Can You Pass These 3 Shoulder Mobility Tests?

Test your mobility, strength, and shoulder health in this quick Shoulder Mobility Check featuring three essential tests every athlete should be able to do. Join Dean and Hyrox athlete Dave Maus Jr. as they guide you through simple yet powerful assessments to unlock better performance, reduce injury risk, and keep your shoulders strong for life.

Transcript

• [00:00:00] Hey, guys. It’s Dean.
• [00:00:00] I’ve got Dave Moss Junior here today,
• [00:00:02] and we’re going through three shoulder mobility tests that
• [00:00:04] every athlete should be able to do regardless of age.
• [00:00:07] So if you’re anything like Dave,
• [00:00:09] you’re probably doing and you’re like me,
• [00:00:11] maybe you’re doing some yoga,
• [00:00:12] maybe you’re doing some resistance training,
• [00:00:14] you’re going to the gym.
• [00:00:15] A lot of the guys A lot of guys who do go to the gym and lift
• [00:00:19] weights a lot, you’re kind of neglecting your mobility.
• [00:00:21] Right?
• [00:00:21] You do a lot of weights,
• [00:00:22] but you don’t want to take the time to lose out on your gains,
• [00:00:26] and so you don’t want to spend time doing flexibility.
• [00:00:28] But the truth is that if you’re not focused on your flexibility enough,
• [00:00:31] you’re gonna have a really difficult time staying
• [00:00:33] consistent with your workouts in the gym.
• [00:00:36] So we’re gonna go through these three super basic exercises
• [00:00:39] that most guys should be able to do.
• [00:00:41] Even if you can’t do them as flexible I’m gonna be doing
• [00:00:44] them or someone who’s been doing yoga for a few years,
• [00:00:46] there’s still exercises that you should be able to do to some extent.
• [00:00:49] And then if you notice that you need to work on them,
• [00:00:51] that’s where doing a mobility practice on a regular basis is
• [00:00:54] is is gonna help you out.
• [00:00:55] So, yeah.
• [00:00:56] You ready to go?
• [00:00:56] I’m ready. Let’s do it. Alright.
• [00:00:57] Cool. So the first thing we’re going to do is super basic.
• [00:01:00] This is kind of level one.
• [00:01:01] We’re just going to do a a standing shoulder stretch for your strap.
• [00:01:04] K.
• [00:01:05] So your shoulder strap for your shoulders.
• [00:01:07] Shoulder strap stretch. That’s what I tried to say. Alright.
• [00:01:09] So we’re going to hold the strap overhead with your arms straight.
• [00:01:13] Yep.
• [00:01:13] And then go ahead and turn and face camera so we can see here.
• [00:01:16] So depending on shoulder flexibility here,
• [00:01:18] if you are less flexible with your shoulders,
• [00:01:20] then you can hold your hands further apart,
• [00:01:22] kind of like you see Dave here doing.
• [00:01:24] And if you want to make it a little more challenging for
• [00:01:26] yourself, you can start to bring your arms closer together.
• [00:01:29] So maybe about shoulder width distant. Let’s start there.
• [00:01:31] Let’s see how that goes.
• [00:01:32] And then if you have a lot of difficulty with this,
• [00:01:35] you can also bend your elbows a little bit.
• [00:01:38] Now, turn to the side.
• [00:01:39] So what I want you to be able to do here,
• [00:01:42] you should be able to get your arms straight overhead without
• [00:01:45] significantly arching your chest or or opening up,
• [00:01:48] you know, and extending your spine too much.
• [00:01:50] So Dave’s doing a pretty good job here. He’s Core is tight.
• [00:01:54] Right?
• [00:01:54] So he’s kinda drawn in here,
• [00:01:55] and his arms are straight overhead.
• [00:01:56] This is really good.
• [00:01:58] What I see with a lot of guys who lift weights a lot and
• [00:02:01] don’t work on shoulder mobility enough is they can’t really get
• [00:02:03] their arms overhead.
