The deep stabilizers of the scapula are often inhibited because of poor posture.
Today’s drill aims to fix this problem.
It may look easy, but for many it’ll be near impossible because it requires precise control and activation of deep shoulder stabilizers that don’t work properly in many people.
Keys to this exercise include going slow and under control so that the proper muscles work through the full range of motion and keeping your elbow and core/hips LOCKED, so the movement is isolated in the shoulder joint.
The reason why I suggest you start in an open chain (hand free) fashion is because it’s easier to activate the proper muscles and achieve the desired movement.
Once you’ve got that, then do the closed chain version, which fires up the stabilizers even more.
And when you first start, don’t think about reps or anything and just get the proper activation going. Get this down then go for 3-6 circles in each direction.
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Would love to know how it feels so try it out and let me know in the Comments after.
The lovely mailman recently delivered these to my house:
And I used them for the first time yesterday.
I went out to a local playground and attached them to this cargo net style apparatus that kids climb up because it was the highest anchor point where I could hang and do my thing.
A few kids who were playing looked at me for a second then got bored and resumed their running around and acting like animals, while I caught the moms either sneaking glances at me or making sure I wasn’t going to steal their kids.
I suspect the latter.
So I messed around with some inversions, feeble attempts at front levers, and did a bunch of pullups and dips.
Dips are a whole other story on the rings.
In fact, I was still feeling some delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) from doing dips on a TRX (before I got these rings) on Saturday.
All I did were 3 sets of 2 reps, but the key was that each rep took about 20 seconds – 10 seconds for both the eccentric (down) and concentric (up).
The reason why I’m doing these super slow reps right now is because the limiting factor is not strength in this movement pattern, since I can do 20+ Dips on parallel bars, but shoulder stability.
Here’s a vid I shot when I did them on Saturday:
You can do this for many different exercises including but not limited to: Dips, Pushups, Bench Press, Squats, Bulgarian Split Squats, Chinups, Pullups, etc… Avoid doing Deadlifts if you don’t want your low back to explode.
Pick an exercise, put a stopwatch down where you can see it or just count “1001, 1002…” to ensure you’re going nice and slow.
With Ring Dips, the instability of the platform really jacks up the stabilization requirement needed from your shoulders, which you will definitely feel if you give them a go.
I’m feeling soreness in upper-mid back muscles now – something I’ve never gotten from traditional dips on a parallel bar.
Another benefit to 20 second reps is that it will illuminate any weak/sticking points in your range of motion, so you can identify areas that might be holding you back.
TECHNIQUE TIPS: make sure whatever exercise you do, direct your attention to breathing, keeping a “poker face” and of course, proper form.
You may find that the slow tempo is a lot harder than you think, even with exercises you’re very strong in.
Going forward, I’ll be working in more and more of these types of exercises into my routines to test them out.
In fact, I’m going to do a pretty drastic experiment on myself, one that I believe will be an EVOLUTION in my fitness and programming.
![NEW Scapula Stabilizer Activation Drill [VIDEO]](https://www.powerdojo.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Scapula-Stabilizer-Activation-Drill-Vid-2-600x300.png)
![Build Shoulder Strength and Stability [20 Second Reps]](https://www.powerdojo.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/gym-rings-600x300.jpg)
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