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Copyright © 2018 by Mixed Martial Media – All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without express written permission of Eric Wong or Mixed Martial Media Inc. Published by: Mixed Martial Media Inc. 388 Richmond St. W Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5V 3P1 E-mail: hey@pmcoach.pro Web: www.precisionmovement.coach This program is designed to improve your fitness. Not cure cancer, gonorrhea, or any other disease you may have. While a lot of time and effort has been invested in making this program as effective and safe as possible, you may still hurt yourself while doing it. You may even die. While both are unlikely, if either happens, it’s not my fault. It could’ve been just the trigger for something that’s been hanging around for a while, waiting to come out. That’s why before starting any exercise program, including this one, you may want to get cleared by your doctor. If you have any weird symptoms like dizziness, pain in your left arm, forgetfulness, or anything else that’s not normal, stop and seek medical help. If you choose not to obtain the consent of your physician and/or work with your physician throughout the duration of your time using the recommendations in the program, you are agreeing to accept full responsibility for your actions. I don’t know what the law says if your doctor is fat and unhealthy, though, in which case you may want to get a new doctor. You can’t give what you don’t have! This is my legal disclaimer as well as a tidbit of sound advice.

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Bullet Point Benefits of the Shoulder Flexibility Solution ................... 5

Flexibility Defined .............................................................................. 9

7 Reasons We Get Tight ................................................................... 12

Why Static Stretching Isn’t The Solution .......................................... 14

The Biggest Posture Myth… BUSTED!............................................... 15

Shoulder Kinesiology 101 ................................................................. 17

Neutral Posture................................................................................ 19

Movements ...................................................................................... 20

Glenohumeral Joint ...................................................................... 20

Scapular Movement ..................................................................... 22

Anatomy .......................................................................................... 24

Spine ............................................................................................ 25

Shoulder Bones ............................................................................ 27

Joints ............................................................................................ 28

Passive Soft Tissues ...................................................................... 30

Muscles ........................................................................................ 31

Anterior Prime Movers ................................................................. 32

Posterior Prime Movers ................................................................ 33

Anterior Stabilizers ....................................................................... 35

Posterior Stabilizers and Rotators................................................. 36

The 3D Flexibility System™ .............................................................. 37

Soft Tissue .................................................................................... 40

Neuromuscular ............................................................................. 41

Strength ........................................................................................ 43

The 6 Step Shoulder Flexibility System ............................................. 45

Step 1: Mobilize the Joint ............................................................. 46

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Step 2: Address Tissue Quality ...................................................... 47

Step 3: Deactivate Overactive Muscles ......................................... 48

Step 4: Create New Cross-Bridges ................................................ 49

Step 5: Stabilize the New Range of Motion ................................... 51

Step 6: Functional Integration ...................................................... 52

The Next Step .................................................................................. 53

References ....................................................................................... 54

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I’d like to start this manual off by getting you EXCITED. I figure if you’re excited and you see what’s possible for you, it increases the likelihood that you’ll actually do the program and when you do get results, you’ll be happy and that’s a win-win all around. So here are some of the benefits other users have already gotten from following the Shoulder Flexibility Solution (SFS): ✓ Improved Posture – posture gets hammered in today’s day

and age and left unchecked, you’ll look like the hunchback of Notre Dame but because you’re a smart action-taker and you’ve grabbed this program, you’ve got everything you need to prevent this from happening.

✓ Less Pain – tight shoulders can cause impingements, tendonitis

and even headaches so once you get into the program and loosen up, you might quickly find relief from aches and pains from injuries or that you’ve just learned to live with.

✓ More Power – if you play any sports, then loosening up your

shoulders following this program will make you more powerful because you won’t be fighting your own body to execute your techniques and you’ll be able to create more speed and “whip”, whether you’re throwing a punch, hitting a golf ball or swinging a tennis racquet

✓ Deeper Breathing – tightness in the shoulders restricts breathing by preventing proper expansion of your ribcage and thoracic spine. Release your tight shoulders and you’ll be able to get more air in with each breath, improving conditioning during sports and workouts and you’ll feel more relaxed in your normal daily activities.

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✓ A Better Life – when you follow this program, you’ll feel looser and more relaxed everyday, you’ll have less pain, you’ll be able to do things your tight shoulders prevented you from doing and you’ll be reclaiming movement that is rightfully yours – all of this will inevitably lead you to live a better life.

But don’t just take my word for it, here are some emails and comments I’ve received from others who have followed the Shoulder Flexibility Solution: “Hey Eric,

A bit of background... I'm a 46 and reasonably fit

guy. I did P90X for many years and lost a lot of

weight. But I aggravated an old shoulder injury.

When I was 22, I had a partial AC separation in my

left shoulder. I felt well enough to go skiing a

month later and unfortunately had a bad fall and had a

partial rotator cuff tear in my other shoulder. I

never had surgery and have never felt 100% since.

I've lived with lots of shoulder and neck pain and get

regular deep tissue massage. Massage helps

temporarily but the pain and tightness returns in a

couple of days. I've had physical therapy but

nothing has ever really worked. My day job as a

trader at a bank has me stressed out in front of 8

computer screens for 8 hours a day. I am the guy at

work that has a theracane always hanging over my

shoulder so I can massage all my trigger points.

I really think your SFS program is helping. I'm

getting up early (at 4:30 am) before my daily commute

to work to do it along with some other workouts which

I'm cutting short because of lack of time. The days

that I get up and do the workouts I feel better most

of the day. My shoulders are feeling stronger and I

have less pain. I'm not fixed yet. I still have pain

and I realize this is going to be a process that won't

be finished quickly. It can be frustrating but I'm

sticking with it.

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I really like the way the workouts are setup and the

tests to determine which workouts to do. I'm focusing

on three workouts that I'm alternating between:

Winged Scapula, Overhead Reach, and Rounded Shoulders.

