Last week, my friend Kevin Mullins, author of Day by Day: The Personal Trainer’s Blueprint to Achieving Ultimate Success, wrote a piece about the current state of corrective exercise in the fitness world. In short: stop overdoing it. People still need to train hard to get better.
Today, in Part I, Kevin starts by looking at the shoulder. Grab a cup of coffee—this is worth it.
There may be no part of the body more prone to being under-trained than the shoulders. With many bones, lots of muscle attachments, and a close relationship to the spine, there are plenty of reasons someone might avoid training the shoulders hard. Training them isn’t limited to the traditional bodybuilding moves.
The shoulder joint (the glenohumeral joint) participates in all upper-body pushing and pulling movements, as well as common isolation exercises like lateral raises or chest flyes. The shoulder blades (the scapula) and the collarbone (the clavicle) also influence movements such as the deadlift and the squat. Because the shoulders are so integrated with almost every exercise, they tend to take a beating, especially when posture is poor or training programs aren’t well designed. This is why corrective work is often emphasized.
The shoulder is a remarkable joint, given how many muscles, fascia, nerves, and vessels cross it. Yet dysfunction can arise in many ways, from a simple need to improve scapular retraction and depression to the more complex goal of training external rotation while gaining thoracic extension and scapular stability for better pulling or lifting performance. No matter how tricky the problem, the coaching principle remains: keep the approach simple.
Removing the restrictions
Many coaches approach the shoulder with overly cautious or restrictive methods. If you followed typical industry guidelines, you’d skip many high-impact movements in favor of tiny corrective tweaks. Some clients do need extra intervention, but most simply need enough work to create room for more intensive training.
If you’re following tests like the Functional Movement Screen (FMS), you might be held back from pressing, pulling vertically, or loading certain shoulder angles until you score a “2” on the shoulder mobility test. Gray Cook and Lee Burton created a powerful screening tool, but their system can also prevent many clients from actually getting better. (Note: I’ve written about my own experience with the FMS and what I learned from it.)
Protective measures and strict rules can make personal trainers fear loading anything until they see a perfect score. That cautious mindset can stall progress. The real issue with corrective exercises is that low- to no-intensity work isn’t the main driver of long-term improvement. It’s the strengthening work that comes after the corrective phase that matters most. If we’re to improve how we use corrective work, we must accept that our current knowledge isn’t perfect and be open to new ways of doing things. This openness is what fuels innovation in technology—and it can push fitness forward as well.
A note of caution: this article isn’t a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment. If someone has a diagnosed shoulder injury or condition, they should work with qualified medical professionals.
If not this, then what?
Corrective exercises are like a tunnel drill: they create space for change, but they aren’t the construction itself. Just as a tunnel needs steel and concrete supports to become a finished passage, corrective work provides the space for better change but isn’t the final product. The mobility and stability work we label as “correctives” should open the way for more targeted strength work that truly changes the tissues.
For shoulder health, the classic trio of wall slides, thoracic rolling, and cat–cow drills can create the opening for more effective moves such as loaded carries, supinated pulldowns, and banded retractions. The goal is to do enough to enable the stronger, more productive exercises that stimulate adaptation.
Our responsibility as trainers isn’t just to fix dysfunctions—we also help clients burn calories, build muscle, and move with confidence. Before diving into corrective movements, it helps to have a basic grasp of shoulder anatomy and function.
The basic anatomy and physiology — skeletal
When you look at the shoulder, you see three main bones: the clavicle, the scapula, and the humerus. The clavicle is relatively fixed, but its outer end moves with the other bones. The humerus is the upper arm bone and is designed for rotation in the socket of the shoulder joint. It can flex, extend, abduct, and adduct, including horizontal movements, by rotating around the ball-and-socket joint in three planes. The scapula sits on the back and can move in six ways: elevation, depression, upward and downward rotation, protraction, and retraction. These movements also occur in the three anatomical planes. The spine also plays a role in shoulder mobility and stability, a relationship we’ll revisit when we discuss how the core influences shoulder function and why thoracic extension matters.
The basic anatomy and physiology — muscular
The shoulder works so well because of the many muscles involved, some moving the humerus, others moving the scapula, and others supporting the spine. Distinct muscles control external and internal rotation and the six scapular motions. The four rotator cuff muscles are central to external and internal rotation. The triceps also contribute to external rotation under load. The biceps and pectoralis muscles assist with internal rotation, while the subscapularis is a primary internal rotator.
When examining the muscles that move the scapula, we look at the upper-back muscles—the lats, teres major, rhomboids, trapezius, levator scapulae, serratus anterior, and the rotator cuff’s external rotators. In practice, many gym movements involve more than one muscle doing several jobs at once. It’s easy to blame the upper traps for retraction issues, but true scapular control often requires coordinating multiple muscles, including depressors like the lower traps, pec minor, and lats, along with spine extension to allow proper scapular positioning.