• [00:02:04] Maybe they’re maybe they’re here when they get their arms
• [00:02:06] as high up as possible,
• [00:02:08] or what they’re doing is they’re arching their back.
• [00:02:10] Alright.
• [00:02:10] So go ahead and arch your back to be able to get the arms up.
• [00:02:13] So Dave’s got pretty good shoulder mobility here.
• [00:02:16] One way that he can work on this,
• [00:02:18] and this is how we’re going to challenge ourselves with this
• [00:02:19] test, is to add a little bit of a standing back bend to it.
• [00:02:22] Okay.
• [00:02:23] So I want you to lift the strap up.
• [00:02:26] Not necessarily lifting the strap up as high as possible
• [00:02:28] because you don’t want to have actually,
• [00:02:29] this is something to point out too.
• [00:02:31] You don’t want to have your shoulders up near the ears like this.
• [00:02:33] You want your shoulders relaxed down a little bit.
• [00:02:36] So not actively pulling them down,
• [00:02:38] but also making sure that you’re not lifting them up too high.
• [00:02:41] So this is a good level for the shoulders right here.
• [00:02:44] And then from here, now turn sideways again.
• [00:02:46] Now I’m going have you squeeze your arms back while lifting
• [00:02:49] your chest up, and you can let your head come back too.
• [00:02:52] And so what we wanna do here and try to keep your your,
• [00:02:55] hips neutral.
• [00:02:56] And I want you to think just bending from the mid back up.
• [00:02:59] Right?
• [00:03:00] And then this is a great thing to do as well,
• [00:03:02] but I want you to keep this is cool to do.
• [00:03:04] Chin in toward your throat, and then keep your neck long,
• [00:03:08] and then bring your head back a little bit.
• [00:03:10] You feel how your neck is more active there? Yeah.
• [00:03:12] That’s pretty cool.
• [00:03:13] So something like this, thirty seconds or a minute,
• [00:03:16] and then just working on squeezing your arms back as as
• [00:03:19] far as possible but maintaining height.
• [00:03:22] So it’s about maintaining height, maintaining length,
• [00:03:25] and then adding depth.
• [00:03:26] Right?
• [00:03:26] And so this is a good first test to work on just your
• [00:03:29] overhead shoulder mobility.
• [00:03:31] And this is great as a warm up.
• [00:03:33] This is great as a standalone exercise,
• [00:03:34] but that’s number one.
• [00:03:36] And you should be able to get your arms straight up for that.
• [00:03:38] Cool.
• [00:03:39] Cool.
• [00:03:39] Exercise number two is working on your arms behind your back.
• [00:03:43] So we’re going to use that strap again. K.
• [00:03:45] You’re gonna hold the strap behind your back with your
• [00:03:47] palms facing forward.
• [00:03:51] So supinated, palms facing forward.
• [00:03:54] Flip it. Flip your hands so that your palms face.
• [00:03:56] Oh my gosh. There you go.
• [00:03:58] Body.
• [00:03:59] Terms. Hard. Alright. So this is good.
• [00:04:02] So Dave’s got, again, good level of shoulder mobility here.
• [00:04:06] So to make this more challenging,
• [00:04:07] he can bring his hands closer together if he wants to.
• [00:04:10] So a good rule of thumb is to start with maybe about shoulder width distant.
• [00:04:13] And he’s doing a good job here.
• [00:04:15] Another thing that you wanna do is you wanna make sure that the
• [00:04:17] shoulders are neutral.
• [00:04:18] So something that some people will do in an effort to kind of
• [00:04:21] compensate is they’ll allow the shoulders to kind of come
• [00:04:24] forward and kind of do something like this so that
• [00:04:26] they can get the arms further back.
• [00:04:27] So you want to make sure that the shoulders stay somewhat
• [00:04:29] retracted and neutral,
• [00:04:31] and then you’re squeezing the strap away from your back.
