But it’s about quality, not quantity.

It’s about building control and confidence in your movement abilities – that will allow you to build the most usable and practical strength you can.

Stick this in your earhole!

Listen to the podcast:

Show Notes and Links

Here’s a sample of the good ol’ fashioned fun we covered in Episode 20:

A few of the topics covered:

• Learning how to fall without injury
• How many pull-ups can Ryan do?
• Why watching a tutorial simply can’t teach you how to do a muscle-up
• Is it OK to “cross the streams”? Using rings and parallettes together
• How to build control and confidence
• Failure in practice vs. failure in the real world

Links we discussed:

• Daniel Spencer, GMB trainer
• FitnessFAQs
• Our upcoming GMB seminar

Stay Tuned!

Head on over and give us a review!

Download options:

• Sync via iTunes for free
• Listen in Stitcher (Android users)
• Right-click here for to download

If you dig this, we’d be deeply honored if you hop over to iTunes, subscribe to future episodes, and give GMB Fitness Skills a quick review and rating.

That helps us get new listeners, which gives us more incentive to record new episodes.

The post Podcast #20 – Building Control and Confidence appeared first on GMB Fitness Skills.

Strength is great, but not if you are stiff as a statue. Flexibility is good, but only if you have the strength to move your body gracefully from place to place. There are a lot of qualities to admire in the athletes and performers out there, but the one thing they all share is that they can freaking move!

We’ve gathered experts before to answer other questions. This time, we asked a few of our friends to weigh in on this:

 What is your best technique for getting people to move more right away?

The start of every program is simply to get off the couch, break your sedentary routine, and get moving.

Our friendly experts share their best ways to get you going and on the path to health and wellness.

Any Activity is Better than Nothing

Vic Magary

My best technique for getting people to move more right away is to help them realize that nearly any activity will assist with weight loss, and they should choose an activity that they enjoy.

Most of the clients that I deal with want to lose between 20 – 40 pounds and they often have preconceived notions that there is a particular “way” that they must exercise to lose weight.

They might think that they need to be gasping for breath in a puddle of sweat at the end of each workout, and that turns them off. Or maybe they think that they must go to a gym to exercise and either the inconvenience or their insecurities turn them off.

When I make it clear to them that any physical activity will be an improvement over no activity, and the most important factor when starting their exercise regimen is to select an activity that they actually look forward to each day, it’s almost like I’m giving them permission to move again.

Go for a walk. Wrestle with your dog. Play hopscotch with your kids.

When first starting out, compliance with moving daily is more important than any particular exercise modality. And the best way to ensure compliance is to select exercise activities that are fun and enjoyable.

Vic Magary started helping people lose weight and get fit in 2001 after he was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army Infantry. His approach to diet and exercise is to keep things as simple as possible. Lift heavy things. Engage in burst activities that crank your heart rate. Eat like our hunter-gatherer ancestors as much as possible. Sleep. Play. Smile. Laugh.

Have a Movement Snack

Frank Forencich, Exuberant Animal

Maybe you’ve been off your game for awhile. The outrageous demands of modern living have taken the edge off your physical vitality and left you in a state of sub-optimal health. Or maybe you’re just looking for some new ways to extend your movement skills to the next level.

In any case, one good way to get some more exuberance into your body is to start playing with what I call “movement snacks,” a simple collection of elegant, functional movements that you can do anywhere.

Drawn from martial art training, dance and play, these moves are based on simple shapes with thousands of possible variations: most are based on simple circles, spirals and figure 8’s. This movement sequence will enhance your vitality, pump fluid through your body, challenge your stability in all three planes of movement and help you integrate your core, hips and shoulders.

It’s a great way to start a movement program or advance your training to the next level.

The first movement is called “standing arm swings.” It’s just like it sounds, but more exuberant. Simply stand in one place and start swinging your arms, smoothly and easily, in an exaggeration of normal walking. As you swing, keep relaxing and pay attention to the sensations throughout your torso and in particular, your back and shoulders. As you warm to the movement, increase the amplitude of the swings and start to integrate some rhythm through your legs and hips. Your body will begin to feel like a spring.

Most importantly, feel for a sense of whole-body integration as your hips talk to shoulders, legs talk to torso and so on.