To be honest I always feel the best throughout the day

after the Rounded Shoulders routine. But I think all

the workous are helping. I've been told my Seratus is

turned off so the SB planks and pushups are helping.

The Core Repositioner routine has made me realize the

imbalance in my body. My left hard can not touch the

wall when I bring it backwards overhead while my right

has no issue. I think the more I've been doing it

though the more flexible I'm becoming.

Thanks for your efforts to build this workout routine.

I wish I had it 15 years ago! I can't wait to feel

good again so I can start P90X type workouts again.

Best regards,

Marc”

“Been working on my rolled shoulders and can

definitely tell things are loosening up although I am

a little sore. I can even touch my right arm to my

left scapula and I was not able to do that at the

beginning (and have not done the exercises for that

yet scapula part yet!)

Holly”

“Eric,

Thanks for the follow up. I did start working on my

shoulders right away.

I started to look for some specific shoulder help when

my grandkids said "hey Papa, can you do this?" and

they touched their fingers together behind their

backs, and I couldn't even get close and had some

serious pain trying. (Which turned out to be one of

your tests.

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I have been working out pretty serious again for the

past year plus, after 2 heart attacks and two stents

went in, in 2011. I thought I was doing pretty good to

this point but got a real eye opener.

My results so far are pretty satisfying to me. Still

can't touch fingers yet but I can now stand flat

against a wall, arms bent at 90's and rotate my hands

above my shoulders and touch the wall with the backs

of my hands without coming off the wall. Couldn't do

that before either.

All of the exercises are very helpful but especially

the hands behind back shoulder rotations, the wall

taps and the shoulder/fascia overhead stretches.

I am closer to 62 rather than 61 years young.

Thank you.

Gary Roy”

Now I’m sure you’ve got your personal reasons for why you got this program, but I just wanted to share all of this to pump you up and make you aware of some of the results people have already gotten by following SFS.

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There are 3 main types of flexibility and before we get into the definition of flexibility that we’ll use whenever the word comes up later in this program, let’s talk about these 3 types, first. I’ve adapted these definitions from Kurz’s book, “Stretching Scientifically”. Static passive flexibility is a measure of how far you can hold a joint in a position when when there’s an external force (partner, gravity) creating the movement, such as when you lie on your back and have someone lift your leg to stretch your hamstring. Static active flexibility is how far you can hold a joint in a position when you are creating the movement with your muscles, such as standing up and holding your foot up in front of you as high as it will go. Its limit is due to “length” of the antagonists (muscles being stretched) and strength of the agonists (active muscles). Static active flexibility is always greater than or equal to static passive flexibility. Similarly, we have dynamic versions of both of the above, but we are mainly concerned with the active version. Dynamic active flexibility is the ability to perform movements within a full range of motion of the joints when the muscles of the moving body part are creating the movement, such as when you’re standing and swinging your leg, or throwing a roundhouse kick. Now, in this program, we’re going to define flexibility as, “The maximal range of motion (ROM) that you can enter, hold and exit with control.” This definition of flexibility is similar to dynamic active flexibility, except it also leaves room for the static components which may occur depending on the demands of your life and sport.

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There are 2 reasons for defining flexibility in this way… For example, in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, a competitor can push their opponent’s leg up towards their face and hold it there, which is dynamic/static passive flexibility, and you must be able to get out of this position, which is dynamic active flexibility. So instead of having to confuse the sentence by labelling each component of the movement with each specific type of flexibility, our definition allows us to simply refer to it as “flexibility”. That’s reason #1. Reason #2 is that when it comes to developing flexibility, we must make use of different techniques that target each of the specific components of flexibility to achieve the best results, since they are related to one another. Static passive flexibility shows you the maximal ROM of the joint. Improving this component involves increasing soft tissue length and joint range. Static active flexibility shows you the relationship between the strength of the muscles moving the joint and the length of the tissues opposing the position. Increasing strength of the agonists (active muscles) improves this type of flexibility. Dynamic active flexibility shows you the ability of muscles to create movement and how coordinated your nervous system is in relaxing the opposing muscles. Working on the two types of static flexibility and addressing neuromuscular components is how to best improve this component of flexibility. As you can see, there’s much more to flexibility training than meets the eye!

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And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Over years of research and trial and error on myself and my athletes, I’ve uncovered other components of flexibility that once you put them to work for you, will have you making the best flexibility gains of your life. We’ll break that all down in the 3D Flexibility System™ section. So get ready to stretch your mind and your body.

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Here’s a list outlining common reasons why we get tight with some brief explanations. We’ve already talked about some of these points and some of them are self-evident requiring no further explanation, so I wanted to share this with you without over-explaining it so you can think for yourself what may have led to your tight hips. 1. We never move through a joint’s full range of motion and if we

don’t use it, we lose it.

2. We perform repetitive motions over and over through a partial ROM due to sports, work tasks or daily life, thus strengthening that particular ROM while decreasing the ability to move outside of that ROM.

3. We maintain chronic static positions, which decreases our ROM outside of that position. An example is sitting at a computer for work – do this for 8 hours a day and over time your shoulders and neck (not to mention your hips) will adapt to this shortened position.

4. We have an unstable joint due to poor motor control or muscle imbalances, so our nervous system signals the muscles surrounding that joint to tighten up to make it stable to prevent injury. Your nervous system sees injury prevention as a higher priority than flexibility so will choose a tight stable joint versus a loose unstable joint.

5. An injury occurs to one of the soft tissues in a joint such as the labrum and the nervous system signals the muscles surrounding that joint to tighten up so that the tissue can properly heal, just like with an unstable joint.

