New Video: Kneeling Rear Shoulder Raise
Another exercise for the mid-back and rear shoulder muscle coordination and development
The kneeling rear shoulder raise is a new exercise I’ve been using thanks to rowing physical therapist Karen Calara. A couple of our GRP rowers had appointments with her while on a spring training trip, and she recommended they use this exercise to focus on shoulders-down engagement of the rear shoulder and mid-back muscles. I like it a lot and have been using it with the rest of the rowers here in addition to our other shoulder exercises of the pullapart, facepull, and Y-W-T raise.
This is basically a band pullapart or T-raise from a kneeling hip hinge position. We usually use dumbbells, but occasionally use a resistance band as well. There are a few differences from the standing pullapart and a couple variations on the basic exercise to keep it engaging and challenging for rowers of any age or level.
The kneeling hip hinge position puts the rower in a position of forward body angle, which I like more for connecting to stroke technique than the band pullapart performed standing upright. Athletes often compensate for end range-of-motion (ROM) on the band pullapart by arching the low back or rotating the hips forward, and the kneeling hip hinge position helps prevent this while also getting the athlete in “catch mindset” with forward body angle.
As I demonstrate in the video, we do the exercise for full ROM with or without shoulder rotation to develop these elements of shoulder muscle strength, and for partial ROM without shoulder rotation to develop a more sculling-specific element. Both are good for different reasons, so we can use them both depending on the athlete and specific goals of training.
Full ROM with and without shoulder rotation is a “gap-filling” exercise, training the shoulder muscles in a way that we do not get from the rowing stroke. This variation of the exercise makes it more or less interchangeable with a band pullapart or T-raise from the Y-W-T raise exercise. I like interchangeable variations for different ways to work hard and achieve similar goals. We rotate through band pullaparts, band or cable face-pulls, and Y-W-T raises to develop the rear shoulder and mid-back muscles, with and without shoulder rotation.
Partial ROM without external rotation is a great way to teach and train the “hug the horizon” wide catch angle position at the front-end of the sculling stroke. When we look at the sculler at the catch from the stern, we try to see hands at least outside the gunnels. Shoulder coordination is a significant difference between these modes of training and something that a lot of athletes struggle with, so I love finding ways to help with this transition in the gym. We used this a lot with our summer U23 rowers who were transitioning to sculling after spending the college year sweep rowing and erging.
I coach athletes on a few main things with the partial ROM exercise variation:
#1: Keep the thumbs pointing toward each other the whole time. Touch the “thumb-sides” of the dumbbells together at the bottom of each exercise to focus on that alignment. We can’t rotate the handles when sculling, so for best transfer we don’t want to rotate the dumbbells in this exercise either.
#2: Raise to the “outside the gunnels” position at the top of the exercise. Again, thinking transfer of training, more isn’t better if it results in a wider position than the actual catch angle. We have a Coffey SimulatOar in the gym, and I’ve had rowers sit at the catch, feel their ideal angle, and then go straight into the kneeling shoulder raise trying to find that same position.
#3: Hold the top position for a one-count. The pause really lights up the mid-back and rear shoulder muscles when done correctly. The hands need to stay outside the gunnels while placing the blade in the water, so we need to hold the position for slightly longer than we might normally hold the main contraction point of another exercise. Get wide and stay wide until the blade is locked and we’re on the slide.
On all variations: shoulders down, shoulders down, shoulders down. Try to keep everything totally stable around the shoulders, without craning the neck up or dipping the chest or head down. As with our other shoulder exercises, stop and reset if you feel the naturally stronger upper trapezius muscle shrugging the shoulders up to take the load due to too much weight or fatigue. I work a lot with rowers on distributing shoulder force more to the lower and middle parts of the trapezius muscle, as well as the rhomboids between the shoulder blades and the rear deltoids behind the shoulder itself.
I like the kneeling hip hinge position because it keeps the hips and torso engaged in the movement as well, not just isolating the shoulders. However, an athlete experiencing back pain (but not rib pain) or who significantly struggles with the hip hinge position could use an incline bench to support the chest (while working to resolve the back pain and/or improving hinge technique through simpler exercises). The benefit of added stability is increasing the muscular emphasis on the shoulders, although the detriment of isolation is decreasing transfer of training.