Continue the arm swings now with variations in stance: split stances, lunge positions, squats, one foot, walking. Angle your arm swings on the diagonals to get a complete multi-plane experience. Feel your core as it drives the movement and acts as a bridge between upper and lower body. Stay with the arm swings as long as you like, then move on to the next moves in the sequence, all with a similar rhythmic and exuberant feel.

As you’ll discover, the great thing about these movement snacks is that they provide a powerful antidote to the body-crushing effects of sustained computer use. They can also serve as a warmup for other kinds of activity and might even open up some new sensation and a chance to get to know your body better.

No matter your current state of physicality, this is a good place to begin.

Frank Forencich is an internationally-recognized leader in health education and performance training. He earned his B.A. at Stanford University in human biology and neuroscience and has over 30 years teaching experience in performance and health education. Frank is the author of Exuberant Animal, Change Your Body, Change the World and Stresscraft: A Whole-Life Approach to Health and Performance. Coming summer 2013: Beautiful Practice.

Focus on Small, Easy Wins

Daniel Spencer, GMB Trainer

Get your family involved. If you have kids, go outside and play with them!

Get on the ground and crawl with them. Go to a park and follow them around the playground. Play tag with them. That will get you moving.

I have heard the phrase, “A family that plays together is a family that stays together.”

If you have a dog, then make sure to take them for walks or hikes daily. They need exercise just like you. Moving together will build a stronger bond between your dog and you. Take your dog to the park and try and throw the ball or frisbee with them. Try and beat them to the ball or the frisbee.

One thing that I like to do is sit on the floor when I eat dinner or read a book. It puts your body in positions that are hard to achieve when sitting in a chair or on a couch. Once you are on the floor the possibilities to stretch and move are more likely to happen.

This isn’t going to sound like fun, but spring is in the air and with that there is plenty of yard work that needs to be done. Get out there and mow the lawn or pull the weeds. It needs to happen and rather than pay for someone else to do it, do it yourself and you will be squatting, pulling, bending carrying, lifting. Well all sorts of good movement opportunities are just waiting for you, outside.

Ask yourself, What have you always wanted to do?

Maybe its Dancing, or Martial Arts, find something that interests you and go out learn how to do it. Take a class be in the company of other like minded people.

These are just some simple techniques that you can do to be more active and get out there and move.

The best advice I can give you is find something you enjoy. The more you enjoy something the more you are going to want to do it. The worst thing you can do is force yourself to do something you don’t enjoy like running on a treadmill.

Daniel Spencer is a GMB Trainer certified in teaching GMB’s Level 1 programs. His main focus is strength training using gymnastic skills. He teaches skills on the rings, parallettes and on the floor providing a solid foundation across strength, mobility, and coordination platforms. This gives you the freedom to move your body when and however you want with strength and control.

Daniel is very passionate about GMB training and enjoys sharing his ideas and concepts of movement with others. 

Move Like Your Life Depends on It

Vic Verdier, MovNat

The easiest way is to shoot a shotgun just above their head. Their crawling techniques will immediately improve…

Vic Verdier is a MovNat master instructor (and the MovNat Head Instructor in Thailand). He has a whole list of credentials that provide evidence of his bad-assery – he previously taught combat soldiers things like skydiving and explosives management, and he’s also a certified coach for a number of organizations (i.e. Crossfit, IKFF, USA Weightlifting) and a certified nutritionist.

He likes old-fashioned 4-wheel drives, rock climbing, and scuba diving, and doesn’t like tennis or Steven Seagal.

Get Your Rhythm On

Bobby Rudl

Put on some great music!

Yes, that is right, good music will get even the most stubborn people moving!

You would think since I love to train and move like an animal I would say, go for a walk or crawl on the floor with your dog or kids, which is a great choice, but I actually think the best way to get ANYBODY moving is to play good music and start dancing!

Movement, to me, is about playing and fun and having a good time! If we can do all that while doing something as simple and unrestricted as dancing, why not?

Good music is a pretty open ended term so different people may like different music choices but I am sure that anyone can find something they like enough to start to wiggle and shake to!

Another benefit is that dancing has very few rules and allows us to LET GO and JUST BE getting lost in the moment and the movement without thinking too much about what we are doing or how funny we might look.

