Four Technique and Performance Tips

Four Technique and Performance Tips
You can follow these tips on virtually any pulling exercise, but when used with the exercises I showed you, they’ll really supercharge your progress.

Tip 1: Use Goldilocks Load
This may sound counterintuitive, especially because I just said that too much load is compressive and reduces range of motion. Think of it like this: If you bench press 1,000 pounds and want to use a band to traction your shoulders, would you use the thinnest band imaginable? Absolutely not – you’d get zero benefit.

The same thing applies here. If you want to open up and expand the areas around your shoulders, you need to use load to create that space. I refer to this as the “Goldilocks” weight because you need to find the sweet spot: Too little, and you won’t get the desired expansion/decompression. Too much, and you’ll end up squeezing/compressing to compensate, making things worse.

Tip 2: Reach Long
This is a difficult thought process for many, especially those that subscribe to the “scaps back and down” mantra for everything in the gym.

Remember, the goal is to create space and restore motion, NOT build your bench press max. By reaching long, you allow the muscles around the shoulder blades to eccentrically orient and shut off, which helps restore range of motion.

Tip 3: Inhale
Inhalation is the secret sauce, especially when you consider that almost everything we do for strength and muscular development also emphasizes an exhalation/Valsalva strategy.

Instead, we should combine all three of these cues to make the magic happen:

Use enough weight to offset our natural tendency to pull down/stay tight.
Reach long to allow those muscles to relax and shut off.
Then inhale to expand that area and create space.
Once you’ve done this, then we get to the only real performance tip…

Tip 4: Turn (Versus Squeezing)
I may not be the strength athlete I once was, but I haven’t forgotten the “rules” of scap motion.

When you row, you squeeze the shoulder blades back. When you chin/pull-up, you squeeze the shoulder blades down. But what happens when all that well-intentioned rowing and chinning leaves you with scaps that never move?

Again, remember the goal: If you want to get big and strong, by all means squeeze back and down until the cows come home. But if you want to restore motion and feel better, use a more integrated approach.

Instead of squeezing back or down, think about turning instead. Take a row, for example: Instead of just pinning that shoulder blade back, allow for a little bit more controlled motion throughout the scap and trunk.

When you’re reaching long, allow the thorax to turn as well. When you’re pulling, think about turning the thorax and scapula together.

I like to think of it as “athletic” pulling versus bodybuilding-style pulling. And once you start doing it, you’ll see (and feel) a difference.