6. Trauma to a muscle happens such as a thigh bruise from a kick and it’s not properly addressed resulting in scar tissue and adhesions that reduce flexibility due to restrictions between

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muscle and/or fascial tissue (that’s fascial - I’m not talking about Kleenex).

7. We don’t stay properly hydrated. Although this one is under scientific debate, it’s easy to see how it could be true and anyone who has ever cut weight for an MMA fight or bodybuilding competition can probably attest to how you feel a lot tighter and less flexible.

What’s absent from this list is anatomical limitations, such as the shape of your bones preventing you from certain movements. However, you still want to work on achieving good flexibility to maximize whatever your potential is.

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Since you’ve made it here, I’m assuming you’ve already read the entire page where you purchased the Shoulder Flexibility Solution and you understand the 3 points I made about static stretching and why it isn’t the answer. To summarize, these 3 points are:

1. Static stretching doesn’t provide lasting gains in flexibility as most people with flexibility limitations also have a neuromuscular component limiting them and without re-programming this component, your body won’t change.

2. Because no strength is built at the end ranges of motion

(ROM) with static stretching, it doesn’t help with dynamic movements into and out of the limits of your ROM.

3. When done too aggressively (which most will do if they’re

looking for a “good” stretch), it can strain ligaments and other passive soft tissues and cause injury instead of prevent it.

Now, I’m not saying that static stretching isn’t useful because as you’ll see when we talk about the 6-Step System, it’s a good tool when placed at the appropriate time before and after other techniques. But if your goal is to improve your flexibility so it helps with how you move in and out of the gym and maintain the gains you make, static stretching is not going to give you everything you’re looking for.

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Often times when a kid is slouching their parent or maybe a teacher will tell them to “stand up straight”… The thing is, this is also often what we hear when us adults ask about or look into improving our posture. The thing is, if fixing our posture was as easy as simply “standing up straight”, we’d all have perfect posture. Here’s why this advice doesn’t work… Sometimes, we simply can’t create proper posture. We may have tight muscles, restrictions in fascia, or joints that have stiffened up over time that prevent us from standing in good posture. If this is the case, just wanting to stand I good posture isn’t good enough. But let’s assume our structural and soft tissue systems have the range we need to create good posture, then will simply standing up straight fix it? Yes, while you’re thinking about it… but ONLY while you’re consciously thinking about it. Once your attention moves to something else, your posture will revert back to its “normal”, which probably includes some forward head, rounded shoulders and protracted scapula. Unless all you’re doing all day is meditating on your posture, trying to stand up straight is a temporary fix.

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So what is the right way to fix our posture? Well, you have to address all of the areas that could be keeping you hunched over, including soft tissue, strength and especially neuromuscular – this is why I created the 3D Flexibility System™, which you’ll learn more about later on in this manual. Basically, you need to ensure you have the range of motion available to create good posture, then you have to re-program your brain to be in good posture without you having to think about it and that’s what we’re doing with SFS.

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Before going through the exercises and routines, it’s best to get a basic understanding of the kinesiology of the shoulder. The word kinesiology means the study of human movement. There are 4 major areas of study in Kinesiology: anatomy, biomechanics, physiology and psychomotor behavior (how our minds influence our movement). We’re going to focus on the anatomy and biomechanics of the shoulder because these components will help you understand the program and various terms that I’ll be using throughout the manuals and videos. While I will be teaching you the names of certain individual muscles because they must be identified to correctly perform some of the various exercises and techniques used in this program, please realize that most movements, especially functional real-world movements (like throwing a punch, for example) require a complex interplay of various muscles, which changes depending on what point you’re at during the movement. For example, many people refer to the Overhead Barbell Press as a shoulder exercise, but it’s using so many muscles including your deltoids (all 3 heads), pecs, traps, abdominals and all of the stabilizers of the shoulder and scapula. That’s why thinking solely of a muscle’s function in terms of its action at a single joint limits your ability to understand biomechanics. For example, it’s taught that the primary function of the middle deltoid muscle is to abduct the arm, which means to lift it to the side and away from your body, however, when your hands are behind your head like you’re doing a classic situp, the middle deltoid

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contributes to transverse/horizontal extension (it helps open the chest up). Instead, the most important thing to know is the way the fibers of a muscle run and then, no matter what position the joint is in, you can visualize the movement that would occur if that muscle contracted. And don’t worry, this takes much time and practice and is a skill that will develop as your understanding develops and you go through programs like this that actually teach you useful info about your own body. :-)

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This is a common term you hear in the fitness world these days and it’s something you need to understand to get the most out of the videos in this program. When you look at the body from the side, neutral posture occurs when these areas line up along a vertical plumb line: ✓ Ear canal ✓ Middle of the shoulder ✓ Middle of the hip ✓ Middle of the knee ✓ Ankle

If a stick were placed on the middle of your back, it would make 3 points of contact with your body: your head, between your shoulder blades and your tail bone. In between these points of contact are the 2 natural lordotic curves of your cervical and lumbar spine, respectively (in contrast, the thoracic and sacrococcygeal curves are naturally kyphotic). Neutral posture can also be used to refer to the position of just the head, spine, shoulder girdle, and hips, so even if you’re on all fours like the image below, neutral means the same alignment and same 3 points of contact with a stick as when standing.

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The basic terms used to describe various shoulder movements are shown with the images below. To learn these terms the quickest, I suggest you look at the diagrams and do the movements while saying the movement you’re doing. Do 10-20 reps of each daily for a week and I bet you’ll remember them for life. Either way, it’s all here for you to reference in the future if you get confused.

Moving the arm out to the side is called ABduction. Think of it as your arm being abducted by aliens, which is to be taken away. The opposite of abduction is ADduction, which you can think of as adding your arm back to your body.

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Internal and external rotation can occur at whatever position your arm is in and you can see this in the 2 positions in the diagram above.