Dancing and shaking will get the body moving in new and different ways than conventional forms of exercise, is low impact on the joints and tissues, and can be done even while sitting in a chair or from any position!

I personally spend at least a few minutes if not much more time dancing around the house while listening to music in the morning! It is a great way to start moving, get in more movement per day, have fun, and explore the body!

I hope you enjoy adding a little dancing to your day if you aren’t doing so already!!

Just move!

Bobby Rudl is a movement aficionado, loving all forms of the art of movement and self expression. When he isn’t balancing on his hands he is probably reading something related to the human body or health. Bobby is a certified personal trainer and massage therapist living in the Sacramento, CA area who enjoys spreading his passions of movement, strength, health, and balanced sustainable living.

Build the Right Habits

James Clear

My personal opinion is that I try to focus on building one new habit at a time. So rather than trying to change everything, I just try to change one thing and then once I get that to a level where I’m confident that I’m going to stick to it, then I can try to add something new to the mix.

So there are the two different ways to think about it.

I think that regardless of how you go about it, the most important thing is not getting dead-set on any particular number but just finding something that works well for your particular life and your circumstance and that you’re comfortable with.

Another way to think about it and something that has been critical for my success and I think this applies to pretty much everyone is that there’s this idea called a keystone habit and a keystone habit is one good behavior or the type of thing that you do each day that just sort of naturally pulls everything else online.

For me, this is fitness and working out.

If I work out or train during a particular day, then I automatically want to eat better. It’s weird. It’s like I can maybe get away with eating worse because I exercise but I naturally want to eat better because I already exercised and so I want to take care of my body more and give myself good nutrition.

I sleep better and so as a result, I’m more productive and more energized when I wake up in the morning and I concentrate better. So all of these things, I didn’t focus on building a habit for concentration and for sleep and for diet. All I did was let’s focus on the one keystone habit and make sure I get my training in today and I know the rest of the stuff will kind of fall in line.

So if you can figure out where that cascading effect comes from for you, then that can be a very powerful way to make a lot of change without actually having to worry about every little detail.

[This is an excerpt from our recent podcast with James]

James Clear is on a mission to make the world well.

He’s an entrepreneur, writer, and travel photographer in 18 countries and counting. He travels the world in search of the best ways to improve our health, our happiness, and our work. He uses a delightful blend of scientific research, his own experiments, and easy–to–understand writing.

Attack Challenges at the Source

If you want to get yourself moving more, it’s worthwhile to look at why you’re not moving as much as you’d like.

You probably have a list of challenges that looks something like this:

• Lack of time
• Bad habits
• No place to workout
• Old injuries
• Weak or stiff muscles

And you’ve probably also struggled with the following at some point:

• Uncertainty which exercises or movements to practice
• Difficulty prioritizing multiple long-term goals

Addressing each of those problems at their sources is one of the fastest ways to start seeing tangible progress, which is why we created our Movement Multivitamin course with daily reminders, bite-sized practice sessions, social support, and personalized coaching. It completely removes the guesswork from getting started with a daily movement habit.

Whether you take one of our courses or not, you need to find some way of nipping your roadblocks in the bud.

How do you get your ass moving?

You’ve heard from our panel of master trainers about their thoughts on getting people moving. Now it’s your turn:

• What’s your best way to get yourself going?
• What’s your biggest challenge?

Tell us about it by leaving a quick comment below.

The post Get Moving: Simple Hacks from 5 Experts (and some ideas from the GMB Team…) appeared first on GMB Fitness Skills.

Hold on, just a little bit tighter now, baby….

…Easier said than done, if this serenade is applied to the gymnastic rings.

Yes, rings can be tough on the hands – but that’s not what this post is about.

It’s about showing you the three fundamental grips for working with the rings. You’ll learn what each of these grips looks like, how to hold them properly, and which positions and exercises they are best used for.

There are a lot of factors that contribute to your success or failure with the rings – core strength, upper body strength, lower body strength (okay, you get the point – you have to be wicked strong to get really good at the rings).

One factor that gets overlooked all too often, though, is how you hold the rings.

It probably sounds trivial, right? Who the hell cares what position your hands are in, as long as you can hold yourself up and maintain some semblance of stability?

Believe it or not, it makes a much bigger difference than you’d think.

