The Best Mobility and Stability Exercises to Improve the Front Rack: Part 2 – Addressing the Shoulder Blade, Shoulder Joint, Elbow and Wrist

Well it looks like your front rack position could use some work huh?  Me too.  Let’s get down to business.  Last week we spoke about how important hammering down thoracic spine mobility and stability is to get into a proper front rack position.  If you missed it, you can find the article HERE.  Next on the list, we’ll talk scapulas.

So as you guys may have heard, the thoracic spine attaches to the ribcage which connects to the scapula (say what?  Click HERE for an explanation).   Because of this, we need to clear up any issues with the thoracic spine before we start worrying about the shoulder blades.  Getting into the correct position with your shoulder blades is going to rely on having adequate alignment in the thoracic spine first.  Good position of the thoracic spine will automatically clear up a lot of the other issues down the chain in our body.  So what’s next?

2) Scapular stability and motor control:

If the thoracic spine is all cleared up, the scapula will be free to do its job.  (Find out more about how this occurs HERE)  So what are we trying to accomplish with our shoulder blades?

If we’re talking about front squats and cleans we want to position the shoulder blades in the most optimal position to keep our elbows up high and support the weight on our shoulders.   A few things to keep in mind here:

• The position of the scapula directly affects the amount of external rotation we’ll need at the shoulder to get into an efficient position.  If we have a better position of the scapula (slight retraction/neutral position of the scapula) we won’t need as much external rotation at the shoulder to get into a strong position (1).  In other words, if your shoulders are …read more
  
  

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