• [00:04:33] And this is going to be challenging for Dave because
• [00:04:35] he’s holding this as I’m talking.
• [00:04:37] So like the longer you hold this, it’s pretty challenging.
• [00:04:39] When you get up to two minutes, it’s going to be really,
• [00:04:41] you know, you might feel some tingling like we talked about.
• [00:04:44] Yeah.
• [00:04:44] So that’s good though.
• [00:04:45] So I like to do at least one minute holds.
• [00:04:48] A lot of yoga classes that you go to,
• [00:04:50] there’s gonna be like twenty, twenty five seconds.
• [00:04:53] Especially if you’re going to a flow yoga class,
• [00:04:55] it’s the holds are slower.
• [00:04:57] So I like holding the holds for a lot longer so that you give
• [00:04:59] your body enough time to really work into it.
• [00:05:01] Especially as a guy, less flexible,
• [00:05:04] your body just needs that time to open up.
• [00:05:06] So anyways, you’re holding this pose for a long time,
• [00:05:08] and if you’re doing this too,
• [00:05:09] you’re holding it for a long time.
• [00:05:10] It’s going feel uncomfortable, but that’s good.
• [00:05:12] That’s how we grow.
• [00:05:13] So from here,
• [00:05:14] you’re going work on squeezing your arms further away from
• [00:05:16] your back just as much as you can.
• [00:05:18] You want to make sure that the shoulders stay neutral here.
• [00:05:20] So, right, the shoulder blades are pulling back,
• [00:05:23] staying retracted,
• [00:05:24] and we’re not letting the shoulders round down.
• [00:05:27] And then, again, here for about a minute.
• [00:05:29] So this level of flexibility here, this looks good.
• [00:05:33] Like, there’s nothing here that I’m that I’m worried about too much.
• [00:05:36] It’s also really good for activating the
• [00:05:39] muscles in your back, your scapular stabilizers,
• [00:05:41] all those muscles that you need to be able to do safe overhead movements.
• [00:05:46] So that’s really cool.
• [00:05:47] And then another way that you can challenge yourself with
• [00:05:49] this even more, turn ahead so you’re facing actually,
• [00:05:52] so your back is facing.
• [00:05:53] Okay.
• [00:05:54] And so what I want you to do, strap behind your back,
• [00:05:57] but slack in the strap.
• [00:06:00] So Oh, snikey.
• [00:06:01] So make it difficult. Yep.
• [00:06:02] And so you’re gonna bend your elbows Bend your elbows and
• [00:06:05] work on squeezing your elbows toward one another.
• [00:06:07] So this this is a lot more challenging.
• [00:06:09] Yeah, is.
• [00:06:10] But I really like this because it’s just gonna force all these
• [00:06:12] muscles in the upper back to get a lot more active.
• [00:06:16] So this is a way to challenge yourself a little bit more if
• [00:06:18] that first version was easier.
• [00:06:20] And you can kind of I I felt it as soon as he shifted,
• [00:06:23] but this is a lot harder for Dave.
• [00:06:25] Very hard. Yeah. Probably looks so silly.
• [00:06:28] Yeah. I mean, you know, a lot a lot of these things look silly.
• [00:06:30] Probably looks like I’m not trying.
• [00:06:31] But then you do them and you do it with them,
• [00:06:34] the person looking silly doing it, and you’re like, oh, it’s hard.
• [00:06:36] That’s why you’re doing this.
• [00:06:37] Yeah. Love it.
• [00:06:39] Alright. Hey, guys. Fifteen second break here.
• [00:06:42] If you are in your forties, your fifties, or your sixties,
• [00:06:44] and longevity is your goal,
• [00:06:47] I wanna invite you to do our thirty day Manful Yoga
• [00:06:49] Challenge.
• [00:06:50] It’s free.
• [00:06:50] It’s right here on the Manful Yoga YouTube channel.
