The Shoulder Dislocate – A Must Read For All Beginners

OVERVIEW

The shoulder joint is a very complex and articulate joint.

Not only can the shoulder joint go through 360 degrees of motion, but it’s
basically only held together by muscle, tendon and ligament connective tissue -
unlike the more robust ball and socket, hinge, saddle and pivot joints. This leaves
the joint vulnerable to instability, with the scapula being the main driver for
shoulder stability.

A lot of the time people blame a certain exercise for being too risky, when it’s
actually a person’s lack of preparation, conditioning or knowledge that got them to
the problem in the first place.

Think of it this way - most exercises that we do today have been performed for
decades, not years. All of the “real” risky and stupid exercises that pop up in
today’s era get flamed on straight away and forgotten. The ones that work, stay.

Always ask yourself “Why am I doing this exercise? How will it help me towards my
goals?" A lot of the time people just want learn party tricks from a video they saw
on social media, which is fair enough - but be realistic to your current physical
preparation before attempting what someone else is doing that has a completely
different work capacity and skill set to you.

When training with weights, in most cases if a weight is too heavy for you, you
won’t be able to pick it up or rack it properly etc. Most people are smart enough
to know when a weight is too heavy and usually (or should I say, hopefully) back
the weight off. But with bodyweight training, it’s easy to get into leveraged
positions that you simply aren’t ready for. This coupled with people having the
impression that just because it’s “bodyweight”, they’ll be fine. Once again, lack
of knowledge.

In the discipline of bodyweight training and conditioning (as well as others),

having an unstable and weak joint or working with progressions you simply aren’t
ready for can make it very easy to come across niggles, pain and annoyances without
the right amount of guidance and preparation. These small injuries can leave you
hindered from quality training for weeks, if not months or more if left unattended.
It’s good to train hard, but training smart is the key to longevity.

When the body sends a pain or discomfort signal, it’s usually because there’s
something going on that shouldn’t be. If we look at it from a shoulder joint
perspective, it can be from misalignment in gliding surfaces, impingement, tight or
immobile muscles, muscle compensation - among other reasons and complications.

It’s only ignorant and negligent to your body to push on through without trying to
fix the problem. Let the ego go, fix the problem – in this day and age there’s lots
of resources out there to play around with. Learn your body, because ultimately
you’re stuck with it. If you break this one, you don’t get another one
(unfortunately)!

In my years of coaching a broad range of people, I haven’t found an exercise that’s

more "bang for your buck" for shoulder health, mobility and strength than the
shoulder dislocate. Not only will it put your shoulder joint through its full range
of motion to aid in gaining/maintaining mobility, but it will also help strengthen
it along the way in all of those small areas and corners you may not otherwise be
addressing. Performing them weighted doubles the benefit, which I’ll go over later
in the article.
A lot of people have strength and mobility in specific ranges of motion, most
commonly from in front of the body to overhead - pushups, handstands, rows, pullups
etc. But, where a high percentage of people lack is from behind the body to
overhead - rear support, back lever, German hangs, full depth dips, muscle up
transitions etc.

This is exactly where this exercise fits in, specifically strengthening and
mobilising that area.

The shoulder dislocate is commonly overlooked in a lot of training programs, but

thankfully the great mods here at /r/bodyweightfitness understand it’s importance
and have included it in the Beginner Routine. It should be performed by anyone that
cares about their shoulder health.

I can guarantee you that your shoulder health and tissue quality will increase from
performing these daily. It's a big call, but I'm more than certain because of the
amount of shoulders I've worked with and seen such great improvements with. They
serve as a great tool for shoulder prehabilitation as well as rehabilitation.

The scapula is the king of straight arm strength and overhead stability. A lot of
people think that when their arms bend in most straight arm movements, that it’s
because of lack of arm strength - when it’s commonly weak or compromised scapula
that cause the arms to bend and take the load. The dislocate works the scapula
through nearly all of its axis motions - elevation, depression, protraction,
retraction, rotation, and some form of tilting.

For those who aren’t acquainted with them yet - the shoulder dislocate is performed
by holding a dowel/stick, resistance band or towel in front of you horizontally,
and effectively moving your hands from in front of your body to behind your back
(in a circular or “dislocating” motion).

