"Scaps Back and Down" = BS!

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Modern Meathead Notes:

• In a recent post, I covered why restricting shoulder motion is a bad idea when it comes to pulling motions - I want to expand on that here.

• When the shoulder blades move backward, they also move upward.

  • This is counter to what most folks on the internet are preaching, but this can be clarified by understanding basic shoulder girdle joint mechanics.

• “Retraction” as a motion looks like this:

• So, in any pullDOWN motion, we shouldn’t be cuing the shoulder blades “back”, because “back” also means “up”.

  • The focus instead should be on driving downward against the upward resistance.

• Restricting shoulder blade motion in any pulling exercise will decrease the amount of tension-producing ability in all of the pulling muscles, not just the lats.

  • Restricting shoulder blade motion will also needlessly complicate these exercises for our brains.

• Free the shoulder girdle…no matter what kind of pull that you’re doing!

Below is a detailed video lecture explaining all of the above information with a skeleton model in much more depth. You can view it by subscribing for just 16 cents per day:

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