• [00:06:53] Go ahead and click the link below in the description,
• [00:06:56] and join me when this video is finished.
• [00:06:58] Third test, and this is gonna be the harder test.
• [00:07:00] So the first two are easy. This is gonna be the hard one.
• [00:07:02] This is called a dolphin pose.
• [00:07:04] And I love this pose because it’s a good combination of
• [00:07:06] strength and flexibility.
• [00:07:08] So I’m gonna move your yoga mat k.
• [00:07:10] And I’m gonna make it so it’s straight on.
• [00:07:12] And a dolphin pose is kind of like most people have heard of
• [00:07:15] a of a down dog.
• [00:07:16] Right?
• [00:07:16] That’s kind of like that quintessential yoga pose that
• [00:07:19] everyone’s done or heard of.
• [00:07:20] Dolphin is going to add an element of shoulder a a greater
• [00:07:24] element of shoulder flexibility.
• [00:07:26] So I’m gonna walk you through it.
• [00:07:27] You’re gonna be able to do it.
• [00:07:28] Do I need the strap?
• [00:07:29] No strap.
• [00:07:30] Perfect.
• [00:07:31] Alright.
• [00:07:32] We’re gonna start in a forearm plank with your forearms
• [00:07:34] parallel to one another and your palms planted.
• [00:07:37] So and this takes a lot of this is gonna take a lot of shoulder mobility.
• [00:07:41] For guys who are strong in the upper body but don’t work a lot
• [00:07:43] of shoulder mobility,
• [00:07:44] this is where it’s gonna it’s gonna get fun.
• [00:07:46] So I want you to bring your shoulders so that they’re
• [00:07:47] directly on top of the elbows.
• [00:07:49] Move your shoulders back a little bit.
• [00:07:50] Good. Now I want you to pike. So bring your butt up.
• [00:07:54] Walk your feet in about six inches.
• [00:07:57] Good.
• [00:07:57] And then you’re going to work on pushing your chest back
• [00:08:00] toward your Now,
• [00:08:02] your hamstrings are gonna be working a lot here.
• [00:08:03] And we haven’t done any hamstring warm ups,
• [00:08:05] so I apologize for that.
• [00:08:06] So in this position here, in this dolphin,
• [00:08:09] I want you to squeeze your forearms toward one another,
• [00:08:11] squeeze your elbows toward one another,
• [00:08:12] almost like you’re holding a like a beach volleyball between
• [00:08:15] there, so there’s tension.
• [00:08:17] So there’s that isometric contraction.
• [00:08:19] You’re gonna push down through your forearms.
• [00:08:20] You should feel a lot of activity in your upper back here.
• [00:08:23] Oh, yeah.
• [00:08:23] And for me, at least, when I first did this movement,
• [00:08:26] I was like, oh, god.
• [00:08:27] I lift weights a lot,
• [00:08:28] but I I don’t feel those muscles are Those are muscles
• [00:08:31] that I didn’t know that I had.
• [00:08:32] Right.
• [00:08:32] And so this is why I really like dolphin because it’s gonna
• [00:08:35] force you to get some muscles working that you don’t work as often,
• [00:08:39] and it’s also challenging your shoulder flexibility at the same time.
• [00:08:42] So you’ve got about forty five seconds here.
• [00:08:45] That’s really good. You can come down if you want. Oh.
• [00:08:49] Yeah. Bro, I’m over here like, that’s insane.
• [00:08:51] Yeah. So dolphin pose. So that’s your third test.
• [00:08:54] So with dolphin,
• [00:08:56] you should be able to have the shoulders over the elbows like
• [00:08:58] you were doing, and then as you get more flexible,
• [00:09:01] you can walk your feet further in.
• [00:09:03] But with all of those things,
• [00:09:04] you should be able to hold them for at least thirty seconds,
• [00:09:07] and you wanna work your way up to doing forty five, sixty seconds.
• [00:09:10] So if there are things that you can already do, that’s great.
