The Dumbbell Row

The Dumbbell Row has got to be one of the few good exercises bodybuilding has given us. At my gym it still carries a certain amount of stigma; however, as a tool for developing balanced strength across the shoulder girdle, it is invaluable. Most people are much stronger at 'pushing' or 'pressing' than they are at 'pulling'. Coupled with poor posture throughout the day, this leads to tight, strong pectorals and other large internal rotators of the shoulder, coupled with long, weak scapular retractors such as the middle and low fibres of trapezius.

Correctly performed Rows involve retraction and some depression of the scapula, followed immediately by humeral extension to bring the dumbbell (or kettlebell, 3 litre bottle of milk, etc) toward the lower chest and abdomen. It's important to emphasise the shoulder blade should be pulled back and down; if you are shrugging the scapula up and hyperextending the humerus, you won't recruit the lower fibres of trapezius. The elbow will not travel far behind the torso if done right. In fact, the degree the arm moves doesn't actually matter. It just allows people to get a bit of momentum going, allowing training of scapular retraction with heavier weights.

Do this exercise right and load it up. Sets of 10-20 with 40kg or more will build excellent strength in the lower traps and correct imbalances across the shoulder girdle. If it's good enough for the ridiculously successful Chinese weightlifting team, it's good enough for you.

Exercises for Scapula Movement

Here's a few more exercises that you can add to your warm-up, after training or even load them up and use them in your workout. They all have in common the aim of developing your ability to control the movement of the scapulae in isolation, in the process strengthening the muscles responsible and hopefully as a by-product preventing shoulder pain and injury. As with the other exercises I described in the last post, it helps to try and 'feel' these as much as possible. What I mean by this is concentrating on which muscles are working, how your scapulae move and how you can alter the movement by moving the scapulae into different places.

Scap Dips

Scap Pullups

Scap Protraction

Scap Retraction 

Band Protractions 

See how with each of these exercises, scapula movement occurs with minimal movement at other joints. The exception is the band protraction. I included this one because it combines protraction of the scapulae, strengthening serratus anterior, with a nice stretch of pectoralis major and other humeral flexors when the arms are behind the body. Efforts should to emphasise scapular protraction over humeral transverse flexion in this exercise to minimise the contribution of pec major; the stretch should assist this.

Musculature of the Shoulder

The muscles controlling the Shoulder Girdle are both numerous and complicated. Many serve several purposes, effecting one or more of the articulations of scapula and/or humerus as discussed previously. To make this rather dry subject a bit more applicable, I am going to divide them broadly into muscles that act upon the scapula, muscles that act upon the humerus, and muscles that act on both. Within these categories, I will name the function(s) of each muscle. The images shown are from the timeless Gray's Anatomy, available at http://www.bartleby.com/107/
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Muscles acting on the Scapula

• Trapezius: elevation (upper fibres), depression (lower fibres), retraction (middle fibres), upward rotation (upper and lower fibres synchronously)
• Rhomboids: retraction, downward rotation
• Levator scapulae: (elevation)
• Serratus anterior: protraction, upward rotation
• Pectoralis minor: depression, tilts scapula anteriorly
  

Muscles acting on the Humerus:

• Biceps brachii: flexion (with elbow fixed)
  
• Triceps brachii: extension (with elbow fixed, long head only)
  
• Deltoid: flexion (anterior fibres), abduction (middle fibres), extension (posterior fibres)
  
• Supraspinatus: abduction, stabilising head of humerus as part of rotator cuff
  
• Infraspinatus: external rotation, stabilising humerus as part of rotator cuff
  
• Subscapularis: internal rotation, stabilising humerus as part of rotator cuff
• Teres minor: external rotation, stabilising humerus as part of rotator cuff
• Teres major: internal rotation, adduction
  
• Coracobrachialis: adduction

Muscles acting on both Scapula and Humerus

• Pectoralis major: Humeral flexion (especially in abduction), extension (from fully flexed), adduction (lower fibres), internal rotation. Scapular protraction+elevation (upper fibres), protraction+depression (lower fibres)
• Latissimus Dorsi: Humeral extension, adduction, internal rotation. Scapular depression, retraction

So that is a whistlestop tour through the muscles that act upon the shoulder girdle. I've pretty much skimmed over a huge topic, so don't start picking me up on things I've missed. These are the most important bits. Clicking on the images should hopefully make them larger, so that the names can be read and muscles identified. I've pretty much skimmed over a huge topic, so don't start picking me up on things I've missed! These are the most important bits. Similarly, don't get too bogged down in this, however; it is a bit dry and not too important. In the next few posts, I will be covering more specific muscles in greater detail, as well as an analysis of various in-gym movements and the muscles necessary to bring them about. Thanks for reading!

