Tip: Swing for Strong & Healthy Shoulders Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness Training Tip Swing for Strong & Healthy Shoulders Here' s an easy and fun way to bulletproof your shoulders against injuries and even improve your posture by TJ Kuster February 19, 2020April 5, 2021 Tags It Hurts Fix It, Training A lot of old-school bodybuilders used to start their warm-ups by hanging on a pull-up bar. Yep, they'd just hang there, and sometimes they'd swing from side to side. Why? Because it just felt good, and it seemed to prepare their tight shoulders for the heavy lifting ahead. You know who else has strong and healthy shoulders? Chimps. What do chimps do? They hang and swing on stuff. They also fling poo at each other, just like some bodybuilders, but let's put our focus on the hanging and swinging part. Adding some "chimp" movements into my training made my shoulders feel amazing, too. Swinging on monkey bars, or any implement, is a fantastic way to strengthen your grip, develop your lats, and improve your posture. It also provides decompression on your shoulder and is a great way to train your scapula to function properly. Fortunately, with the popularization of CrossFit, many gyms have a rig complete with monkey bars or rings on them. If not, find a park. Below are several effective swinging variations that will improve the overall health of your shoulders. Tip: You're going to want some chalk before trying these. Neutral Grip Swing When you start this variation, you should always swing into your arm so that your palm faces you. This allows for safe external rotation of the shoulder and enhances the stretch on your lats. I'd recommend "patterning" any swinging movement by having your feet on the ground before you jump right into it. Neutral Grip Swing Patterning Think "sniff your armpit" each time as you make a pass under the bar. Getting a little momentum will help you feel out the movement and lead to a smooth transfer for each grab of the bar. Move slowly and methodically. Don't try to get through it as fast as possible. Monkey Bars for Shoulder Mobility Make sure your elbows stay straight so that the movement comes from your shoulder complex. Although you can do monkey bars with bent elbows and tight shoulders, that won't lead to greater mobility. Get your momentum going from side to side before you swing out on the bars. Start with going from bar to bar and progress by skipping bars. Similar to the neutral grip swing, try to swing towards your armpit so that your shoulder stays in a neutral position. You should feel a big stretch in your upper back from where your shoulder blades move. Lateral Swing You can add movement to this one by moving back and forth across the monkey bars, or you can stay stationary. Start off with small side to side swings before making your movements bigger. Wrap your thumb around the bar when starting so you don't lose your grip. Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Training Enormous and Strong Legs The Mountain Dog Way Most lifters are lacking in the leg department. Why? Because the type of training you have to do for leg growth is brutal. Here’s how to get it done. Bodybuilding, Legs, Training John Meadows October 11 Training Tip How to Do Chain Dips Using chains for dips is not only a good way to add weight, the chains will actually teach proper form on regular dips. Chest, Exercise Coaching, Tips Joel Seedman, PhD August 13 Training Tough or Reasonable Which are better, tough diets and tough workouts or reasonable diets and reasonable workouts? Maybe you need to mix and match a little. Bodybuilding, Powerlifting & Strength, Training Dan John October 15 Training Strong and Healthy Shoulders If you want to correct a few muscle imbalances you may have created before you knew better, or if you want to fortify the integrity of your shoulder joints and maybe even improve your posture, then this might be just the article you need. Training John Paul Catanzaro February 23