Best Lifts/Exercises for Functional Shoulder Strength?

Fingers in both hands injured (but on the mend luckily!), in the meantime I’ve been working on improving other parts of my climbing while hard crimping is out of the equation.

As many who have spent time working out/lifting know, functional strength is a lot different from a change in aesthetics. I’m hoping to spend the off season really improving my shoulder strength and stability. Does anyone have any specific exercises that they find really condition the shoulder stabilizers/muscles?

On the same topic, any conditioning that has a direct influence on climbing performance is much appreciated! 

Focus on big compound lifts. A sprinkling of accessory exercises is fine and good too, but keep them in their place as accessories. Don't major in the minors.

I think kettle bell is great for this. One armed overhead press and turkish getups are great.

An accessory thing I’ve been doing recently that I like: lay flat on your back, press the kettlebell up with one hand, then move it around in circles as wide as you can in both directions. Really feels like it gets all the little stabilizer muscles and helps with shoulder blade mobility. 

climbing specific exercise should look like climbing. depending on where you are, wide pull ups are generally the go to exercise for shoulder stability for climbers. if wide pullups are too easy, progress to iron cross progressions. be extremely conservative in your icp (eg don't get injured). the fact that both hands are injured may be a indicative of genetics that are less resistant to injury.

“You injured a couple finger pulleys therefore you probably have injury prone genetics” is a hot take I haven’t heard before. I can’t think of many who have been pushing themselves for numerous years and haven’t gotten a pulley injury. 

Chronically Injured wrote:

“You injured a couple finger pulleys therefore you probably have injury prone genetics” is a hot take I haven’t heard before. I can’t think of many who have been pushing themselves for numerous years and haven’t gotten a pulley injury. 

Hmm?  Who are you quoting??

I would focus on rotator cuffs. It’s less about heavy weights, and more about shoulder stabilization, shoulder blade retraction, and chest openers.

Prone I’s, Y’s and T’s are good. You can try to make it more challenging by using a balance ball, and experiment with doing one side at a time vs two sides. Focus on making a full range of motion on each rep, and doing them slowly. Keep the shoulder blades retracted, and down your back. It’s actually more challenging to do one side, bc you don’t have the other side to counterbalance you.

You can also do prone angel wings, lying on the floor, starting with weights down at your sides in straight arms, then lifting the weights off the floor and making a giant circle, keeping the weights as consistently off the ground as you can manage. Obviously shoulder blades retracted, not letting your lower back arch to compensate.

Do shoulder shrugs, hanging and in a push up position. Again, focusing on full range of motion and retracting those shoulder blades.

 Turkish getups are good  

If you have one of those bosu ball things, try this: with the ball side down, flat side up, grab the sides of the body ball in push up position, and roll it in circles, so the side-top-side-bottom can touch the floor, it as close as you can get it. Do 10-15 sets clockwise and counterclockwise.  Focus on making that motion smooth and controlled, not jerky.

You can also do high plank to low plank up/down on the bosu ball.

If you have body blade, that thing is evil! And doing it in every position/orientation (straight arm in front, at the side, over the head, and also with palms rotated up, sideways, down is insanely hard, and really targets rotator cuffs in every direction.

Lena chita wrote:

I would focus on rotator cuffs. It’s less about heavy weights, and more about shoulder stabilization, shoulder blade retraction, and chest openers.

Prone I’s, Y’s and T’s are good. You can try to make it more challenging by using a balance ball, and experiment with doing one side at a time vs two sides. Focus on making a full range of motion on each rep, and doing them slowly. Keep the shoulder blades retracted, and down your back. It’s actually more challenging to do one side, bc you don’t have the other side to counterbalance you.

You can also do prone angel wings, lying on the floor, starting with weights down at your sides in straight arms, then lifting the weights off the floor and making a giant circle, keeping the weights as consistently off the ground as you can manage. Obviously shoulder blades retracted, not letting your lower back arch to compensate.

Do shoulder shrugs, hanging and in a push up position. Again, focusing on full range of motion and retracting those shoulder blades.