There are three fundamental grips you should be aware of and comfortable with as you entrench yourself in rings practice. They are:

• Neutral grip (below the rings)
• False grip
• Above the rings grip

In this video, Ryan will take you through each of these grips to show you how to master them. After watching the video, scroll down for a breakdown of each grip, and a better understanding of why this is important.

The 3 Fundamental Ring Grips

It may seem like a small detail in the grand scheme of things, but the way you grip the rings does make a difference in your practice.

It all comes down to being able to perform the movements properly, and something as simple as the angle of your wrist can have a huge impact on your form. If the angle of the wrist is off, over time you could develop wrist damage, poor rings performance, and even injuries from falling off the rings.

The three most important grips are as follows:

Neutral Grip – Below the Rings

The neutral grip is best for pulling movements, and can be implemented either with the rings facing each other, or with the rings side-by-side, facing outward. Here are some tips for the neutral grip:

• In this position, most of the pressure should be placed on the upper portion of your palms, right below your first knuckles.
• Wrap your fingers around the rings, with your thumb wrapped around the rings as well.
• Get below the rings and, while placing pressure on the rings with your hands in this position, you can perform pulling movements.
• Make sure to keep your fingers and thumbs in the correct position, and not to flex the wrist.

False Grip

The false grip is used for moves like the muscle up. Here are some pointers for proper positioning with the false grip:

• Place the rings further into your palms than you did with the neutral grip – around mid-palm level. 
• Wrap your fingers around the rings and wrap your thumbs around your knuckles.
• Push down into the rings, creating some pressure.
• Your wrists should be bent, but not so far that your wrist is inside the rings.
• When performing the muscle up in particular, make sure to maintain the false grip, with the rings turned out, throughout the movement – from below the rings, all the way to the above the rings position.

Above the Rings Grip

This grip is used for holds like the top position hold. Here are some key points to keep in mind:

• Keeping your wrists as straight as possible, push down into the rings to lift your body.
• Do not squeeze the rings as hard as you can – it’s not necessary.
• Hold your arms by your sides, making sure not to bend your wrists to the inside or the outside of the rings.

A great example of why the grip you use makes a difference is the top position hold. If you bend your wrists too much, there will be too much pressure placed on the wrist.

This will make it impossible to push down into the rings as much as you should.

Over time, this will lead to wrist pain.

Practice Makes Perfect

All of these grips, especially the false grip, take time to master. The most important thing is that you keep practicing and working on your grips, so that you can have the most productive and safe rings practice.

The post Grip it, Grip it Real Good: 3 Ways to Grip the Gymnastic Rings appeared first on GMB Fitness Skills.

Yet the majority of us will experience some kind of shoulder pain during our lives, whether it be related to training, stress, or accident. Let’s look at some interventions that can help.

Using this Article to Fix Your Shoulder Pain

I like to joke about “shotgun” therapy.

You essentially throw everything at a patient and hope something sticks. It often works, but then you have no idea what single intervention (or combination thereof) worked, or didn’t work. It’s a total crapshoot, and I for one don’t like gambling on my patients’ wellbeing.

That’s why I don’t recommend trying all of these suggestions at once. I’m providing you with options and allowing you to use your instinctive feelings of “This feels right!”

That’s the very best I can do over the internets.

Everybody Feels Pain Differently, Mmmkay?

Pain is a very complex subject. One man’s pain is another woman’s discomfort.

Nobody can. We all experience pain differently.

The latest pain science reveals that there can be little correlation between tissue damage and the perceived pain. You can take two MRI scans of different people showing obvious structural problems, and one will report no pain while the other can barely move without wincing.

Pain is a construct that is emergent, complex, and without simple solutions.

This is quite clearly seen by the millions of people dealing with a variety of back, neck, and extremity pain, some resolving quickly and some turning into years of problems despite many types of treatment.

(This article is a great summary of the current pain science. Though it may be a bit too technical for the lay reader, the list at the end of the article is a great synopsis of useful strategies for changing perception of pain through movement.)

Magic bullets do work sometimes, but they aren’t a high percentage bet. The miracle treatments that do occur involve a peculiar combination of good timing, patient/practitioner rapport, the particular condition, and a bit of luck.