The Shoulder

I plan to do a series of posts on the anatomy, physiology and common pathologies of the athlete's shoulder. This first one will cover the articulations, or movements, that the shoulder is capable of. First it is necessary to cover briefly the anatomy of the shoulder complex, as this better aids us in understanding how different movements are accomplised.

The shoulder girdle consists of three bones: the scapula (shoulder blade), the clavicle (collarbone) and the humerus (long bone of the upper arm).

The scapula and the humerus articulate at the glenohumeral joint. The clavicle meets the acromion process of the scapula at the acromioclavicular joint, above the glenohumeral joint. The medial end of the clavicle forms the only bony connection of the shoulder girdle with the body, meeting the sternum at the sternoclavicular joint. Posteriorly, the scapula overlies the thorax, forming the scapulothoracic joint. There is no direct relation of the scapula to the ribcage, the scapula instead gliding over the surface of the body wall suspended by a complex network on muscles.

The anatomy of the shoulder girdle makes the broadest range of movements possible, at the expense of stability (compare with the hip, where the pelvic girdle bones are fused and capable of only very limited movement). The glenohumeral joint has been likened to a golf ball sitting on a golf tee, making the support of various muscles critical to the effective functioning of the joint. Similarly, the scapula can move extensively across the body wall to further the range in which the arm can move. The images above and below illustrate the relationships of the bones which make up the shoulder girdle.

The movements of the shoulder can be subdivided into movements of the humerus and movements of the scapula and clavicle. It must be borne in mind that most movements that we perform in the gym and in daily life involve a combination of both humeral and scapula movement. Indeed, effective functioning requires the two to move together effectively, a phenomenon known as scapulohumeral rhythm. Scapular dyskinesis, faulty scapulohumeral rhythm, may be responsible for common shoulder overuse injuries.


This first video shows the isolated movements of the Scapulae. In order, these are:

• Elevation
• Depression
• Protraction
• Retraction
• Upward rotation
• Downward rotation

The final two, upward and downward rotation, are difficult to demonstrate without moving the humerus as well. They may also at first glance appear identical to Elevation and Depression, but as the image shows, the scapula in fact rotates to point the glenoid upwards.



The next video shows the movements of the humerus at the glenohumeral joint. These are in order:

• Flexion
• Extension
• Abduction (aB)
  
• Adduction (aD)
• External rotation in adduction
• Internal rotation in adduction
• External rotation in abduction
• Internal rotation in abduction

The rotation of the humerus was shown in both adduction and abduction, as this can be a difficult concept to grasp. Combinations of these movements can create effectively new ones, such as transverse flexion (moving from an abducted position to a flexed position). Since this is a combination rather than a true articulation, it is not included. This is the movement seen in a dumbbell flye, for example.



Combinations of scapular and humeral movements accomplish the movements that we use in the gym. For example, the overhead press involves scapula upward rotation, some protraction and elevation, and humeral flexion and some external rotation. Looking at the images and videos above can aid in understanding how this happens. Another is example is a horizontal row, which involves scapula retraction, depression and humeral extension.

The best way to understand these movements and understand your body better, is to attempt these movements in isolation yourself. It is a subject for another article, but failure of proper synchronous contraction of various muscles during different scapular and humeral movements can result in some common and frustrating shoulder problems. Just learning how to accomplish the various different movements, focusing on the different muscles contracting in each one, can go a surprisingly long way to improving shoulder issues.

In the next article, I will deal more with the muscles that accomplish the articulations described above. Common dysfunctions and their remedies will follow.