Finally, moving your arm in the transverse plane is called horizontal flexion and extension.

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This diagram perfectly illustrates the movements your scapula makes and not much more needs to be described about these movements. In terms of postural dysfunction, the most common is a protracted and to a lesser extent, elevated scapula. In terms of movement dysfunction, what I’ve found is poor ability to upwardly rotate, partly because of excessive resting protraction, but also because many people think we should always keep our scapula “down and back”, regardless of the exercise being performed. If you do this with overhead exercises, the GH joint isn’t properly oriented because when your arms are overhead, upward rotation of the scapula ensures the head of the humerus can move smoothly within the joint. So drop the notion that shoulder blades “down and back” is always the right position and instead, understand that scapula must move in concert with the humerus in something we call the scapulohumeral rhythm.

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Basically this means that when you lift the arm up, the scapula should rotate upwards and when the arm comes down, the scapula should rotate downwards. Watch this wonderful video to see the scapulohumeral rhythm in action.

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If you didn’t know, this is kind of what your body looks like underneath your skin:

Yes, even if you’ve got some fat to lose or you’re not as fit as you’d like to be, you’re still quite the specimen once you get down to it. :-) The position the model is in is called the anatomical position, which is the neutral position that all anatomy books use when referring to different parts of your musculoskeletal system. I got a good look at the body and everything in it in my anatomy labs in university, where we poked and prodded around inside cadavers.

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The lab instructor was a nut job but I guess that’s what happens if your job is to saw up dead bodies and hang out with them all day [a real life Dexter!]. Now let’s dive in and we’ll start with the bones, move to muscles and finish with the passive soft tissues of your shoulder.

Your spine is made up of a bunch of bones stacked on top of each other called vertebrae, which are organized into 3 main areas: cervical (7 vertebrae), thoracic (12) and lumbar (5). At the bottom is the sacrum and coccyx (tailbone), which are fused vertebrae. The intersection between any two vertebrae is called a vertebral joint. So when people refer to a specific vertebral joint, they say the vertebrae above and below the area they’re talking about, such as L5/S1, which refers to the joint between the 5th lumbar vertebrae and the 1st sacral vertebrae (note that there’s really only 1 sacral vertebrae). As you can see in the pic, the 3 main areas of the spine have distinct and alternating natural curves. These curves allow your spine to better absorb force versus the vertebrae being stacked straight on top of each other. The main issues we’ll be dealing with in this program include an excessive cervical curve, which causes forward head, as well as an

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excessive thoracic curve (kyphosis), which contributes to rounded shoulders and difficulty reaching overhead. The other important point to learn about the spine here is to understand that it functions best and safest when it bends and moves smoothly with the motion coming evenly from many vertebrae instead of bending sharply at a single vertebral joint. Just like when a garden hose gets a kink and water flow decreases, a kink in your spine when you move can also decrease flow, but flow of the info carried by nerves. That being said, yes, your spine is designed for movement and while each joint doesn’t have a large ROM, because there are so many joints, when they move smoothly and in concert with each other, a large ROM can be achieved in flexion, extension and rotation.

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Your shoulder is made up of 3 bones: the scapula (shoulder blade), clavicle (collarbone) and humerus (upper arm bone). There are muscles attached all around each of these 3 bones that cause and stabilize movement at the shoulder joint. This is how these bones look superimposed onto the spine:

The one thing I want to draw your attention to here is the scapula – muscles attach to both the back of the scapula and the front of the scapula and when attached to the front of the scapula, they are between the scapula and the ribcage. Examples of these muscles are the subscapularis and serratus anterior.

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No, this section isn’t a tribute to Bob Marley, but a quick discussion of the 2 main joints in the shoulder where movement occurs.

The glenohumeral (GH) joint is the main shoulder joint and where most of the motion occurs. It’s a ball and socket joint and as such, it is free to move in any direction. Compare this to the elbow, which is a hinge-type joint that basically closes (flexes) and opens (extends) and it’s easy to see that your shoulders are designed for maximum mobility and it’s what we want to restore. The scapulothoracic (ST) joint isn’t a traditional joint, because it lacks the traditional structures such as bursae and a joint capsule. Instead, it is completely controlled and attached via muscles. There are other joints that you’ll hear about such as the acromioclavicular (AC) joint and sternoclavicular (SC) joint, but we’re not too concerned with them for the purposes of this program because the function and position of these joints is is directly related to the movement of the scapula, so we’ll focus on proper scapular movement and these joints should work properly as well.

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However, if you do have a persisting issue at either of these joints and this program doesn’t help, you’ll have to be treated by a manual therapist because it could take some skilled poking and prodding to get them working like they should.

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There are a number of passive structures in your shoulder joint that help it move smoothly through a large range of motion (labrum and bursa) as well as others that prevent dislocation (joint capsule and ligaments). Generally speaking, we won’t be directly addressing any of these structures other than the joint capsule. The joint capsule operates by the “use it or lose it” principle and because we don’t often reach up overhead and behind us, especially at the end ranges of internal and external rotation, we lose this ability. But then when we want to go and do Overhead Squats, a back bridge, throw a baseball or some other movement that requires this ability, it can restrict us. However, we will not be performing aggressive passive stretches to mobilize the joint capsule – instead, we’ll be mobilizing it via active, controlled movements, so that any new range we gain is controlled by our muscles and thus, safe and will last. You’ll learn more about this later when we dissect the 6 Step Shoulder Flexibility System.

