Shoulder packing stabilizes your shoulder, reducing the risk of injury. It also enables you to lift more weight.

See, the shoulder joint is highly mobile. But unfortunately, this mobility comes at the price of reduced stability.

What happens is, the top part of the upper arm bone can move away from the opposing joint surface when you, say, reach for something that’s far away from you. The muscles surrounding this joint become weaker as the space inside this joint increases. This separation in the shoulder joint reduces muscle activation, increases the instability of the joint, and increases the risk of injury.

SO … when you press or snatch or Turkish get up a kettlebell into an overhead position, the arm moves away from the body and the muscles that work to separate the shoulder joint are encouraged to fire.

What is the fix?

You will be stronger and press more safely if you can connect the upper arm to the opposing joint surface or “pack” the shoulder.

If you don’t know how to do this already, here is how in two easy steps:

One – learn how it feels to pack the shoulder. Watch the video below to see a drill that will show you how:

Two – reproduce and practice that feeling during a KB exercise (right after you try the shoulder packing drill). Grab a light kettlebell and press it overhead and try to keep your shoulder packed.

That’s it! Hopefully you now know (if you didn’t already) the value of packing the shoulder … and you have a new handy drill to practice it.

Let me know how that works for you, and talk soon –

– Forest

 

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