You can see a video of someone performing them with both a stick and a resistance
band: http://youtu.be/qL4dw7FizrE

GUIDELINES

It’s preferable if you perform them with a stick, rather than a band or towel.
This is because you can measure your progress as well as get some extra stretching
in the forearms and wrist. The notes I write here will be based on using a
stick/dowel, but if you don't have access to a stick you can still use a resistance
band or towel.

If you are unable to lift the stick above head level, even at the widest grip,
use a thin resistance band instead. This gives the allowance of increased grip
width from the band, and will make it easier to pass through to behind your body.

Perform them every day, as part of your warm up. I’ve found one set of 15 to be
the best. Perform them on your rest days if you lack shoulder mobility. You could
also integrate these with some hanging work to help loosen up the chest and lats.
If you feel tight during your working sets of an exercise, throw some dislocates in
while you are resting.

Start out wide - very wide. You shouldn’t be feeling any joint pain,
discomfort, or hearing any clicking or grinding. But even if you are so wide that
you are almost touching your head with the stick, it's ok - you will get better.
Mobility is a long-term endeavour, and takes patience.

Try to keep a full grip with all fingers during the whole motion. This will
give an aided stretch to your forearm muscles and wrist joint. You may find at the
start it’s hard to hold a full grip when bringing the stick behind the body, and
that’s ok. Try your best.

Keep your arms straight during the whole motion. When you bend your arms, your
scapula won’t be working properly. It’s the body's way of compensating for lack of
mobility, stability or strength. If this happens it’s usually because you’re trying
to work with a width that is too narrow for you.

Keep your ribcage down and squeeze your glutes - think hollow body. This will
ensure that the shoulder joint is getting a sufficient amount of stretch, and
prevent any excess lumbar spine extension. It will also help your body learn the
pattern to hold a hollow body while moving limbs.

Elevate the shoulders when going overhead to give added scapula elevation and
trapezius activation.

Over the course of weeks to months (not training sessions), slowly bring your
grip width in until you reach around 1.5-1.75x your shoulder width. This alone can
be quite humbling and takes some time.

For best results and quickest adaptation, perform them weighted. You do this by
starting off with a 1.25kg/3lb weight plate, and putting the stick through it so
that the weight balances in the middle of the stick. Do not go up in weight until
you reach 1.5-1.75x your shoulder width. Only when you do reach this width, you can
then go up to 2.5kg/5.5lb. Use very small increments. Generally, working up to 10kg
is enough for most of the adult population. Don’t be a cowboy with this, otherwise
you will pay the price.

As a guideline, if you are unable to perform 3-5 pushups (on your feet), then
stick to unweighted dislocates until you build the sufficient strength.

Always perform them slowly. A rep forward and back should take you 5 seconds.
You won’t get the benefits if you speed through the exercise.

These can be performed in reverse (also called an inlocate), by starting the

dislocate with the stick behind you and with the palms facing forward. This will
emphasise the forearms and biceps due to the internal shoulder rotation.

For the advanced users you can also
in a squat to force a neutral spine and
helping you. Even laying prone (on your
to different gravity and angle changes.
emphasises more of a stretch or is more
it into the mix.
try performing them sitting on the floor or
deactivate the lower extremities from
stomach) will force a different effect due
If you find a certain variation that
difficult, then it's probably good to add

Disclaimer regarding previous shoulder injuries: This is the internet, so

giving medical advice isn't going to be accurate without getting a physical
examination. But generally, if you have a tear in your shoulder (heads up to those
who get "real" shoulder dislocations from time to time) or other known problematic
issues that cause pain, then perform these very slowly with an empty stick without
worrying about reducing your grip width or adding weight until you have the all
clear from a physical therapist. If you feel pain, stop. Never ever work through
pain! If you have a small muscle tweak or strain, these will be great for you since
it will get the muscle working and force blood supply to help with repair.

EDIT - Final note: While everyone wants black and white answers, remember that
we're human, and perfection doesn't exist. Nature isn't perfect, there is no two
straight lines. Just strive for excellence. Try different methods, do your best and
do what works for you!

Hope this sheds some light.

Thanks for reading!