Best safe shoulder movement

[anthrax]

I have recurrent shoulder/rotator cuff problems

Dips are a big no-no

Surprisingly enough overhead press (both in front and behind the neck) are alright - no big poundage though

What movement would you recommend to work the shoulder without too much risk?

 

[hurley11]

Well...your first big problem is that your asking for advice on shoulder exercises and completely ignoring the rotator cuff issues. So pretty much any and all shoulder exercises are going to cause inflamation and further impingment in your rotator cuff. The tendinitis (Im guess is what it is) will get worse and if it isn't fixed by rehab/physio you may require surgery. So...what can be done? Obviously you have a an imbalance where your chest is stronger than your back and causing your shoulders to be pulled forwards. So what you need to do is strengthen the rotator cuff muscles (and probably also the posterior deltoids and other back muscles as well). The best exercise for this is a dumbell raise. Its done laying down on a bench with your arms extended straight upwards (no elbow bend) with your palms facing towards each other. You then just raise your arms upwards slowly as high as you can and lower for a count of 4. This should probably be done w/ a weight you are comfortable w/ for about 15 reps. Other good exercises are rear dumbell flys (do them one arm at a time slowly) or w/ elbows bent (I call them chicken wings). Just whatever you do stay away from upright rows. I got tendinitis in my shoulder when I was 17 doing those. Another big thing is constantly thinking about your posture and setting your shoulder girdle (raise shoulders up towards ears, pull them back, lower them down). That should help.

 

[coolcolj]

fix your problem first

quite a few articles on t-mag for that - mobility work and strnegthening of weak musclegroups and get them all firing nicely

till then stop all pressing and vertical pulling!

 

[anthrax]

Thanks guys!
Great advice

I am actually working on the underlying problem:
No more than 2 direct chest exercises per week
More back/rhomboids exercises
Specific rot cuff movements (external rotation)

I will definitely incorporate the dumbell raise

coolcolj,
You wrote "no vertical pulling"..... that means no chinup/pullup????
I thought they were good if you keep your chest up and a nice arch?

 

[Czar87]

Any shoulder movement causes further inflamation ? What if bench press, OHP or nothing doesnt cause any pain when lifting but rotator cuff issue is still there, i shouldnt lift anymore ?
When it doesnt hurt doing a movement then i believe it is good for a shoulder or ...

 

[coolcolj]

vertical pulling - chins, pullups, pulldowns tighten the lats up. lats are internal rotors etc

read

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1379910
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=818555

and all parts of
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=472224