The reality of pain science requires an approach that is flexible and adaptable to your individual situation and may require all the avenues available to break through the problem.

So how do we know if what we are doing is going to affect our pain and function?

You Just Have To Give Things A Try

The best science doesn’t always look very science-y.

Yes, there is available research with “evidence-based” therapy and training that is quite good, but honestly and practically you won’t know until you try.

It doesn’t seem very science-y but it is actually the essence of science.

Tips to remember:

• Perform an intervention over a reasonable amount of time and then measure the results – that’s about as scientific as it gets. Give these strategies a try for 1 month, then reassess.
• I’ve broken the the following strategies into categories for both ease of understanding and integration into your current training.
• You’ll soon see that certain exercises match well together. Also, the category of motor control/patterning is very important and if you can do the movements without pain, you should include these into your program as soon as possible.

Improving your skill in these exercises and changing your habits, especially those generating pain, are the key to long lasting change.

Exercises to Address Your Shoulder Pain

There are three major issues that can cause shoulder pain – issues with flexibility, strength, and/or motor control. Below, you’ll find videos with exercises to help you address each of these issues.

Exercises for Improving Shoulder Flexibility

The following video offers some tips and tactics for improving your shoulder flexibility and motion.

The goal isn’t necessarily to stretch a particular muscle, but to open your shoulders into new positions that allow a freer movement pattern. These improved motions can decrease stress to irritated tissues and also make your chosen recreational activities/exercise smoother and easier to perform.

With each of these exercises, don’t be afraid to play with different angles and different lines of force – sometimes a slight variation of the basic movement can allow you to access different regions of that range of motion.

In general I use a dynamic contraction – in and out of the end range of the stretch for a few repetitions (5 to 12) – then hold for a period of time (30 seconds to a minute), as shown in our Focused Flexibility program. Don’t be afraid to experiment with repetitions and hold times, some days will be better than others, and some days you’ll find yourself doing the bare minimum.

The most important thing in flexibility training is consistency. Do a bit everyday and you’ll get results.

1. Shoulder openers on bench

• Both arms or one at a time
• Side -to-side motion at end range
• Scapular flaring at end range
• Improves shoulder flexion and upper thoracic back bending

2. Shoulder L-stretch

• Shift to the same side arm for a light joint traction
• Roll forward and back to find the specific area of greater tightness
• Works on deltoid and posterior joint capsule

3. Scaption angle chest stretch

• Hand elevated on bench or on floor
• Both hands or one at a time
• Angled for safe and deeper stretching of chest and anterior shoulder

4. Elbows on bench

• Improves upper thoracic back bending with less strain on shoulders
• Play with angles of shifting side to side and also rotation.

5. Foam Roll

• For a more specific spinal extension force
• Play with side bending and breathing patterns
• End with back muscle contraction/activation

Strength Exercises for Reducing Shoulder Pain

This video outlines a variety of strengthening options that you are likely not including in your current training program. Targeting the muscles of the shoulder blade and rotator cuff, these are great movements to improve the stability of the shoulder girdle.

These exercises are best done either at the end of your current routine, two to three times a week, or as its own dedicated training session.

1. Prone scapula series

• Emphasizing shoulder blade retraction (pinching together) and depression (pulling down towards the hips)
• Performed with shoulder externally rotated (thumb rotating outwards) to decrease impingement and to activate the rotator cuff
• Best done in higher repetitions range (12 to 20 reps)
• Play with static holds along with dynamic motion.

2. Side-lying external rotation

• Lying on side with elbow propped up to create space between arm and your torso
• This improves blood flow to the shoulder and improves the angle of force
• Best done in moderate repetitions range (8 to 12 reps)
• Play with static holds along with dynamic motion

3. Scapular motion with weight bearing through the arms

• In a variety of positions, training scapular elevation and depression in both protracted (shoulders pulled forward) and retracted (shoulder blades pinched together) positions
• Trains scapular muscles and also the rotator cuff, particularly the more vertical the pressure, such as in the inverted “shrugs”
• Shift weight side to side while maintaining shoulder elevation or depression
• Play with static holds along with dynamic motion
• Best done in higher repetitions range (12 to 20 reps)

Shoulder Motor Control Exercises

The video demonstrates a key part to improving shoulder function – the introduction of new movement patterns with stress and force from different angles, and with challenge to coordination and spatial awareness.