 Turkish getups are good  

If you have one of those bosu ball things, try this: with the ball side down, flat side up, grab the sides of the body ball in push up position, and roll it in circles, so the side-top-side-bottom can touch the floor, it as close as you can get it. Do 10-15 sets clockwise and counterclockwise.  Focus on making that motion smooth and controlled, not jerky.

You can also do high plank to low plank up/down on the bosu ball.

If you have body blade, that thing is evil! And doing it in every position/orientation (straight arm in front, at the side, over the head, and also with palms rotated up, sideways, down is insanely hard, and really targets rotator cuffs in every direction.

Thank you for the detailed training beta! 

In addition to what’s listed above, I just discovered arm bars and really like them. Fun and challenging movement as my shoulder mobility kind of sucks. 

I started taking this kind of thing seriously after I dislocated my shoulder a few years ago. No recurrence so far and my shoulders are generally less prone to tweaks.

The most important factor is consistency, an exercise you can easily do regularly is far better than a 'better' one that needs a special setting or equipment or you just don't get on with. Try some of those suggested above and below and see which ones work for you. 

I do 2 or 3 out the following, typically 4-5 times a week. They can all be done at home without much kit. Every few weeks I'll choose a different 2 or 3. I generally do lowish reps (>8) for a short time at a fairly high intensity (70-80% of my perceived max.) as I'm aiming to keep my shoulder in good shape when I'm trying hard.  

Side planks. These are great for the rotator cuff, whose main role is not to rotate but to stabilise. You don't need to rotate the shoulder to exercise the rotator cuff and arguably exercises that don't involve rotation are more specific to climbing. You can introduce instability by wiggling your hips or waving your upper leg about. This is more climbing-specific than putting your hand on a wobbly surface and doesn't need extra kit.

Handstands: progress from supported to unsupported. One-arm if you're really strong/good. Also great for the rotator cuff. 

Neither of these require any equipment at all so I prefer them to kettleball or dumbbell exercises. Since they are closed-chain I would argue they are also more specific to climbing.  Note the point about consistency: if you happen to like Turkish get-ups or theraband exercises don't let anything I say stop you doing them.

Pull-ups or lock-offs, varying the grips and widths.

It's usually possible to find something to do pull-ups on. 

Is, Ys, Ts or face pulls using gymnastic rings attached to your pull-up bar (or door handle passing the tape over the top of a door).  Alternatively DIY a TRX kit with old climbing rope and plastic pipe or a wooden dowel for handles.

I’d suggest doing all of these and figure out which are difficult or feel unstable. I’ve been doing a select few for scapular winging but it’s a full shoulder muscle reeducation program so I’m sure you’ll find some weaknesses

Like with ANY compound lift be sure to keep your shoulder stable. You want to have your shoulder blades back and down throughout the entire range of motion. 

I think these 5 are excellent:

Hangs / weighted hangs - if you can hang from a pull up bar without aggravating your fingers. Remove weight (like by putting your feet on a chair) if too difficult. Just hang. If you have wonky shoulder mechanics, you'll find a that after hanging for a while (like 20-30 sec), your small muscles will fatigue and your body will naturally reorient and suck your scaps into place. Adding weight might be a good progression, or dropping to one arm.

Farmer walk / suitcase walk. Same idea as the hangs, but in the opposite direction. Farmer walk trains general grip, shoulders, and total body tension when you go heavy enough. Suitcase walk (one handed farmer walk) will shift emphasis to core stability.

Waiter walk. Same as the suitcase walk, but now overhead. Walking introduces an element of chaos into the movement, forcing your body to learn to suck the shoulder in during overhead movements.

Turkish get ups. Use a light weight (don't grimace, smile), and use these similar to how you would do yoga. Move from one stance to the next, explore ranges of motion, and relax into the position.

Face pulls. Don't go too heavy - focus on holding the end position and improving range of motion. Use cables or resistance bands rather than a suspension trainer, as the resistance profile of the latter emphasizes the mid range of the movement rather than the end range.

Of course, pull ups and overhead presses are also very nice - but for stability and injury resistance I think the above are better. Bend the elbow when your shoulders feel strong.