• [00:09:13] But if there are things that the areas that you just wanna
• [00:09:16] stay strong in and resilient and be able to have longevity
• [00:09:19] in those areas, those are things that you can do,
• [00:09:21] you know, three times a week.
• [00:09:23] So Yeah.
• [00:09:23] I will. I will absolutely be including these.
• [00:09:25] Yeah. They were Yeah.
• [00:09:27] And to make it even easier, that’s where, you know,
• [00:09:29] following along to a series.
• [00:09:30] Like nothing that I do here is like stuff that you can’t do on
• [00:09:33] your own, but just for the sake of ease,
• [00:09:36] like following along to a routine just makes it so much easier.
• [00:09:39] So, you know, we’ve got a ton of videos on this channel,
• [00:09:43] and depending on where you’re watching this,
• [00:09:44] if this is on your channel or my channel,
• [00:09:46] but there’s tons of videos here.
• [00:09:48] So some videos that I would recommend.
• [00:09:50] There’s a great yoga for complete beginner series that’s super easy.
• [00:09:54] You can work that into your schedule in the mornings.
• [00:09:56] There’s also, there’s also a yoga for men’s series,
• [00:10:00] which is thirty minute workouts if you’re, you know,
• [00:10:02] more advanced with your fitness and you’re looking for a more
• [00:10:04] challenging, longer workout.
• [00:10:05] So some options for you.
• [00:10:07] Absolutely. Cool. Love it.
• [00:10:09] Alright. So those are my three poses for Dave.
• [00:10:12] Dave, I’m curious if you have any observations that you wanna
• [00:10:15] mention to people.
• [00:10:16] So for me, I do a lot of hanging exercises.
• [00:10:19] Like I love doing dead hangs.
• [00:10:20] I love sitting in a squat,
• [00:10:22] and those are kind of the only two things that I do on a daily
• [00:10:25] basis to try to keep those muscles from Yeah.
• [00:10:29] Your overhead mobility is outstanding.
• [00:10:31] I’ve I’ve heard that,
• [00:10:32] but it’s crazy because like I don’t feel it.
• [00:10:33] I feel like there’s more room.
• [00:10:35] But by doing that,
• [00:10:36] by adding that extra push and learning how to keep my neck long Yeah.
• [00:10:40] But also keep my shoulders down.
• [00:10:42] It’s funny because simply,
• [00:10:44] someone’s like put your hands over your head, grab a strap,
• [00:10:46] and Reach as high as you can.
• [00:10:48] Like you you do naturally just like your shoulders pinch your ears Yeah.
• [00:10:52] And you find the easiest way to get
• [00:10:54] up there, but by being mindful and learning exactly those
• [00:10:58] cues, I definitely felt it got a little harder,
• [00:11:01] but it also felt better.
• [00:11:03] Because just by holding the strap and going high,
• [00:11:05] I really didn’t feel a lot of things change,
• [00:11:09] but as soon as I elongated my neck,
• [00:11:11] brought my shoulders back down is when I could feel the blood
• [00:11:13] flow change and that’s when you know you’re activating
• [00:11:15] something completely different that usually isn’t activated.
• [00:11:19] Yeah.
• [00:11:19] And I think those little tweaks are what make the big difference.
• [00:11:21] And one reason I really like yoga is because it slows things
• [00:11:24] down enough where you can make those little tweaks.
• [00:11:27] Whereas if you’re doing traditional strength training,
• [00:11:29] right, it’s mostly reps.
• [00:11:30] Yep. It’s mostly, you don’t take the time.
• [00:11:33] Like you’re not doing like a back squat and you’re like,
• [00:11:35] okay, let me figure all this out.
• [00:11:37] No.
• [00:11:37] You’re like, you’re doing you’re moving.
• [00:11:38] So like being able to slow things down,
• [00:11:40] doing like an isometric and being able to really move
• [00:11:42] around and like make the little tweaks,
• [00:11:44] it makes a huge difference.