The crucial word here is “play”. Play with movement variations, angles of pressure, and make each repetition slightly different than the last. Feel free to add these moves whenever you can, either as a warmup for your current routine, or as a cooldown, or even when you have a spare few minutes of time.

Scapular motions in straight arm positions

• The scapula should move freely through countless angles of motion
• Perform in a variety of straight arm positions – On all fours, on p-bars (or other elevated equipment), “crab” and “bear” positions, and upside down
• Don’t count repetitions, don’t push past fatigue, take your time and play with it using a concentrated and mindful attitude

Play! Have fun! It’s okay, you’re allowed.

Choosing the Right Exercises for Your Needs

The broad categories of shoulder strength and flexibility encompass a variety of exercises and movements – much more than we can show in one article.

The exercises presented above will address common issues for most people, and are especially useful for those who participate in movement disciplines and activities like those we teach here at GMB. The best approach is to assess your particular needs and choose the exercises that best fit your situation.

In general, look at how symmetrical your strength and flexibility are between both shoulders. Is one a bit different than the other?

If so, that’s a great starting point and measurement for adding on specific shoulder exercises.

Decide Based on Your Goals…

If you are training for a sport or have physical goals in your exercise regimen, you are probably already aware of what you need to do to improve your performance.

Being “as strong and flexible as possible” is a great goal, but it’s not a useful training focus.

Instead, you should have specific targets, especially when you have issues such as shoulder pain and stiffness. As we keep harping here at GMB, goals are important tools for your training. Goals give you direction and a sense of purpose, when you otherwise may feel like you are just floating along.

Floating isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s not the fastest way to reach a goal either.

…But Don’t Neglect Novelty and Exploration

In the case of Motor Control, the sense of free-form play is the right attitude.

Consistency is important, but if a training rut is causing you pain, don’t be afraid to change things up.

Novel movements break up your normal routine and wake up your mind and body. Physical habits and holding patterns creep up on you slowly and settle in without you being aware.

New movements just for the sake of doing them give you benefits far beyond those of the actual physical effort. Every way of getting out of the doldrums and plateaus of training is a precious commodity.

Especially when it concerns chronic pain.

There can indeed be a habit of pain - you can be so accustomed to pain and dysfunction that it gets “sticky.” We tend move in the same ways day after day especially in our exercise training.

Being stuck in these same movement patterns is a big player in continuing pain complaints despite different treatments. In the pain science article above, the emphasis is on variety and altering movement as much as possible to break free of patterns and the pain cycle. And the last tip “Ad lib and have fun” could have been taken out of the first page of the GMB playbook!

Don’t neglect the importance of improvising and playing with movement. It’s more than just fun, it’s also a key to better health and fitness with less pain and dysfunction.

Creating Your Own Shoulder Recovery Routine

Take some time to examine your particular needs and play with adding a few of these techniques to your training.

• For the flexibility exercises, choose a couple of variations for the shoulder opening and see how it affects your condition over a couple of weeks.
• And the same for the strength exercises – pick two moves that seem to be the weakest for you, and incorporate them into your regimen and re-assess in a month.
• For the motor control exercises, pick a couple that look the most fun to do and sprinkle them in to your sessions and daily activities, you’ll be glad you did.

image source + another + one more

The post This is How to Fix it: Understanding Causes and Solutions for Shoulder Pain, Part 2 appeared first on GMB Fitness Skills.

Besides simply keeping your arms attached to your body, the shoulders do a lot of work, so keeping them healthy is definitely in your best interest. This two-part series is going to explain how the shoulder works and what to do when it’s not working the way it should.

How the Shoulder Works

When most people speak about the “shoulder joint,” they are likely referring to the ball and socket joint formed by the humerus (the upper arm) and the scapula (the shoulder blade).

It’s a shallow socket, the glenoid fossa, which allows for a much greater range of motion at various angles than the deeper socket of the hip.

Another joint is formed at the connection between the clavicle (collarbone) and the acromion process of the scapula. This “A-C” joint is what is injured when someone has “separated” their shoulder. You can actually see a gap or “step off” at that junction point in more severe separations.