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In terms of muscles, I don’t suggest you try memorizing all of their names and their functions. While it is helpful to know, it’s not necessary to fix your shoulder flexibility. I include this section for completeness and also because sometimes you’ll hear these muscles in my videos and elsewhere and now you’ve got a source you can refer back to for deeper understanding. We’re going to talk about the shoulder muscles in 2 different categories:

1. Primer Movers: these are the big muscles like the pecs and lats that the bodybuilders love and that contribute the bulk of the power to your upper body exercises and movements

2. Stabilizers: these are deeper muscles that provide stability to

the shoulder joint; they’re often thought of as the rotators, but stability is actually their main function

The prime movers are more superficial and can typically be easily touched while the stabilizers and rotators are smaller and deeper and harder to touch and feel. One point I want to make here is that especially when training the stabilizers, which is what the bulk of the exercises in the various SFS routines focus on, you don’t want to try to exert yourself at your maximum – you need to be relaxed and focused on creating the movement as I show you how, otherwise the big prime movers will come in and takeover and your stabilizers and rotators won’t be worked like they’re supposed to.

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The anterior aspect of the shoulder is relatively simple as you’ve got the big pecs including the pectoralis major and minor as well as the middle and anterior deltoids. Basically, these muscles are designed to Push forward or overhead, while the pecs also contribute to internal rotation. The lateral aspect of the shoulder is basically the middle portion of the deltoid, whose main functions are to lift the arm up to the side and to a lesser extent the front. The bicep also crosses the GH joint and it can contribute to flexion of the joint, but it’s contribution is minor to the muscles mentioned above so I typically leave it out and consider it mainly as acting on the elbow.

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It’s funny (and only natural, since it’s what we can see) that we spend so much time training our pecs and delts when there are so many more muscles to be worked on our back. The trapezius group is most superficial with 3 areas:

1. Upper: elevates the scapula (shrug) 2. Middle: retracts the scapula (pinch shoulder blades back) 3. Lower: depresses the scapula (opposite of shrug)

The rhomboids lie deep to the traps and primarily retract the scapula. The posterior deltoid extends the humerus (reach behind you) and also does a little external rotation.

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The latissimus dorsi (lats) primarily ADducts the humerus, which is to pull your arm towards your body, like when you’re doing a Pullup or the opposite of raising your arm to your side (ABduction). It also internally rotates and extends the humerus. The levator scapulae functions similarly to the upper trap in elevating the scapula but also causes downward rotation, which is how the scapula rotates when you’re bringing your arm down from overhead.

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Here, we’ve got the subclavius, which is a little muscle that ensures your clavicle doesn’t move and provides a stable anchor for the joint to properly function. We’ve also got the serratus anterior (check this out for a great 3D rendering so you can picture it), which could also be considered a posterior muscle because it basically wraps around your whole ribcage. The origin is the medial border of the scapula on the anterior face (close to the ribcage) and it wraps around to insert into the lateral portion of the first 8 ribs. When the serratus anterior doesn’t work right you get winged scapula, which is a common dysfunction and how you probably know about it.

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This group is your rotator cuff muscles, which can be remembered by the acronym SITT:

1. Supraspinatus 2. Infraspinatus 3. Teres minor 4. Teres major

These muscles contribute to stabilization and rotation and their function changes depending on the movement you’re doing and the position of your humerus. It’s erroneous to think that they’re the only muscles responsible for rotation of the humerus and also that their main function is rotation of the humerus. Instead, they’re more important as stabilizers of the shoulder joint itself, helping to keep the head of the humerus (ball) in the right position in the socket, so that the glenohumeral joint can move smoothly.

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I first introduced the 3D Flexibility System via my Hip Flexibility Solution program in 2013. This system was born out of my own frustration with the ineffectiveness of the traditional approach of static stretching in addressing my flexibility issues. I looked into the research, talked with many different strength coaches and therapists and most important of all – experimented with different techniques and methods to deal with my tight hips. Over time and much trial and error my hips began to loosen up and this increased flexibility also translated to better performance in everything I did from Squats and Deadlifts to throwing higher and faster kicks and skating faster with less energy when playing hockey. Through all of my research and “testing” on myself and on my athletes, this framework on how to deal with flexibility issues emerged and I organized my thoughts into what is now known as the 3D Flexibility System. Since 2013, I’ve successfully used this approach with thousands of people around the world via my Hip and Shoulder Flexibility Solution programs. I’ve also refined the system and my thinking around it and why it works so well and those thoughts are included here. So even if you already have the Hip Flexibility Solution and know this info already, read through this section because it’s been updated with my latest thoughts and findings.

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On the next page you’ll see the 3D Flexibility System matrix, which shows you the different areas that could be hampering your flexibility. Any one or all of these areas might be keeping you tight but luckily for you, you don’t have to figure it out because the design of the Shoulder Flexibility Solution addresses ALL of these factors. One thing to remember is that because we are working with the human body, which is a wholistic organism, one exercise can address multiple factors at once.

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As you can see, there are 3 main areas of possible restriction with 3 components beneath each that can keep you from achieving your flexibility potential. Now, let’s talk about each of the 9 flexibility factors above and how they may play a role in your current (and soon to be past) flexibility problems…

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There are 3 separate soft tissues in your body that cause flexibility issues that we will address: muscles, fascia and the joint capsule. Each of these tissues must be addressed with specific techniques. Classic static stretches typically only address muscle, which is why it can work, but will fail for many. However, static stretching is a useful tool when used at the right time, which you’ll learn about when we talk about the 6 Step System. To target the joint capsule, you need to get into an extreme end range of motion then rotate at this end range of motion, something that static stretches typically don’t do. Fascia will be addressed via self-myofascial release techniques such as foam rolling and using a ball to roll out restricted tissue as well as movements and stretches that span multiple joints. Fascia is essentially one “thing” (unlike muscles which are clearly distinct) that is connected from head-to-toe, which is why you need to stretch multiple joints at once which gets rid of any slack that might be in the system.

