The Resilient Shoulder Series is all about keeping your shoulder healthy and strong so you can bomb serves and rack up kills. This program is for athletes who want to put in the extra effort to keep their body in top shape. By tackling tissue health and mobility, this program helps keep your shoulder moving how it should. The strength aspects target volleyball-specific movement patterns and ensure your rotator cuff and other supporting muscles are well prepared to hit hard, over and over.
Prior to beginning Level 3 of this series, ensure that you can easily complete the full requirements of Level 2. For best results, it's recommended to do general strength training for your upper body in addition to the Resilient Shoulder Series. But additional training is not required to complete this program, and your shoulders will still thank you.
You can begin this program if you are currently experiencing some mild-moderate chronic pain in your shoulder, but if you have recently suffered a traumatic injury or currently have a lot of chronic pain, it may be too advanced.
*If you experience pain in any of the exercises in this program, do the ones that don't hurt and have your shoulder looked at by a qualified healthcare professional.
Large arm circles in both directions, done fairly quickly. Try to keep your body in alignment by avoiding extension in your spine.
Perform 10-20 arm circles in each direction before moving on.
Quickly raise your hands in front of you and up as high as you can. Allow your elbows to bend so your hands come down toward your the back of your neck/shoulders. Then reverse the movement and swing your arms down and behind you as far as is comfortable. Remain tall while doing this, avoiding extension in your spine.
Perform 10-20 repetitions before moving on.
Keeping your arms around shoulder height, open them up to either side then cross them in front of you. Your palms should face forward when your arms are open and face down when your arms are crossed. This movement should be done fairly quickly and you can alternate which arm goes on top each repetition if you like.
Do 10-20 repetitions before moving on.
Start holding a weight plate under your chin with your hands on the rim, like a steering wheel. Rotate the weight around your head in both directions.
Complete 5-10 circles in each direction.
Perform standard pullups and pushups in the following sequence:
1 Pullup - 2 Puhsups
2 Pullups - 4 pushups
3 Pullups - 6 pushups
2 Pullups - 4 pushups
1 Pullup - 2 pushups
Take a short rest if needed in between rounds. This is part of your warm up, don't be a hero ;)
Beginning in a standard pushup position, lift your hips toward the ceiling so that your arms are now overhead (like a downward facing dog yoga pose). Lower your head down between your hands coming close to the floor with your face. Continue on to push up while arching your back (now you're in an upward facing dog position. Reverse the movement to return to the starting position.
Do 5-10 repetitions.
Lie on your back with the foam roller across your back at the level of your shoulder blades. Spread your shoulder blades apart by bringing your elbows toward one another - this can be done while supporting your head with your hands, to keep it in line with your body. Keeping your spine in a neutral position, lift your hips up and slowly roll up and down. Cover the area just below your shoulder blades up to just below the base of your neck.
Roll for about 1 minute.
At first, this exercise may be painful; a softer roller will be easier to tolerate early on. Progress by finding a firmer roller or one with a textured, knobby surface.
You may also experience some painless cracking of the joints in your back - you'll probably learn to love these, but if they are not painless see a healthcare practitioner to have a closer look at what might be going on.
*Avoid rolling your lower back or your neck in this position.
Lie sideways over the roller, with your arm positions overhead. While keeping your muscles roll along the side of your shoulder blade and the back of your shoulder.
Roll for about 1 minute on each side.
At first, this exercise may be painful; a softer roller will be easier to tolerate early on. Progress by finding a firmer roller or one with a textured, knobby surface.
Press a tennis ball or lacrosse ball into the soft part of your upper chest, just under your collar bone. Using up and down or circular motions, roll the ball around the area.
Roll for 1 minute on each side.
At first, this exercise may be painful; a softer ball will be easier to tolerate early on. Progress by finding a firmer ball or one with a textured, knobby surface.
Pin a tennis ball or lacrosse ball between the back of your shoulder blade (as shown in the video) and a wall. Roll diagonally up and down across the area. Keep the muscle relaxed while you try to locate tender areas to focus on.
Roll for 1 minute per side.
You may feel pain referring to the front of your shoulder - if so, this is a great spot to focus on while rolling.
Note: This video shows some additional variations that may be beneficial. But for the purposes of your programming, simply rolling is a good place to start.
Begin lying on your back with your arms and legs straight out in front of you, with knees bent. Hold a 2-5 lb (1-2 kg) weight in one hand. Twist your body so the weighted arm lowers quickly toward the floor, and the leg on the same side reaches the opposite direction, maximizing your body's rotation.
Perform 10-15 repetitions per side.
Hanging from rings or a bar with an overhand grip, bring your knees up and roll over backward to a comfortable end range. Lower your feet toward the floor if you are capable, and flip back over to the starting position.
Perform 2-3 sets of 5-8 repetitions, resting 2-3 minutes in between sets.
Hang on to a bar that allows you hang and swing freely without obstruction. Swing your body side to side, allowing one hand to unweight and loosen as you swing towards it.
Perform 2-3 sets of 8-10 swings in each direction, resting 90 seconds in between.
Swing an Indian club from a hitting position overhead down, across your body, to the side. Allow your shoulders to rotate to the side with the movement of the club. Swing the club back up to the overhead position and repeat.
Do 3 sets of 10 repetitions, resting for 2 minutes between sets. Use a 5-10 lb (2-4 kg) club.
This movement can also be done with a dumbbell or weight plate instead of an Indian club. Hold the dumbbell by one end if possible, to simulate using a club. To get the full effect, make sure your thumb points backward at both the bottom and top of the movement by rotating your arm.
Use your arms only to swing the clubs forward and backward. As you get comfortable with this exercise, begin to apply force to decelerate the clubs after they pass your body on the way down, and quickly return them to the forward position.
Do 3 sets of 10 swings, resting for 90 seconds between sets. Use 5-15 lb (2-7 kg) clubs to begin with, and progress slowly.
This movement can also be done with dumbbells or weight plates instead of Indian clubs. Hold the dumbbells by one end if possible, to simulate using clubs.
Place both hands on the ground and lean forward, lifting your knees onto your elbows and your feet off the floor. Your arms can be bent, or straighten them for an extra challenge. The focus of this exercise is on keeping your shoulder blades strongly spread apart by pushing your body away from the floor.
Hold for 10-30 seconds, 3 times, resting for 90 seconds between efforts.
If this hurts your wrists, you can do it on a pair of parallettes.