In addition to these joints, there is the connection between the scapula and the ribs, the so-called scapulothoracic joint.

Unlike most joints that are attached by ligaments, the scapulothoracic joint is controlled and limited solely by muscle attachments.

So with these three joint connections, along with the many muscles strapped around the area, the shoulder is a complicated structure that keeps many health care professionals in steady business.

Our purpose in this article isn’t to present all of the finer details of the anatomy of the shoulder, but to give a broad understanding of what’s happening in the area. This general understanding can help to prevent and/or assist in the various shoulder injuries that can happen to us.

What Can Go Wrong?

The preceding brief description of the shoulder girdle shows just how complex and overwhelming this area of the body can be, and all the problems and issues that can occur with even just one structure not doing its job.

Virtually all of our upper body muscles converge with the shoulder in some way and their interrelationship is key for optimal shoulder health and performance.

Though the causes and solutions to shoulder problems are certainly complex, especially when considering the contributions of the spine and even hips and lower body, it basically boils down to poorly coordinated movement at the shoulder.

As I outlined in a previous article the particular causes of injuries can range from the obvious (trauma from a fall) to the more intricate (nerve irritation decreasing muscle strength, leading to improper joint positioning). Whether it is specific muscle weakness, or flexibility problems (both too much and too little) at muscles, ligaments, and within the joint itself, these all lead to impaired movement patterns.

And these poor movement patterns can cause repetitive damage to the tissues in your shoulder even from simply using it in normal everyday activities. This is why shoulder pain is so common in both professional and recreational athletes.

The Joints of the Shoulder

Because the shoulder girdle is so complex, some basic knowledge of how joints work will help you understand the recommendations that follow.

On the simplest level, any joint is the connection between two bones and determines the axis upon which those bones can move. The physical connection between joints are ligaments, which prevent abnormal motion and protect the joint from forces that would pull it apart.

The most movable joints, the ones we are most concerned about in our physical activities, are surrounded by a capsule comprised of thick outer tissue and a thinner inner tissue. Within this capsule is fluid, cartilage, and other tissue, all of which protect, nourish, and assist in shock absorption and free movement – the most important qualities we want in our joints.

Since the joints are what allow us to move, they are good reference points to describe the shoulder girdle and its components that can cause pain, stiffness, and other issues.

To simplify and provide the most amount of information with the least amount of headache, we’ll focus on three major joints of the shoulder:

• Glenohumeral
• Acromioclavicular
• Scapulothoracic

Within and surrounding these structures are the various soft tissues that make the shoulder both strong and mobile.

The Glenohumeral (G-H) Joint

The glenohumeral (G-H) joint is responsible for most of the range of motion of our arm through space, so even relatively minor stiffness in this joint can affect our activities quite a bit. As previously mentioned, this is a relatively shallow joint, and although it allows for a greater range of motion, it also makes the shoulder less stable and more vulnerable to traumatic forces.

The G-H ligaments (superior, middle, and inferior), along with the joint capsule, work to keep the ball in the socket. When someone dislocates their shoulder, these are the structures that are damaged.

Because of the variety of soft tissues within the G-H joint, lack of use often causes stiffness due to adhesions between the many folds and sliding points. Structures effectively get “stuck” together like plastic wrap and restrict your motion. Use it or lose it applies well to the shoulder.

The big muscles in the upper body all converge at this joint to move our arms (or our body through our arms).

The pectorals pull the arms forward and across the body, while the latissimus pulls the arms down and behind the body, and the deltoids and traps raise your shoulder girdle and arm upward.

These are powerful muscle groups that work hard in all the lifting, carrying, pushing, and pulling tasks we set out to do.

The smaller muscles at the G-H joint that make up the “rotator cuff” assist in maintaining proper position of the humerus within the joint.

The individual muscles have specific motions: Supraspinatus (beginning of shoulder abduction), Infraspinatus (external rotation), subscapularis (internal rotation), and teres minor (external rotation and adduction), but their main job is to hold the humeral head in position while the bigger surrounding muscles raise the arm up and overhead.

Other important soft tissues at this joint are the bursa.

The bursa are fluid-filled sacs that decrease friction and provide padding between bone and other structures for protection and freer movement. They can be irritated through trauma (such as a fall or being hit), or from repetitive stress and inflammation and swelling here can cause motion limitation and pain in the area.

