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Weak scapular (Read 2688 times)

yetix

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Weak scapular
February 13, 2018, 05:48:57 pm
I've had it pointed out a few times recently that I'm prone to shrugging my shoulders and 'turtling' (believe that's how it was described) when I climb (particularly when I cut loose). As this suggests a weak scapular I'm intending to work on this with a few exercises listed below:
- scapular pull ups
- scapular push ups
- shoulder press
- shoulder dislocates

I was wondering if anyone would recommend anything further or instead of this and also what frequency/reps/sets people would recommend?

Thanks

duncan

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#1 Re: Weak scapular
February 13, 2018, 09:42:06 pm
I’m not completely clear what you’re talking about with turtles and I hope dislocates is down to autocorrect! Shoulders around ears is clear enough.

Scapular pull-ups, and pull-ups with the scapulae in the pulled down ‘long neck’ position are your two main ones. First two exercises here:




Scapular push-ups or side planks will also help a little but the above two should be your focus. Shoulder press would have the opposite effect I’d have thought. Not recommended.

As to repetitions and load, choose these according to when you notice this happening. Cutting loose bouldering it sounds like a strength issue, in which case high load and low reps.

yetix

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#2 Re: Weak scapular
February 14, 2018, 10:21:52 am
Thanks for the response!

shoulder dislocates refers to this :

(I just use a bar no additional weight)

abarro81

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#3 Re: Weak scapular
February 14, 2018, 11:00:49 am
Shoulder press would have the opposite effect I’d have thought. Not recommended.

That's interesting. Would you recommend all climbers avoid shoulder press work then, and stick to press-up orientated stuff for antagonistic work, or just those struggling with shoulder enagagement?

highrepute

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#4 Re: Weak scapular
February 14, 2018, 11:04:06 am
Shoulder press would have the opposite effect I’d have thought. Not recommended.
That's interesting. Would you recommend all climbers avoid shoulder press work then, and stick to press-up orientated stuff for antagonistic work, or just those struggling with shoulder enagagement?
I always thought shoulder press was a good exercise for climbers, the opposite of pulling down all the time. Can you explain your reasoning?

highrepute

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#5 Re: Weak scapular
February 14, 2018, 11:10:22 am
In reply to OP.

Form and awareness are key.

It's really important that you maintain good form (shoulder, neck, back position) when doing these exercises. The idea being that you carry this good form over into climbing.

Awareness is part of good form. It's about learning how to control parts of your posture (i.e. engaging scapula) so that you can maintain good form while doing exercises and then into climbing.

It's possible that you may have perfectly strong muscles around your scapula but lack the awareness to engage them appropriately. Although, I understand that often weakness and lack of awareness usually come together.

duncan

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#6 Re: Weak scapular
February 14, 2018, 11:57:21 am
I’d agree to everything in highrepute’s post. Maintaining good form whilst doing pull-ups may be strengthening the relevant muscles but it’s also good for movement retraining.

Shoulder presses are a good general shoulder health exercise for climbers - I do them - but they are not likely to help with the OP’s issue as they tend to work the scapular elevators rather than depressors.

The shoulder dislocates exercise with the pole might improve anterior shoulder flexibility. However, if the turtle posture is only noticable some of the time, then inflexibility is unlikely to be the major issue.

Ruarl

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#7 Re: Weak scapular
February 22, 2018, 10:34:11 am
I've recently returned to climbing after a long break. At the end of my regular climbing, I realised I also had this problem. It's exacerbated now by spending the last ~3 years sitting at a desk permanently.

I've found deliberate form practice on the wall to be useful. Find a boulder problem (You'd need a *very* understanding belayer to do this on the wall) which causes you to "turtle". Then, climb that problem with good form a few times. I've found the most benefit comes if the problem is hard enough to mean I need a few minutes rest between attempts. But it also needs to be easy enough that I can deliberately pull with my back, instead of my neck, instead of purely focusing on the difficult moves.

Hope this helps!

 

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