Reaching: The Underrated Key to Shoulder Health
If you’ve lifted weights for any length of time, you’ve probably dealt with a shoulder issue. They can derail your progress and test your patience.
The shoulder is a shallow ball-and-socket joint with impressive mobility. It lets you lift heavy weights, throw fast, or wave when you’re bored at a game. But mobility alone isn’t enough—the joint needs stability too. The four rotator cuff muscles help keep the ball in the socket, but stability from the surrounding muscles matters as well. This is usually built by strengthening the muscles around the shoulder girdle through variations of pushes, pulls, shoulder raises, and planks.
PUSH-UP PALOOZA
PULL-UP PALOOZA
MEATHEAD PALOOZA
Even when you take the right precautions, injuries can happen if you push too hard. There’s one movement many lifters overlook that can help prevent nagging shoulder issues: reaching.
Reaching is a daily motion. You reach for food in the fridge, the pantry, the door, or the dumbbells to do more curls. Adding a reach to pushes and pulls helps the shoulder blades move across the ribcage as they should. The key muscle behind this is the Serratus Anterior, a broad muscle that wraps around the ribcage and stabilizes the scapula against the thoracic wall. In other words, it’s a big deal.
When you lift in the horizontal plane—with exercises like one-arm cable presses or rows, or pushups—the Serratus’s main job is to protract/abduct the shoulder blades. If it doesn’t do its job, the scapula can’t move properly, leading to winging, imbalances, and reduced mobility. That’s not something you want. By adding a simple reach to a horizontal push or pull, you strengthen the Serratus and allow your shoulders to move through a fuller range of motion, resulting in healthier shoulders.
REACH, BABY, REACH
REACH AND ROW
The reach has significant implications for shoulder health and strength, and it’s an easy movement to add to your lifting routine. The Serratus also supports scapulohumeral rhythm as an outward rotator of the scapula, helping your arms reach overhead. This is crucial for overhead lifting and for reaching anything above your shoulders.
If the Serratus is inhibited, the body will compensate, which over time can lead to pain in the upper traps, neck, and lower back. Test your mobility: can you raise your arms overhead with your elbows near your ears without your ribcage flaring or your lower back arching? Do this in front of a mirror. If you can’t, try foam-rolling your lats and doing Serratus wall slides, then retest your shoulder mobility.
SERRATUS WALL SLIDE VARIATIONS
Even if you don’t have any current issues, the Serratus wall slide is a fantastic warm-up and mobility drill for the shoulders.
WRAPPING UP
Taking care of your shoulders is essential when you’re lifting heavy. You might not notice shoulder health until it’s too late. By giving a little attention to the Serratus Anterior, you can keep lifting pain-free and save yourself a trip to the physical therapist.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shane “The Balance Guy” McLean is an ACE-certified personal trainer working in Texas. Shane believes in balancing exercise with life and making fitness enjoyable.
