I get asked this one a lot in my weekly Q&A- what do you do for warm ups?
Really for the early part of my career it wasn't much especially for my upper body ...some dumbbell bench, pull up hangs, recently RPR for bench days. And just taking my time getting under the bar on squat days, letting my shoulders stretch themselves out. Basically what I was doing was the bare minimum, which I'm willing to bet is what most of you do. Slackers.
Through 4 years of abuse in college football, I made it out with no major shoulder injuries, unlike our mike (middle linebacker) who ended up with double shoulder surgery our junior year. I may or may not have had to help him shower...it wasn't his proudest moment or mine, but that's just what friends do.
Through genetics, hard work in the weight room, and good luck I haven't had much to complain about in that department. And my bench was a testament to that. However, the further I got away from football and athletic training, I became too specific with my movements and too stiff within those limited movement patterns.
Eventually I paid for it with a torn rotator cuff. Would I have torn it at some point regardless?- Maybe. Does it matter- No. But heed my warning - do the shit you don't like to do now so you can keep doing the things you like as you get older.
The added bonus that I refused to accept- I knew in the back of my mind that if I could increase my shoulder mobility it would help, at least a little bit, with my squat set up. But mobility work isn't fun, so I just put it off.
And now with a torn rotator cuff I'm learning what I should have learned years ago. So these are the basics of what my PT (Mike Allen of Precision PT in Pittsburgh) has me doing. And if I'm honest, my shoulders feel less tense and I'm interested to see how it helps my squat when I get back under a bar.
Takeaway- Spend 5 minutes at the beginning of every training session doing these. 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps. Quality over quantity.
Thoracic Openers
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i02Q51a2AU]
Windmill
[youtube=http://youtu.be/B5esGjhxOm0]
Bench Lat Stretch
[youtube=http://youtu.be/1Kj7q4MUlNM]
Scap Angels
[youtube=http://youtu.be/8if9AwqNQbI]
Crab
[youtube=http://youtu.be/hcyUtcyokA8]