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Looking for feedback: I realised (for reasons described below) that I and my students probably had quite weak rotator cuff muscles. There are a lot of stretches for the rotator cuff in the ST program, and we all know the strengthening exercises that use small weights, resistance bands, and walls. But I didnt want to use weights or resistance bands in the class (we dont have them), and the walls arent available for use. I wanted to use just the floor and body weight. Also, many of my students are elderly and some have long-standing injuries to a shoulder, so I wanted my exercises to be (1) safe, (2) easily able to be done in the mildest form, possibly progressing to stronger, with the natural starting point being the mildest form, and (3) done on one side only for those who dont want to use both shoulders. I’ve tried the exercises below a few times with my students – I cant say they actually like them, but they are getting an effect. The first photo shows 3 panels for external rotation of the shoulder. The elbow is close in to the waist, the wrist is pushed into the floor using the shoulder muscles, and this rotates the body away from the arm. In the first one the knees are bent, and some of the body weight is taken on the legs, so the force on the shoulder is very mild indeed. In the second one the legs are straight, and if we start with the body rolled a bit towards the bent arm, there is a bit more force needed to lift the body and rotate it away from the bent arm. If the leg is taken across the body (3rd panel) more force is needed to rotate the body and this is the strongest position for activating the externally rotating cuff muscles. In the second photo (below) for internal rotation at the shoulder, the elbow is in close to the waist, and the wrist is pushed into the mat using the shoulder muscles. Again the legs can be straight (mildest) or the leg of the same side out to the side (strongest). The third photos (below) shows one targeting the infraspinatus and supraspinatus (confirmed by palpating). It is the same as the starting position for pushing up into a gymnastics bridge (yoga wheel). The shoulders as lifted off the ground by 1 cm or so. Many students find it impossible to move even this much, and just tense up the muscles. If can be done in a milder form with one arm at a time, in which case the body just rolls away from that side. This third exercise is what suggested to me that our rotator cuff muscles might be weak. I and my students who push up into a bridge find we lose strength in the starting position quite rapidly, and we need to strengthen even to start to lift off the ground (once off the ground a bit, the angle changes, and the arms can push – i.e. extend – instead to lift the body, and it gets much easier). The problems I found were (1) we had to be sure that the elbow was really as close into the side as possible – otherwise the arm muscles can push to make the movement. This needed close attention because the students seemed reluctant to do this. (2) One student who has a very slight figure did not feel anything (maybe because she is so light) until her leg was across in the strongest position. (3) One male who has a stocky muscular torso couldnt get his elbow in close enough, and I’m not sure he could get his arm in the right position so as to avoid pushing with his arm muscles to make the movement. Otherwise they all found that they had been activating the muscles. I didnt want to make it too strong, because of their age, and I thought it better to do a little rather than nothing. I’d appreciate if anyone has any feedback on this. Many thanks, Jim.

Hello!!! I am a regular user of reddit's /r/bodyweightfitness and /r/overcominggravity, and I have read something recently that peaked my interest. So, Steven Low, author of OG, answered a question about stretching and mobility and he mentioned "specific strengthening"and that it is very important for keeping new ROM. When I asked him to elaborate he said that after you stretch you need to do some specific mobility/strengthening in order for the nervous system to feel that the new ROM is safe and thus prevent it from retightening. Now, a little bit about my situation. I have bought Master the Shoulder back in November and took me about 2 weeks to learn the stretches and make a routine to follow. So I did and then I followed it until a week ago. Basically what I did was the intense ground lat stretch and the ground pec stretch as well as a bunch of other "minor stretches"(not from the program) and mobility BEFORE stretching as suggested. I did them consistently, 3-4 times a week whenever I was not sore, did everyday some limbering movements like the rubber cord sequence and Yuri's sequence, relaxed, deep breathing, enough time into the stretch, t-spine mobilization, soft tissue work etc. I know I stretched "right" because directly afterwards I really had gained ROM but the problem is it kept retightening back an hour later or the next day. I shot videos every few days doing the Emmet Louis' assessment for overhead flexibility and for a month or so I saw maybe 1-2cm progress, I can't really tell. A week ago I kind of reversed the order of some stuff that I did. I am always warmed up after doing my strength routine so I can go directly into my stretch routine. So this time I stretched (pecs/lats and the rest) and afterwards I did some wall slides, hanging scapular circles, rubber cord sequence and Yuri's sequence. So, stretching and THEN specific strengthening, I have been doing this for a week now and I have to say, this was the missing key for me. I can now stretch and "lock" the new range of motion! And I am seeing measurable progress! I'd like the opinions of other users and I have a question for Kit as well. I will speak only for the Master the Shoulder as this is the one I am going through now. The order of the exercises in the program is the opposite of what I described above and I understand this because they serve as a kind of exploration and warmup. But doing them like this did not work for me, I know that everyone is different and different things work for different people but this is an important aspect of stretching I believe. What's your view on this? Disclaimer: I am not saying the stretches are bad! Quite the contrary, the Mastery programs are the best resources I have about stretching! I am just making a case for the exercise order in MTS and why something different worked for me. Demetris