The teres muscles are in their most outstretched position if your shoulders are lifted when digging into the water, putting a bunch of strain on them. Using the lats to keep that shoulder down in place will help. Practicing proper pull-ups, keeping the shoulders down in socket, can help with this. Also, I find my surfers have strong adductor muscles of the shoulder but are weak in exercises like over head military presses. It’s another exercise that when done correctly, keeping the shoulders down, gives a counter muscle balance to the shoulder joint and opens up the teres muscles and helped balance out the tension in those muscles.
Yes, that would be a great way to activate those muscles. You could even gently let your shoulders extend upwards, controlling it with the lats and Teres muscles and then retract the shoulder back in. But in the end, what you need to educate the muscles to do is to learn how to keep the shoulders in their socket while reaching upwards. Your exercise is a great way to start educating those muscles.
good stuff - question - i changed the way I paddle when I surf and the pain seems to have 'moved' -- i used to get pain in my left shoulder (radiating down the left medial head from rotator cuff), but now the pain/stiffness is basically in the "meat" of the upper back between my shoulder blades, and even a little up into my lower neck muscles ... is this a good or bad thing?
That radiating pain down your arm may be caused by a nerve in your neck. If you get the pain to move up the chain and more centralized to the spine then it is at least moving in the right direction, meaning you’re helping the situation. Most likely, the fact that the current discomfort is in the muscles and less nerve related is a good sign. The area your feeling it now is in a good place because you’re working muscles you probably weren’t using before and that discomfort should subside within the next two to three weeks. If it continues to increase then you may be compressing or pinching your scapulas together too much and you need to widen your back and engage your lats more. Hope that helps!
Super helpful - thank you!
Thanks for the kind comment! Glad we could help ☺️
makes perfect sense, excited to make the mechanical adjustment. (55 and learning to surf)
Love that you’re learning to surf. Let us know how things go!
I’ve had extremely tight teres minor and major muscles post surf. I’m thinking I’m shrugging my shoulders with each stroke. That makes a lot of sense
The teres muscles are in their most outstretched position if your shoulders are lifted when digging into the water, putting a bunch of strain on them. Using the lats to keep that shoulder down in place will help. Practicing proper pull-ups, keeping the shoulders down in socket, can help with this. Also, I find my surfers have strong adductor muscles of the shoulder but are weak in exercises like over head military presses. It’s another exercise that when done correctly, keeping the shoulders down, gives a counter muscle balance to the shoulder joint and opens up the teres muscles and helped balance out the tension in those muscles.
Great video!
Thank! Hope it helps. And thanks for commenting!
Sweet, does hanging on a bar with my lats activated help too?
Yes, that would be a great way to activate those muscles. You could even gently let your shoulders extend upwards, controlling it with the lats and Teres muscles and then retract the shoulder back in. But in the end, what you need to educate the muscles to do is to learn how to keep the shoulders in their socket while reaching upwards. Your exercise is a great way to start educating those muscles.
good stuff - question - i changed the way I paddle when I surf and the pain seems to have 'moved' -- i used to get pain in my left shoulder (radiating down the left medial head from rotator cuff), but now the pain/stiffness is basically in the "meat" of the upper back between my shoulder blades, and even a little up into my lower neck muscles ... is this a good or bad thing?
That radiating pain down your arm may be caused by a nerve in your neck. If you get the pain to move up the chain and more centralized to the spine then it is at least moving in the right direction, meaning you’re helping the situation. Most likely, the fact that the current discomfort is in the muscles and less nerve related is a good sign. The area your feeling it now is in a good place because you’re working muscles you probably weren’t using before and that discomfort should subside within the next two to three weeks. If it continues to increase then you may be compressing or pinching your scapulas together too much and you need to widen your back and engage your lats more. Hope that helps!
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