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The term neuromuscular refers to the interaction between the brain and nervous system and your muscles. The 3 areas of the neuromuscular system that we must take into consideration to maximize our flexibility efforts are Control, Reflexes and Pain Tolerance. Control refers to your ability to consciously activate and relax your muscles. Without control, you’ll never be able to strengthen weak muscles (that leads to tightness) and let go of tension, which is required to achieve full range of motion of a joint. There are 2 main reflexes that affect our flexibility: the (myotatic) stretch reflex and reciprocal inhibition. When a muscle is quickly stretched, the stretch reflex kicks in and causes the muscle that is being stretched to contract. This is important to understand because when it happens, it will limit our ability to achieve full ROM and the techniques used prevent this reflex from limiting the effectiveness of the exercises you’ll be doing. Reciprocal inhibition is a phenomenon that occurs when one muscle contracts, let’s say the glutes, the hip flexors, which is the opposing muscle (antagonist), automatically relaxes.

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Finally, stretch tolerance used to be called pain tolerance and I renamed it because I want to change your thinking going into it because it’s important that you don’t go so far as to cause tissue damage. There’s a difference between damaging pain and discomfort from stretching; the latter being what we’re after and what we’ll build tolerance to through repeated exposure to the stretch or exercise. Damaging pain on the other hand occurs either from a stretch or exercise that takes you to the end range of motion with too much force, or when a stretch is taken to too great a range or with improper alignment where it actually affects the ligaments. For static stretches, when you’re in the “sweet spot” you should feel the stretch mostly in the belly of the targeted muscle. If you feel the stretch more near where the muscle attaches to the bone, you may be stretching ligaments (or other soft tissues) and you should back off, reposition and go into the stretch again very slowly, stopping when you feel discomfort in the belly of the muscle. Once you’re in the sweet spot, hanging out here will reset your nervous system to allow this range of motion, increasing your flexibility.

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Strength is another area that is often left unaddressed by common approaches to improving flexibility, leaving you with less than acceptable flexibility gains and perhaps most importantly, not being able to maintain flexibility gains. Strength at the end ranges of motion must be developed in the Prime Movers (agonist and antagonist muscles) as well as the Joint Stabilizers. All of the stretching and lengthening work you do will be for nothing if you don’t reinforce it with strength. If your muscle is stretched and you don’t build strength at these new ranges of motion, it will simply revert back to its normal length. But when you gain flexibility then strengthen those new ranges of motion, you essentially build new muscle at these ranges of motion, which signals to your nervous system that the muscle is now “functionally” longer. This is the best way to maintain your newly acquired flexibility. And since we’re developing hip flexibility in this program, we must also develop core stability, because as you may remember from my personal hip (in)flexibility story, without proper core stability, other

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muscles must work to stabilize the spine and the most likely candidate is the psoas, since it runs right beside the lumbar vertebrae. While the psoas definitely helps to provide much-needed core stability, because it is constantly contracting, it shortens and tightens and limits hip flexibility. Often a tight psoas will relax itself without any stretching once proper core stability is established. But we won’t leave things to chance – we’ll hit all the areas that can limit your flexibility to help you get the fastest gains possible.

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This 6 Step Shoulder Flexibility System is the backbone behind every Shoulder Flexibility Solution workout. On the product page, I gave you a high-level overview of this system. Now, we’re about to go deeper so you understand how the workouts you’re following are designed. I truly believe understanding leads to successful application, which is why I’ve done my best to translate the science for you and educate you in a way that’s empowering, not confusing. The 6 steps are:

1. Mobilize the Joint 2. Address Tissue Quality 3. Deactivate Overactive Muscles 4. Create New Cross Bridges 5. Stabilize the New Range of Motion 6. Functional Integration

What’s even more important than the steps themselves is the order in which the steps appear. With that being said, let’s talk about each step and why they appear where they are in the 6 Step Shoulder Flexibility System.

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Ensuring that the joints affecting the shoulder are fully mobilized is the first step because if this work isn’t done prior to increasing the range of motion of the joint, building strength or any of the other techniques you’ll be using, you’re limiting yourself from the get go. The joints/areas needing to be mobilized and the order in which we’ll mobilize them are:

1. Cervical spine 2. Thoracic spine 3. Glenohumeral 4. Scapular-thoracic junction

We’ll be doing the same exercises to mobilize the joints and once you learn the technique for each of the exercises we’ll be using, they’ll take a total of about 3 minutes to complete and just after doing these exercises, your shoulders may feel better and looser than they have in a long time. The key is the technique – you need to be focused on executing the movements correctly with the proper intention and contractions creating the movements otherwise you won’t get the full benefits from them. This goes for all of the exercises in this program and not just these ones, but I say it here because the joint mobilizing exercises you’ll learn about look simple, but when done properly, are not as simple as they seem and are all about proper control than the way they may appear.

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Scar tissue, adhesions and other problems can restrict blood flow and neural input to your soft tissues including muscle, fascia, the joint capsule, cartilage and ligaments. Without blood flow and neural input, the tissues cannot grow and heal or may even atrophy away. Your brain operates by the “use it or lose it” principle because anything that’s not being used is simply wasting valuable energy by hanging around. This happens to muscles that still work but you don’t use, as well as to muscles that aren’t used because they’re not activating and functioning properly. So we’ll be addressing tissue quality with self-myofascial release techniques such as foam rolling and rolling out over a small and hard ball as well as fascial stretches.