The core connection
Thoracic control isn’t isolated from the rest of the body. Activating the core—both the front and back muscles, including the abdominals, obliques, psoas, and the back-side: quadratus lumborum and erector spinae—helps stabilize the spine and enables the thoracic spine to extend. This extension, in turn, supports a better scapular position and humeral rotation. In short, shoulder function depends on integrated movement across the body, which is why generic corrective drills alone aren’t enough.
A less important factor?
The deltoid often gets a lot of attention because of bodybuilding culture, but it isn’t the most critical muscle for shoulder function. The anterior deltoid helps internal rotation and flexion, the posterior deltoid assists with external rotation and initiating horizontal abduction, and the lateral deltoid contributes to abduction. In corrective work, the deltoids are rarely the main problem; overdevelopment of the deltoids and upper traps with underdevelopment of the rotator cuff can cause impingement in lifters. Good corrective work should keep the deltoids involved while not neglecting the rotator cuff.
The hidden gem
Fascia isn’t just a wrap around muscles; it’s dynamic tissue involved in daily function. Research has shown that fascia can communicate across the body faster than muscle tissue and that its ability to compress and expand is crucial for athletic development. Too often it’s treated only with foam rollers or lacrosse balls, which can help with blood flow and joint mobility, but fascia can also be trained. We should incorporate fascia-focused approaches, such as the fascia-slings discussed in Anatomy Trains, to improve shoulder function.
Common problems
1) Desk posture (UCS)
A common shoulder health issue is the “desk posture”: the scapula protracts and elevates while the arms internally rotate. Sitting like this for long hours tightens the chest, lengthens the upper traps, weakens the scapular and shoulder muscles, and often worsens posture. The more advanced form is Upper Cross Syndrome, which can require physical therapy and sometimes surgical input. Correcting this needs strengthening the upper back and teaching better movement patterns so corrective work sticks.
2) Poor scapulohumeral rhythm
Pain during pressing or pulling often comes from faulty movement patterns. True issues may include impingements or overactive traps, but many people simply need better coordination between the scapula and the humerus. The rhythm between the shoulder blades and the arm is crucial for pain-free, efficient movement.
3) Lack of external rotation
Many clients struggle to rotate the humerus outward. This isn’t just about internal rotation; external rotation relies on strong, coordinated muscles that also help move the scapula. Good external rotation is important for activities like pull-ups and overhead pressing. Training often involves moving the humerus into a greater degree of external rotation than usual, which is necessary for strengthening those muscles and maintaining the position isometrically during pressing.
4) Weak core and limited thoracic extension
A strong core and the ability to extend the thoracic spine help the shoulder move well. When lifters overextend the lumbar or thoracic spine to lift, they hinder true thoracic extension. Building a strong abdominal wall and thoracic spine enables better depression, retraction, and downward rotation of the scapula, supporting healthier shoulder movement.
5) Weak upper back and poor body awareness
Many people lack proprioception and strength in the muscles that control the scapula and glenohumeral joint. Rather than labeling everyone as broken, we should give them well-coached movement experiences and a progressively loaded strength program. Low-intensity corrective work can prime a pattern, but exposure to quality exercise is what creates lasting change.
New solutions
These are examples of movements that strengthen and stabilize the shoulder. Some are familiar, others are less common, but simplicity often wins.
1) Dual kneeling band pull apart
The band pull apart is familiar, but kneeling adds core and glute engagement to help extend the thoracic spine and improve scapular retraction.
2) The Full-House (two cables, three motions)
A multi-pattern movement demanding scapular retraction, downward rotation and depression, and an overhead press that promotes proper elevation and external rotation to prevent the arms from drifting forward.
2.2) Second view
[Video links provided in the original]
3) External rotated T, Y
A variation of T and Y movements that improves scapular retraction while strengthening external rotators and promoting thoracic extension.
4) Angled press
Many avoid overhead pressing when shoulder issues exist, but a slight angle (about 15 degrees) allows loading the delt without fighting gravity. A neutral grip and measured tempo help train the scapulohumeral rhythm safely.
5) Supinated pulldowns
This variation emphasizes scapular depression and elevation, keeping the humerus in a more externally rotated position to reduce internal rotation. The goal is to control the movement and work the end range of motion.
6) Simple Animal Flow (Beast Hold to Scorpion to Alternating Crabs)
Animal Flow emphasizes loading passive structures like fascia and connective tissue. It’s a valuable addition for shoulder health, especially for promoting external rotation in dynamic patterns.
7) Bonus: New approach to chest flyes
Traditional dumbbell flyes can place heavy shear forces on the shoulder joint at the bottom range. A band-only variation keeps tension on the muscles while protecting the joint, with range shortened as fatigue sets in to maximize the squeeze.
Putting it all together
You can improve shoulder health and advance fitness at the same time. Your role is to guide clients toward the results they want and the ones they didn’t know they needed. Low-intensity corrective work has its place, but remember it’s only a small piece of a much larger puzzle. To progress, clients must strengthen the right muscles through appropriate patterns that address shoulder health.
Next: The lower back and pelvis
In the next article we’ll explore the lumbar spine, pelvis, and anterior core, and how to reduce chronic low-level back pain, coach better hinge patterns, and help clients move with confidence. And yes, bacon might sneak in there somewhere.
