We spend so much time worrying about your hip mobility, that we tend to forget about the joints that are also involved in pretty much every single save – – your shoulders.
Most of you go around with slouched, forward rounded shoulders – – I know you all just sat up a little taller and pulled your shoulders back as I said that, it’s okay, so did I.
It is understandable, you sit at work or school, you type away on your computer or phone, you sit in the car and the you get on the ice where your stance tilts your trunk forward and your chesty pushes your shoulders forward slightly just from the chronic load.
You probably never think of squeezing your shoulder blades back slightly when you are on the ice.
Add to that the position of your blocker hand, if your blocker is parallel to your torso and your blade is flat to your target, then that shoulder is internally rotated. You glove position typically puts that shoulder in some degree of external rotation, which this exercise will help.
You won’t have to focus so much on actively keeping the pocket of your glove up and open to the shooter. So maybe you won’t have so many shots bouncing off your glove and into the net like me
So, in case you haven’t guessed, the movement is SHOULDER EXTERNAL ROTATION.
WARNING – seriously, read this!
If you are a shoulder dislocator, do not do this exercise. It will put you in a position where you are at risk for a subluxation or dislocation. If you have had your shoulder surgically repaired after dislocation, you will not have this range of motion. That is a good thing.
The surgeon would have tightened structures in your shoulder to restrict you from getting into your dislocation position. So a little less shoulder external rotation, but your shoulder does not pop out of its socket when you are scratching the back of your neck.
How to know if your Shoulder ER sucks…
Well basically, you won’t be able to do this movement
Make sure you do not cheat – you will do it without even realizing it, so make sure you watch the video and do it exactly the way I show it.
Can’t do it?
Unlike the deep overhead squat, this one usually improves pretty quickly. Not to say you will be perfect in the first week, but you should see a nice improvement.
Here are the drills that will help it improve…
Just in-case you cannot see the video above, just click this handy link
to watch the vid > https://youtu.be/pStOX9A-KTI
Cheers,
M