The Acromioclavicular (A-C) Joint

The acromioclavicular (A-C) joint does not allow as much movement as the G-H joint, but the movement it does allow is important for the last degrees of motion for reaching overhead.

It also serves as a rotation point to assist the shoulder blade in moving correctly, so that we can reach across in front of our body and back behind us. The A-C joint is also one of the last joints to mature and one of the first to experience degenerative changes.

Apparently there’s only a small window of “optimal” health for our A-C joint!

Just as in the description of the G-H joint, daily exercise of working your shoulder through its full range of motion and flexibility does much for minimizing problems in this area.

The deltoid and trapezius muscles strap over the joints indirectly, and provide a dynamic support, but the main protection from trauma are the ligaments (acromioclavicular and coracoacromial).

These ligaments attach the collarbone to the shoulder blade, and from points from one part of the scapula to the other. They support the joint to provide a stable pivot point for shoulder blade motion, and also help to form the “roof” above the rotator cuff and humeral head.

The Scapulothoracic Joint

Full shoulder motion in all directions can only be accomplished with a freely moving shoulder blade along the ribcage.

This motion is dependent upon the muscles attached at the scapula to the ribs and spine. And there are quite a few muscles – the trapezius, pec minor, all the rotator cuff muscles, rhomboids and deltoids – that have attachments at the scapula. As such all these muscles are affected and can impact shoulder blade mobility and support.

The shoulder blade is essentially free-floating with no ligamentous attachments to the spine or arm, so the various muscles and fascial attachments provide both movement and stability.

This is an incredibly important area for all upper body work in bodyweight style and calisthenic training. The scapula needs to be strong and mobile in all directions and combinations of directions (forward and back in both elevated and depressed positions), to both protect the shoulder and transfer power correctly from the trunk to our extremities, and vice versa.

Unfortunately, because of our decreasingly active daily lives and the ubiquity of desk and computer work, we rarely move our scapulae in all the varieties of motion they are meant to do, and that we need for peak shoulder health.

And even in most gym and sport exercise, we often limit ourselves to repetitive common patterns rather than all the available motion. This is why the fundamental “shoulder opening” gymnastic and handbalancing exercises can be surprisingly difficult and hugely beneficial additions to our training.

The Most Common Problems Facing the Everyday Athlete

Now that we’ve described the basics of the shoulder girdle, it’s easier to understand the two most common causes of shoulder pain.

• Impingement - Repetitive irritation of structures under the acromial “roof” and the head of the humerus
• Tendonitis - Literally inflammation of the tendon. If symptoms don’t subside with rest (~2 weeks), this indicates a continued stress on the tissue is continuing the inflammatory response.

There are a variety of causes of the impingement syndrome from muscle strength and flexibility imbalances, capsular tightness, neurological effects and so on, but the global end result is the irritation of tendons, bursa and other tissue causing inflammation and pain.

The inflammation and swelling that can occur is a critical problem because there is not a lot of open space in this region, and the expansion of tissue from swelling can further irritate the issue. It becomes a vicious cycle, which is why this syndrome is so common.

Tendonitis should actually be easily taken care of, with adequate rest and staying away from the painful motion, the inflammation should run its course and heal within two weeks.

But, just as with impingements, there can be several reasons for continued irritation, and this condition lingers and can progress to more damage to the tissue (tendonosis). It’s essential to address the root causes if you want to resolve the condition permanently.

Preventing the Vicious Cycle of Injury

This shoulder anatomy primer is meant as a basic introduction to the various structures at the shoulder girdle.

The joints, muscles, ligaments, and other tissues all combine to create strength and mobility for all of our daily and recreational activities. When there is a disruption in this coordination, pain and dysfunction follow.

Poor motor patterns in the torso and upper body can nudge nagging injuries into a vicious cycle by preventing them from progressing through the healing stages.

We’ll look at fixing that in Part 2.

In Part 2 of this article, we’ll discuss the various interventions that we can apply to get ourselves out of the pain cycle and back into free and balanced movement.

Images: webmd, wheelchairnet

The post This is Why It Hurts: Understanding Causes and Solutions for Shoulder Pain, Part 1 appeared first on GMB Fitness Skills.