Lots of good suggestions here. One pivotal movement pattern that I feel has overwhelmingly healed my chronic shoulder instability and led to functional strength is anything that builds straight arm scapular strength. This translates to stronger mid and lower trapezius and external rotator cuff muscles and connective tissues--awesome for climbing and shoulder stability. My go-tos: straight arm lat bar pulldowns, hanging scapular retractions and plank scapular retractions, straight arm 90-45 degree DB front raises to full vertical, and Is-Ys-Ts. The key with all of these movements is to keep the elbows locked and focus on scapular motion over glenohumeral motion. A healthy dose of bottoms up KB work, including overhead presses, also helped. If your shoulders feel stable and strong individually, they're ready for compound lifts and more demanding exercises. It's taken me 2 years to get to this point (compound lifts) after a decade of nagging shoulder problems and my shoulders feel stronger than ever. Oh, and face pulls.

Many good suggestions here!  You could add Arnold press and ring rows to this extensive list.

add in stretches, with and without bands, and that can aid range of motion.

Andy Bennett wrote:

Lots of good suggestions here. One pivotal movement pattern that I feel has overwhelmingly healed my chronic shoulder instability and led to functional strength is anything that builds straight arm scapular strength. This translates to stronger mid and lower trapezius and external rotator cuff muscles and connective tissues--awesome for climbing and shoulder stability. My go-tos: straight arm lat bar pulldowns, hanging scapular retractions and plank scapular retractions, straight arm 90-45 degree DB front raises to full vertical, and Is-Ys-Ts. The key with all of these movements is to keep the elbows locked and focus on scapular motion over glenohumeral motion. A healthy dose of bottoms up KB work, including overhead presses, also helped. If your shoulders feel stable and strong individually, they're ready for compound lifts and more demanding exercises. It's taken me 2 years to get to this point (compound lifts) after a decade of nagging shoulder problems and my shoulders feel stronger than ever. Oh, and face pulls.

Seconding this. In my experience, straight arm work takes out some of the variables that may be used for compensating, e.g. ulnar/radial deviation at the wrist or some other poor mechanics upstream. I've found that part of my shoulder instability comes from moving the humerus around in the glenohumeral joint and not rotating about the glenohumeral joint

Andy have you found a good way to prevent compensations downstream in the spine? One problem I've had with straight arm is that I then try to compensate via poor lower spine mechanics (rotating the low back and hence the ribcage ever so slightly), which makes it very hard to engage the scapula muscles properly and instead the bicep and other surrounding musculature take over. I've found side planks and bird dogs help, but it's still hard to translate to the pulling movements

Greg l wrote:

Seconding this. In my experience, straight arm work takes out some of the variables that may be used for compensating, e.g. ulnar/radial deviation at the wrist or some other poor mechanics upstream. I've found that part of my shoulder instability comes from moving the humerus around in the glenohumeral joint and not rotating about the glenohumeral joint

Andy have you found a good way to prevent compensations downstream in the spine? One problem I've had with straight arm is that I then try to compensate via poor lower spine mechanics (rotating the low back and hence the ribcage ever so slightly), which makes it very hard to engage the scapula muscles properly and instead the bicep and other surrounding musculature take over. I've found side planks and bird dogs help, but it's still hard to translate to the pulling movements

Greg, I think it may be impossible to completely eliminate accessory motions like you describe. But if I understand what you're referring to specifically, I think I've had similar struggles. What I found worked to isolate these as much as possible is:

*With standing movements, keep the core, glutes, and entire lower body TIGHT.  Knees slightly bent. Hips should be posteriorly tilted (usually an effect of keeping the glutes tight!). This can take real focus, but when I do I'm amazed at the results, and I believe it really transfers to climbing 

*You can sit with legs out front, or in a lifting chair, to further isolate but this is often not as effective for me

*Planked or prone positions (like for scap ups or IsYsTs), I'd follow the same cues as for standing with keeping the lower body, core, glutes tight

A lot of this highlights missing biomechanical links that a lot of us climbers have (so much overhead upper body focus). Bread and butter lifts like deadlifts, squats, single leg Romanian deadlifts, and the like have really helped me and partners of mine. Don't worry too much about putting on a bunch of unwanted lower body weight -- if you focus on form and strength over reps and hypertrophy, you won't bulk up too much down there.