Centre and open

In Part 1 we saw what's really going on: short and dominant in front, weak down and back, overactive up top. And why it isn't enough to just work on posture — you need control and strength across the full range. Now we train — in an order that makes the difference.

1. Wake up — short, frequent, low-key

The opener moves the shoulder through its range and switches the nervous system on. Kept deliberately small — this can happen a few times a day, in between, not as a big session.

• Arm circles and corkscrews. Take the arms through the full arc, then deliberately through internal and external rotation. This mobilises and activates at once.
• Halo (kettlebell or plate around the head) and shoulder CARs (controlled articular rotations: slow, maximal circles with a straight arm, under your own tension) — range you control yourself, rather than getting stretched passively.
• Quadruped shoulder circles / shoulder square. On all fours the shoulder blade carries load — serratus and stabilisers learn to guide it cleanly across the rib cage.
• Chin nods. A gentle nod wakes up the deep neck flexors — the direct counter to the forward-head drift that daily life builds in.
• Wall angel. Back and arms against the wall ask for thoracic extension, upward rotation of the shoulder blade and external rotation all at once — a test and an exercise in one.

2. Centre — the rotator cuff

This is the heart of the work against a tight neck. The aim: make the external rotators strong and easy to recruit, so the joint stays centred in every position. For most people this is the single biggest lever.

My key exercise for it is the banded static external rotation with elevation: you hold external rotation against a band while the arm is raised. That works the cuff under constant tension in exactly the position the shoulder is challenged in during daily life. Add dynamic versions on the cable or band, and rotator-cuff band work across several angles.

That's also why the static external rotation works as a gentle way in when the shoulder is irritated: it builds recruitment and strength without having to move through the full range. As things settle, the dynamic work comes in.

3. Open — free up the front

For the shoulder blade to sit up, the front needs length. The short pectoralis minor is the lead player here.

• Doorway stretch. Forearms on the frame, step gently through. Targets the pec that pulls the shoulder blade forward.
• Shoulder dislocates with a stick or band overhead. Takes the shoulder through the full overhead arc; the width is set by your grip.

And this is the ratio principle in its purest form: opening without recruitment afterwards fizzles out. So every stretch flows straight into block 4.

4. Control — the back chain and the shoulder blade

The "down and back" that's weak and poorly recruited in most people. This is where we level the ratio — with exercises that target the lower and middle trapezius, the rhomboids and the rear cuff while barely engaging the upper trapezius.

• Prone Y (lying, arms in a Y, with and without light weight) and bent-over Y — they hit the lower trapezius and upward rotation.
• Face pull — horizontal abduction plus external rotation, the direct counter to pushing. A regular in nearly every programme.
• Standing band shoulder extension at the door — driving the arms back against resistance, once with thumbs in, once holding external rotation (thumbs out). Hits the lower and middle trapezius, the rhomboids and the rear deltoid; the externally rotated version brings the cuff's external rotators in as well. The position is half the exercise: chest lifted, shoulder blades down and back, chin tucked.
• Reverse flys on the cable, bent over, or with a band — once with thumbs up, once with thumbs in: two angles for the back chain.
• Alternating superman — whole posterior chain; arms in line ask for upward rotation and shoulder-blade depression.

The cue for the whole back chain: weight is secondary, technique is everything. Long arms, movement from the shoulder blade, easy up top. Better half a kilo done well than five with the shoulders hiked up.

The two often-overlooked building blocks

Two things are missing from a lot of shoulder programmes — and they're often exactly why it doesn't come together.

The serratus anterior. It's the main upward rotator and the most commonly overlooked weak spot. Where most people do plenty of pulling together (retraction), the other direction is missing: holding the shoulder blade to the rib cage and rotating it up. The best tools for that are wall slides with protraction and the push-up plus (at the top of a push-up, gently spread the shoulder blades apart).

The thoracic spine. The arm sits on the rib cage, and the rib cage is shaped by the thoracic spine. If it's stiff and heavily rounded, the shoulder blade can't sit up as well — and the range up top simply isn't there. So a small block of thoracic extension and rotation belongs in the mix (extension over a roller or edge, rotation on all fours).

And one detail that's easy to miss: breathing. A rib cage that's held permanently raised (lots of chest breathing, lots of stress) keeps the shoulder blade in a poor starting position and the upper trapezius switched on. A few calm breaths with a longer exhale, letting the ribs settle, work well as a reset before the shoulder-blade work.