Overhead Stability and Shoulder Care

It’s no secret that overhead stability is a vital component of CrossFit movements. It is widely used in workouts varying in intensity, load, and volume. Without adequate activation and correct movement patterns, these overhead positions often times become an oh-too-familiar pain spot that limit our ability to crush workouts and can be a culprit for injury.

If you are new to these movements and are slowly integrating them into your workout repertoire, it becomes increasingly important to monitor your load, repetitions, and movement patterns to ensure you aren’t setting yourself up for injury. A muscle group that is essential to maintaining correct positioning of the shoulder is the rotator cuff. Through activation of this stabilizing muscle group with correct timing and positioning, you can dramatically improve your performance of these lifts while decreasing your risk of causing problems at one of the most at-risk joints in the body. While it’s designed to offer maximum movement, the shoulder joint with its seemingly unlimited degrees of freedom inherently creates instability and therefore requires a little extra attention to keep it strong and protected.

With this in mind, try this Overhead Stability Series as a primer for overhead movement or need a good warmup before your workout. Go slow, perform each movement symmetrically, and don't use too heavy of a band. As with anything, if this causes pain or you are unsure if these are appropriate for you, I recommend you seek out a rehabilitation or movement specialist physical therapist to assist you.

Cheers and happy lifting!