Shoulder flexion
Using a 1 or 2 pound weight, lock your arms straight and point your thumbs forward. Then slowly, without shrugging your shoulder, raise your arms forward to shoulder height. Hold for 1 second at the top and slowly return back to starting position. Keep your core tight and stable so just the arms are moving. Try 10 reps and 3 sets if able.
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Shoulder abduction
Using a 1 or 2 pound weight, lock your arms straight and point your thumbs away from your legs. Then slowly, without shrugging your shoulder, raise your arms out to the side, to shoulder height. At the top, your thumbs should be facing up to the sky. Hold for 1 second at the top and slowly return back to starting position. Keep your core tight and stable so just the arms are moving. Try 10 reps and 3 sets if able.
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Shoulder scaption
Using a 1 or 2 pound weight, lock your arms straight and point your thumbs forward. Then slowly, without shrugging your shoulder, raise your arms up to shoulder height at a 45 degree angle. Almost like you are making a V. At the top your thumbs should be facing up to the sky. Hold for 1 second at the top and slowly return back to starting position. Keep your core tight and stable so just the arms are moving. Try 10 reps and 3 sets if able.
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Prone Rows
Lay on your stomach at the end of your bed or a table. Hold a 2-5 weight to start. Your arm should be dangling down to the ground. Squeeze the muscle between your shoulder blades and pull the weight up to your chest in a similar motion to a push-up (just opposite). Your elbow should be at a 90-degree angle from your shoulder. Try 3 sets of 1.
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Prone I's
Lay on your stomach at the end of your bed or a table (head and shoulders should be handing off. Put your arms straight out in front of you. Keeping your elbow straight, point your thumbs to the sky and then raise your arm up to the sky in a straight line. Your body should be in the shape of an I Try 3 sets of 10. Squeeze your shoulder blades at the top of the motion.
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Prone Y's
Lay on your stomach at the end of your bed or a table (head and shoulders should be handing off. Put your arm out in front of you at a 45 degree angle. Keeping your elbow straight, point your thumbs to the sky and then raise your arm up to the sky in a Y motion from your body. Try 3 sets of 10. Squeeze your shoulder blades at the top of the motion.
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Prone T's
Lay on your stomach at the end of your bed or a table (head and shoulders should be handing off. Put your arm out to the side of you at a 90 degree angle. Keeping your elbow straight, point your palms down to the ground. Then raise your arm up to the sky in a T motion from your body. Try 3 sets of 10.
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Scapula push-ups at an incline
Start in a push-up position but with your hands on an incline. This can be a step, bed, or couch. Just make sure it’s something sturdy. Keeping your elbows locked straight and your core tight, move only your chest and shoulders to the ground until you feel your shoulder blades touch. Next, you push your body and shoulders up from the ground so your shoulder blades are farther apart. This is minimal motion but an important exercise to help stabilize the shoulder. Try 3 sets of 10. To make this harder, decrease the incline until you are able to do them on the ground.
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Ball circles on wall
Again, this is a great shoulder stability exercise. Keep your elbow perfectly straight raise your arm up until it’s at shoulder height. Using a small ball (baseball, tennis ball, lacrosse ball, etc), roll the ball in small circles clockwise and counterclockwise. Try 20 each direction to start. You should start to feel fatigued in the shoulder.
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Side lying shoulder external rotation
Lay on your side with your elbow glued to the side of your body and your elbow bent to 90 degrees. Using a 1 or 2 pound weight, rotate your hand from your belly button, up towards the ceiling Make sure to maintain your 90-degree elbow bend. If there is pain with your arm at your side you can roll up a towel and put that between your elbow and your body. Start with 10 reps and see if you can do 3 sets.
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Shoulder PNF D2 (Drawing a Sward)
This is a multidirectional shoulder stabilizing drill so it’s important that all of these directions are followed and this is done slowly. Pretend you are pulling a sward out of your belt.
IMPORTANT: Start with good posture. Tighten your core and rotate your shoulders back to a good neutral position. Keep your elbow straight the entire time. Holding either no weight or a 1 pound weight, start with your opposite arm at your opposite hip/front pocket with your thumb facing in towards your body. Slowly raise your arm up and across your body at a 45-degree angle until it is up over your head. As you are raising your arm up, you should be rotating your arm so at the top, your thumb is pointing backward. Start with 10 reps, see if you can do it 3 times.
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Standing shoulder external rotation
Once you have mastered the laying shoulder external rotation, you can advance to this. This is a great rotator cuff exercise, especially for throwing athletes. Start by standing tall, core tight, shoulders rotated back to a neutral position. Lift your shoulder so it’s parallel with the ground and the elbow bent at 90 degrees. (call this 90-90 because the body and shoulder should be at 90 degrees and so should the elbow). Your fist will go through a 90-degree arc of motion so that your fist goes from pointing down to the ground to up to the ceiling at the end of the motion. It is very important that your shoulder stay at 90 degrees and doesn’t drop during this exercise. Typically this is done with no weight or a 1 or 2 pound weight. Try 3 sets of 10 reps if tolerated.
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