong and as flexible as possible, without injuring them in the process, so I'd like to start seeing some gains in my pressing motions, with out any detrimental effects to my shoulders.

Hope that makes sense...

I know that feeling...suffered a severe shoulder dislocation at the same time that I broke my back and neck so holding everything together is a top priority for me as well.

I think you need to think about doing more work in other planes....wouldn't take you much longer than what you are already doing but would greatly contribute to both the dynamic stability you are looking for when doing MMA and the static control you are looking for when weight training.

Hail 2 Da Chimp

Scuba Ste wrote: »

scap pull ups.

Actually didn't see this when I originally read your post - must give these a try.

briankeating wrote: »

I do this every workout. Do the scap push ups/pullups and ytw's as part of my warm up. Then do band pull aparts, band face pulls and band shoulder dislocations in the breaks between squats or deadlift, which are always my first excercise.

Man that's a lot of prehab work to stick into one workout, but when you describe it like that it shouldn't really add too much time to your workout.

I could probably start working in the YTWL's and band work again though, now that I think about it.

Hail 2 Da Chimp

Will Heffernan wrote: »

I know that feeling...suffered a severe shoulder dislocation at the same time that I broke my back and neck so holding everything together is a top priority for me as well.

Holy sh!t man, you've been through the wars!

Will Heffernan wrote: »

I think you need to think about doing more work in other planes....wouldn't take you much longer than what you are already doing but would greatly contribute to both the dynamic stability you are looking for when doing MMA and the static control you are looking for when weight training.

Could you elaborate on this point a bit? Are you talking about band work or other specific exercises?

Hail 2 Da Chimp

Also, thanks for all the replys guys!

Reyman

Hail 2 Da Chimp wrote: »

Hi all,
Just a quick question on shoulder prehab work.
Normally when I'm benching I'll warm up with a few sets of:
5 push ups.
5 scap push ups.

Then while benching I'll add in some dumbbell external rotations, in between each set:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VGI8grVweQ

Usually I'll add in some reverse flies or front / lateral raises or band rotations, if I feel I need to mix things up.

Basically I just wanted to know how other people managed their prehab work. I.e. do you do all your prehab work at the end of your work out?
Do you do it on a totally separate day to your benching / pressing.
Anything else I should be doing?

With regards to stretching, I keep that to my cardio days. So when I'm well warmed up, I'll stretch out the shoulders - I try to avoid stretching them when I have DOM's, again, thoughts on this?

Thanks for the input,
H2DC.

My understanding is that rotator exercises should be kept separate from heavy pressing. In fact one of the recs. I read suggested said you should avoid heavy shoulder for two days after doing a lot of rotator work. The reasoning is that the rotators are stabilising the shoulder and any post exercise rotator weakness could cause a severe injury when doing heavy pressing

Back and Biceps

I would do them bfore every bench session

Reyman

Back and Biceps wrote: »

I would do them bfore every bench session

Apologies gents I should have provided a reference for my comments on the rotators and pressing. Have a look at Eric Cressey's rotator programme (Word format). I've bolded the section where he says to be careful.

By the way this is quite a good article for anyone who wants bullet proof shoulders