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Anytime you’ve got a tight muscle group, it will typically result in compensatory movement patterns because some muscles will have to work more than others. The muscles that work will become facilitated, which is a term used to describe what happens when a movement pattern and becomes the “go-to” pattern. Think of it like blazing a trail through the forest – if there’s a path that gets taken over and over, soon the path will be clear and easy to walk – this is exactly what it’s like for a movement pattern that’s used over and over. The neural pathways to the muscles that creates this pattern is “easy” for your brain to use, so your brain uses it more, further reinforcing this pathway and movement pattern. That’s why when our goal is to increase flexibility, before we can “blaze a new neural trail” and create a new movement pattern that won’t result in tightness, we must inhibit the muscles that shouldn’t be working so others can come in and perform the task. This is where traditional static stretching comes in – it decreases firing to the muscle group stretched, which is also why it’s not a good idea to statically stretch a muscle right before you work it (especially for high speed, power or strength exercises) – because you’re basically shutting the muscle down. But when we want to shut a muscle down, static stretching is the best technique we have available.

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A cross-bridge is a term used to describe a component of the sliding filament theory of muscle contraction. Essentially, this theory hypothesizes that the way muscles contract is like Velcro – there are hooks and loops and when a muscle contracts, hooks attach onto loops to shorten the muscle and when a muscle lengthens, hooks release loops and get longer. To improve flexibility, you need to build more hooks and loops in these new ranges of motion, because without them, you’re basically building “useless flexibility”, which actually does not last. This is what static stretching does – increases ROM, but doesn’t build strength, which comes from the creation of new cross-bridges. The reason why this type of flexibility doesn’t last is because your CNS sees it as a threat since at the end ROM is the most dangerous from a tissue injury and joint stability perspective and if you have no strength there, it will send a signal to your muscles to tighten up to eliminate this threat. Plus, without any ability to contract your muscles in this range of motion, you simply won’t be able to use it in any controlled movements. That’s why we’re going to gain range and make it permanent by building new cross-bridges so you can use the range and so your CNS lets you keep it.

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The way we’ll do this is with long duration isometrics, which is the best way to build strength at the end range of motion.

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If we were to stop at building strength in the muscles that bring us to a new ROM, it’s like walking into a closet with the door closing and locking behind you. So we need to tell the CNS, “Hey, don’t worry, I can bring us into this ROM and I can bring us back out, so you don’t have to worry, we’re totally safe and functional here.” We do this by building the strength that takes us back OUT of this end ROM, as well as by building strength in the muscles that move us around this ROM. Because your shoulder is a ball and socket joint, in can move in any direction, no matter where it is, so we’ll do this by not only going in and out, but also circling within the end ROM. These rotational movements are created by all of the muscles that contribute to internal or external rotation, which can be pretty much any of the shoulder muscles Which ones fire depends on the position of the humerus, whether it’s relaxed by your side, in front of you, out to the side, up over head or anywhere in between. But the rotator cuff muscles play an especially important role here, hence their name and it makes sense that we’d train these guys since their main function is stabilization and if our goal is to tell the CNS we’re stable at our new end ROM, then these are the muscles that will send this message the best.

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After going through the previous 5 steps, we’ve addressed tissue quality, improved joint range, gained mobility and built strength in the muscles controlling the new end ROM. Now, it’s all about showing your CNS how to use this end ROM in the typical movements you do in the gym. When we do this right after the first 5 steps, we’re building this programming in right away when this new pattern is fresh before we our CNS gets exposed to any other patterns that might not fully use the full ROM. For example, you could do all this work to improve your ability to reach up overhead, then go lift something super heavy like a 3RM Overhead Barbell Press, which would likely chop the range of motion, especially on the last rep. This would then tell your CNS, “We’re not actually using this ROM, so go ahead, tighten us back up.” Which is exactly what we don’t want. So instead, we’re going to finish off by training through this full ROM in movements and exercises we do, so when we do go to the gym, we’ve already begun building this new range into the motor programs that control our movement patterns.

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Now that you’ve got the background behind this program, it’s time to put it into action. The next step is to perform the assessments to see which would be the best routine(s) to begin with. Once you identify the biggest issues to begin addressing, you’ll do the routines 6 days/week, which once you learn the exercises and proper form, will take you no more than 20 minutes each and can be done at home or at the gym. You also have a Pre-Workout Shoulder Prep routine that should be done before every resistance training workout you do, whether it’s with weights, rings or bodyweight-only. Once you get this going, it’s only a (short) matter of time until you start to experience greater freedom of movement, strength and stability in your shoulders. When this happens I’d love to hear from you so make sure you hit me up at hey@pmcoach.pro with your results.

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Books Alter, M. J. (2004). Science of flexibility (3rd ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Finando, D., & Finando, S. J. (2005). Trigger point therapy for myofascial pain: the practice of informed touch. Rochester, VT.: Healing Arts Press. Kurz, T. (2003). Stretching scientifically: a guide to flexibility training. (4th ed.). Island Pond: Stadion. McGill, S. (2002). Low back disorders: evidence-based prevention and rehabilitation. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. McGill, S. (2009). Ultimate back fitness and performance (4th ed.). Waterloo (Ontario): Backfitpro. Siff, Mel C. (2003). Supertraining. (6th ed.). Denver, CO: Supertraining Institute. Spring, H. (1991). Stretching and strengthening exercises. N.Y.: Verlag Thieme. Starrett, K. (2013). Becoming a Supple Leopard: the ultimate guide to resolving pain, preventing injury, and optimizing athletic performance.. Las Vegas, Nev.: Victory Belt Publishing. Walker, B. (2011). The anatomy of stretching: your illustrated guide to flexibility and injury rehabilitation (2nd ed.). Chichester, England: Lotus Pub.