• [00:11:45] And the dolphin pose was a challenge.
• [00:11:48] Like that’s that’s a challenge.
• [00:11:49] I’ve heard of dolphin pose before.
• [00:11:50] May have even tried it once doing a flow.
• [00:11:53] But just once again those cues and just trying to squeeze your elbows together.
• [00:11:58] Changed the whole thing. Yeah.
• [00:12:00] And I’ll definitely be including these daily.
• [00:12:02] Is it possible to like, from what you saw me,
• [00:12:05] and this isn’t me, like this is me just asking for me.
• [00:12:07] Yeah. But like do I have room, a lot of room for improvement?
• [00:12:11] Oh, yeah.
• [00:12:12] I mean, you got I mean, like, you’re Like,
• [00:12:14] there’s nothing that you did where I looked at it and I was
• [00:12:16] like, oh, that’s an indication of like,
• [00:12:19] I’m I’m worried about you.
• [00:12:20] Cool.
• [00:12:20] But, know, there’s always little things that you can you can always improve.
• [00:12:23] And I think what I like to think about when when I’m
• [00:12:26] talking about improvement with yoga is it’s not so much about
• [00:12:29] how deep you can get into things.
• [00:12:31] It’s more about how do you feel. Right?
• [00:12:34] If you are you know,
• [00:12:36] if you track your overall health and wellness based on
• [00:12:39] how you feel and you’re thinking about, well,
• [00:12:41] the last workout that I did,
• [00:12:43] what was my over com what was my overall comfort level?
• [00:12:46] Was it like a four out of ten? Was it like a five out of ten?
• [00:12:48] And if you can do these movements on a more consistent
• [00:12:50] basis and you notice that those exercise is get more
• [00:12:53] comfortable over time, not easier,
• [00:12:56] but just less restricted, and you feel stronger,
• [00:12:59] then I think that’s what you wanna that’s what you kinda wanna track,
• [00:13:02] and that’s where that’s where the area for improvement is.
• [00:13:05] It’s not so much,
• [00:13:06] can I get my head to touch my toes when I’m doing this particular pose?
• [00:13:10] Right.
• [00:13:11] But, hey, can I do this consistently and can I notice that my body’s
• [00:13:14] feeling better as a result?
• [00:13:15] You’re right.
• [00:13:15] And I think even the timing, like you said,
• [00:13:17] it’s not so much getting deeper,
• [00:13:18] it’s holding it longer and not feeling like you’re about to pass out.
• [00:13:22] Because I felt that way little And that’s where learning how
• [00:13:24] to breathe comes into it, and you’re like, oh, breathing, it helps.
• [00:13:28] There’s yeah. Breath, so simple. Yeah.
• [00:13:31] Just gotta do more of it.
• [00:13:32] Yep.
• [00:13:32] I love it, man. Appreciate that. That was cool.
• [00:13:34] Nice job. Alright, guys. I hope you got something out of that.
• [00:13:37] If you want to work more on your shoulders,
• [00:13:38] I do have a great shoulder routine that I’m going to put
• [00:13:41] on Dave’s face here.
• [00:13:42] So click on that when you’re all finished.
• [00:13:44] If you want to check out Dave’s channel, Dave Moss Junior, check him out.
• [00:13:47] Link’s below. Hopefully, this is helpful for you.
• [00:13:50] Subscribe, comment if you have questions,
• [00:13:52] like the video if you found it helpful.
• [00:13:53] And Dave?
• [00:13:54] Hey. Thanks for having me, bro.
• [00:13:55] This was a lot of fun,
• [00:13:57] and I’m gonna be checking out a lot more of your content.
• [00:13:59] Going through the flows.
• [00:14:00] Plus, your mats, your blocks, game changer. Appreciate it.
• [00:14:04] Game changer bro. Appreciate that.
• [00:14:05] Appreciate it. Thank you, man. Alright, guys.
• [00:14:07] See you in the next video.