Ryan Butler demonstrates three exercises to stabilize your shoulders and prevent pain: a kettlebell carry with scapular retraction, a kettlebell pull-through from a bear crawl, and a banded three-way floor tap. Mobility alone won't fix shoulder problems; you need to strengthen the muscles around the joint.
You got some shoulder pain, maybe some clicking right there in your shoulder when you do some windmills, or maybe you can't even get your arm past right there. Well, there's probably some sort of structural issue going on in your shoulder that's preventing you from really gaining the whole range of motion. But once we fix that issue, you can't just steal that range of motion and think you're good. We've got to stabilize your shoulder joint. We got to stabilize all the muscles around your shoulder and make them stronger. That way you help prevent any injuries once you are fixed. So today, guys, I'm going to take you through a couple exercises to bulletproof your shoulder and make sure you stay out of pain. If you're not currently at a gym, that is okay. Save this video for later, share it with your friends, share it with your family, and I promise you guys, if It's simple, easy. You can probably do it at home as well, but if not, save it for later. Get ready to get going. So what we're going to start with is a kettlebell carry. This is a fairly difficult exercise, but you need to start very light. So go ahead, grab like a 5-pound kettlebell, something doable. All right, what you want to do is get yourself in a good, nice straight posture position. All right, get your core tight, abs, back, obliques, everything ready to fire, and you're going to swing the kettlebell up into a 90-degree position. So notice right here, just creating the 90 degrees. The kettlebell is upside down, the heavy part is on top. That heavy part on top creates an unstable surface that kind of wiggles, so you've got to really keep this part nice and tight. Now when it's also up, make sure your shoulder isn't rolled forward, you're in a nice posture position, shoulder blade back. So go ahead, follow along guys. We're going to take 10 steps and let's get after it. Ready? Go ahead, get the kettlebell up. That core is nice and tight. I want to take nice controlled steps. There's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. There we go. Go ahead, switch arms and going back the other direction. Get that arm up. Remember, we're going to get our abs tight. If you feel like you're arching your back right here, The weight might be a little too heavy. Lower the weight a little bit, and you want to make sure you can tuck your ribs in to activate all these core muscles right here. So again, 10 more steps. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. Here we go, guys. That is your first exercise. It's going to really help wake up some of these muscles in your shoulder, in and get your shoulder ready to stabilize correctly. All right, your next exercise is going to be a kettlebell pull-through. Again, keep this weight somewhat light. And what we're going to do is get into a bear crawl position. If you don't know, a bear crawl position is going to be on all fours, okay? With your knees just slightly up. Now notice my back and spine are perfectly neutral. They're straight. And I want to keep this position the entire time. Okay? When I start this exercise, guys, You're going to want to rotate your hips, rotate your spine. Try not to do this because remember, we're trying to keep our shoulder stable this entire time. If we're moving, doing too much, it's not going to be in a stable surface. So get back in this position again. We're going to do 5 reps per side. All right. So up in that quadruped position, that bear crawl position, and we're going to grab the kettlebell, pull it underneath our arm. Ready? Begin. Keep that shoulder stable. 1, reach through. 2, 3. Make sure you're keeping your core tight the entire time. You're flexing it, you're breathing. Good. 6, 7. 8, 9, last one, and 10. There you go. That's the kettlebell pull-through. Again, keep that focus on your hands firmly in the ground, pulling it through without any wobbling or any shaking in that hand that is down. The final exercise for your bulletproof shoulders is going to be a banded Right here, 3-way floor tap. All right, so I have the blocks here to kind of show you as an example how I'm going to do this, but you want to put the band on your hands like this, not around your thumbs, right, not around your wrists, but your thumbs stop it. Okay, you're going to get on all fours, hands down, and from here you want to imagine that you have like 3 blocks on the ground right here. One is going to be slightly behind you, right, kind of down by your rib cage. One's going to be directly to the side and one is going to be in front of you. Now all we're going to do is let the band have the resistance and we're going to try and touch each block. All right. While keeping this shoulder nice and tight, nice and stable. All right. And the other one's not going to deviate at all either. So start by keeping this hand in the ground, guys. We're going to do 5 times through. All right. So go ahead, follow along with me. Ready? We're going to start with the one right behind us. Begin. 1, 1, 1. There we go. There's 1, 2, 2, 2. Now what I'm trying to really do on this, guys, is make sure my shoulder isn't just popping out and reaching for it. I'm actually feeling each muscle flex and squeeze and reach towards the block instead of just easily reaching for it, right? So that's what we're trying to do, have a little bit of mind-muscle connection with your shoulder. This last one right here, 1, 2, and 3. All right, and it's going to really help stabilize these muscles back here. So let's go ahead, go to the other side, switch it away. Again, hands are set in the ground. 5 reps through. Ready, begin. And go, 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3. All right, there's 2. 3 more, guys. 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3. Last one. All right, now one more thing I want to mention to you guys. When you go back to these bands, make sure your shoulder blade is retracted somewhat. That way you're not just rolling your back out trying to reach for these blocks, okay? Nice neutral spine, keep those shoulders retracted, and reach. Feel all these muscles back here, right? The ones that really help stabilize your shoulder, feel them activate. And work in this exercise. It's simple moves, not a lot of movement, but I promise it will burn. And there you go, guys. That is how you're going to bulletproof your shoulders to make sure you stay out of pain and injury-free here on out, especially if you're trying to get back to the gym. All right, that's the best way you can do it. So do these exercises in succession, all right, back to back to back. And then what I would do is actually do it 2 to 3 more times. All right, it's only gonna help you strengthen your shoulder and stabilize that joint. Now, if you think you can remember that, awesome, you got a great memory. But we all know how it really goes, right? Save this video, guys. Share it to your page for later. Share it with a friend that you think could use some shoulder help. All right, these will greatly improve your shoulder stability and help you out. And till next time, guys, I'm Ryan Butler with ResetU. Talk to you later.
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