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Journal Articles Amiri-Khorasani, M., & Kellis, E. (2015). Acute Effects of Different Agonist and Antagonist Stretching Arrangements on Static and Dynamic Range of Motion. Asian Journal of Sports Medicine. Dec;6(4). Avloniti, A., Chatzinikolaou, A., Fatouros, I. G., Protopapa, M., Athanailidis, I., Avloniti, C., Leontsini, D., Mavropalias. G. & Jamurtas, A. Z. (2015). The effects of static stretching on speed and agility: One or multiple repetition protocols?. European journal of sport science. Apr 7:1-7. Behara, B., & Jacobson, B. H. (2015). The acute effects of deep tissue foam rolling and dynamic stretching on muscular strength, power, and flexibility in division I linemen. Journal of orthopaedic trauma. Jun 24. Behm, D. G., Blazevich, A. J., Kay, A. D., & McHugh, M. (2016). Acute effects of muscle stretching on physical performance, range of motion, and injury incidence in healthy active individuals: a systematic review. Applied physiology, nutrition, and metabolism. Jan;41(1):1-11. Behm, D. G., Cavanaugh, T., Quigley, P., Reid, J. C., Nardi, P. S. M., & Marchetti, P. H. (2016). Acute bouts of upper and lower body static and dynamic stretching increase non-local joint range of motion. European journal of applied physiology. Jan;116(1):241-9. Cagnie B, Dickx N, Peeters I, Tuytens J, Achten E, Cambier D & Danneels L. (2008). The use of functional MRI to evaluate cervical flexor activity during different cervical flexion exercises. Journal of Applied Physiology. Jan;104(1):230-5. Chaouachi, A., Padulo, J., Kasmi, S., Othmen, A. B., Chatra, M., & Behm, D. G. (2015). Unilateral static and dynamic hamstrings stretching increases contralateral hip flexion range of motion. Clinical physiology and functional imaging. May 27.

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Chen, C. H., Chen, T. C., Jan, M. H., & Lin, J. J. (2015). Acute effects of static active or dynamic active stretching on eccentric-exercise-induced hamstring muscle damage. International Journal of Sports Physiology & Performance. Apr;10(3):346-52. Dallas, G., Smirniotou,. A., Tsiganos, G., Tsopani, D., Di Cagno, A., & Tsolakis, C. (2014). Acute effect of different stretching methods on flexibility and jumping performance in competitive artistic gymnasts. The Journal of sports medicine and physical fitness. Dec;54(6):683-90. Dusunceli Y, Ozturk C, Atamaz F, Hepguler S & Durmaz B. (2009). Efficacy of neck stabilization exercises for neck pain: a randomized controlled study. Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine. Jul;41(8):626-31. Gross, A., Kay, T. M., Goldsmith, C., Santaguida, P. L., Hoving, J., Bronfort, G., & Cervical Overview Group. (2015). Exercises for mechanical neck disorders. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. Jan 28;1. Kamali, F., Shirazi, S. A., Ebrahimi, S., Mirshamsi, M., & Ghanbari, A. (2016). Comparison of manual therapy and exercise therapy for postural hyperkyphosis: A randomized clinical trial. Physiotherapy theory and practice. Feb;32(2):92-7. Kay, A. D., Husbands-Beasley, J., & Blazevich, A. J. (2015). Effects of Contract-Relax, Static Stretching, and Isometric Contractions on Muscle-Tendon Mechanics. Medicine and science in sports and exercise. Oct;47(10):2181-90. Lee, J. H., Cynn, H. S., Yoon, T. L., Ko, C. H., Choi, W. J., Choi, S. A., & Choi, B. S. (2015). The effect of scapular posterior tilt exercise, pectoralis minor stretching, and shoulder brace on scapular alignment and muscles activity in subjects with round-shoulder posture. Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology. Feb;25(1):107-14.

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Lin, L. Y., & Wang, R. H. (2015). Effectiveness of a Neck Stretching Intervention on Nurses’ Primary Headaches. Workplace health & safety. Mar;63(3):100-6 Malai, S., Pichaiyongwongdee, S., & Sakulsriprasert, P. (2015). Immediate Effect of Hold-Relax Stretching of Iliopsoas Muscle on Transversus Abdominis Muscle Activation in Chronic Non-Specific Low Back Pain with Lumbar Hyperlordosis. Jun;98. McCrary, J. M., Ackermann, B. J., & Halaki, M. (2015). A systematic review of the effects of upper body warm-up on performance and injury. British journal of sports medicine. Jul;49(14):935-42. Miranda, H., Maia, M. D. F., Paz, G. A., & Costa, P. B. (2015). Acute Effects of Antagonist Static Stretching in the Inter-Set Rest Period on Repetition Performance and Muscle Activation. Research in Sports Medicine. 23(1):37-50. Nee, R. J. (2014). Commentary to: A program of neck exercises can prevent neck pain in office workers. Journal of physiotherapy. Dec;60(4):237. Salamh, P. A., Kolber, M. J., & Hanney, W. J. (2015). Effect of Scapular Stabilization During Horizontal Adduction Stretching on Passive Internal Rotation and Posterior Shoulder Tightness in Young Women Volleyball Athletes: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation. Feb;96(2):349-56. Trajano, G., Pinho, C., Costa, P., & Oliveira, C. (2014). Static stretching increases muscle fatigue during submaximal sustained isometric contractions. The Journal of sports medicine and physical fitness. Jan-Feb;55(1-2):43-50. Trajano, G. S., Seitz, L. B., Nosaka, K., & Blazevich, A. J. (2014). Can passive stretch inhibit motoneuron facilitation in the human plantar flexors?.Journal of Applied Physiology. Dec 15;117(12):1486-92.

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Ye, X., Beck, T. W., & Wages, N. P. (2015). Influence of prolonged static stretching on motor unit firing properties. Muscle & nerve. Sep 17. Yıldırım, M. S., Ozyurek, S., Tosun, O., Uzer, S., & Gelecek, N. (2016). Comparison of effects of static, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation and Mulligan stretching on hip flexion range of motion: a randomized controlled trial. Biology of sport. Mar;33(1):89-94.