General Warm-up5 min
row or bike
5 min steady · zone2 conversational
Easy pace.
Mobility Primer6 min
Shoulder CARs
External video — Shoulder CARs by Functional Bodybuilding.
How to do it
- Setup
- Standing tall, one arm out to your side at shoulder height, the rest of your body still.
- Execution
- Take at least 8-10 seconds to complete one full circle — count it the first time to calibrate your own pace. Hit two checkpoints every circle: at the top, your arm brushes past your ear; at the bottom, it reaches down and slightly behind your hip. Complete the full circle through both checkpoints, then reverse direction and repeat.
- Common error
- Turning it into a brisk, loose arm-circle warm-up — if a full circle takes less than 8 seconds, or you can't feel real tension at the ear checkpoint and the behind-the-hip checkpoint specifically, it has become a warm-up swing, not this drill.
- Feel
- Steady, controlled tension everywhere in the circle, including at both checkpoints — never a swung, momentum-driven arc. Any pinch, especially in the left shoulder, means shrink the circle until it's gone, even if that means missing a checkpoint.
2 sets, 5 reps each direction.
2 × 5/side · rest 0:10
Prescribed: 5/side · rest 0:10
Prescribed: 5/side · rest 0:10
Wall Slides
External video — How to Improve Posture with the Wall Slide by DR MATT FONTAINE.
How to do it
- Setup
- Stand with your entire back, both forearms and the backs of both hands flat against a wall, elbows and shoulders bent to roughly 90°, low back gently flattened (not arched) against the wall.
- Execution
- Slowly slide both arms up the wall as far as you can while every point of contact stays flat on the wall the whole time, then slide back down to the start. That is one rep — slow and controlled both directions.
- Common error
- Letting the low back arch or the forearms peel off the wall partway up — that fakes range that is not real scapular/shoulder control. Stop at the true point everything stays flat and build range over weeks, rather than pushing the arms forward off the wall to gain height.
- Feel
- Mild, controlled tension through the shoulder blades and upper back as they rotate and glide. This is control work, not a stretch — go slow. Any pinch, especially deep in the shoulder, means you've gone above the height where everything stays flat — slide back down until it's gone.
2 sets of 8 — reduced volume this week.
2 × 15s hold · rest 0:15
Prescribed: 15s hold · rest 0:15
Prescribed: 15s hold · rest 0:15
Band Pull-Aparts (primer)
1 set of 20.
20s hold · rest 0:15
Prescribed: 20s hold · rest 0:15
External-Rotation Pre-Activation (light DB/band)
Light DB or band, mild effort only — this is prehab, not training. Stop well short of fatigue, never push through pain. Light this week.
2 × 8/side @ RPE 3 · rest 0:30
Prescribed: 8/side @ RPE 3 · rest 0:30
Prescribed: 8/side @ RPE 3 · rest 0:30
Shoulder PAILs/RAILs (90/90 external-rotation end-range)
External video — Shoulder Flexion PAIL's/RAIL's by Dr. Beau Beard.
How to do it
- Setup
- Stand or sit tall. Upper arm pinned to your side, elbow bent to 90°, light dumbbell or band in that hand. Rotate the forearm outward, away from your stomach, to your true end-range of external rotation — as far as it goes without the elbow leaving your side.
- Execution
- PAIL: from that end-range, gently drive the forearm further into rotation against the resistance, ramping the effort up over 5-10s, hold the peak, release slowly over 5s. RAIL: immediately try to resist the arm being rotated back toward your stomach, holding 5-10s without letting the elbow leave your side. That's one rep. Repeat, then switch arms.
- Common error
- Turning it into continuous reps instead of the ramp-hold-release protocol, or letting the elbow drift away from your side to fake more rotation — both defeat the isometric loading this drill exists for.
- Feel
- Building effort at your end-range during the PAIL, genuine resisting strength during the RAIL — this should feel like real, if mild, work, not a passive stretch. Keep it at mild effort only; this is prehab before pressing, never push it toward pain.
40-50% effort, 2 reps/side.
2 reps/side · ramp 20s, hold 8s · effort RPE 4-5 · rest 0:30-1:00
Prescribed: 2 reps/side · ramp 20s, hold 8s · effort RPE 4-5 · rest 0:30-1:00
Benchmark
windmill gap knee down cm
Log now, before pressing: side-lying windmill gap, knee-down variant, in cm. Compare the trend.
Main Lift — Bench Press12 min
Bench Press
Easy, clean, controlled — deload logic.
2 × 6 @ RPE 5-6 · tempo 2-0-1-0 · rest 2:00
Prescribed: 6 @ RPE 5-6 · tempo 2-0-1-0 · rest 2:00
Prescribed: 6 @ RPE 5-6 · tempo 2-0-1-0 · rest 2:00
If pain flares
- Sharp pain, or mechanics visibly breaking down (arms drifting forward, elbows flaring): first widen the grip 1-2 cm and re-set the scapulae — your own discovered fix; if that doesn't resolve it, reduce ROM (partial/board-limited bottom); if still worse, swap Bench Press for Incline DB Press (or a floor press) this session and flag it (§D.8).
Accessories (light)14 min
Incline DB Press
Easy.
2 × 8 @ RPE 6 · tempo 2-0-2-0 · rest 1:30
Prescribed: 8 @ RPE 6 · tempo 2-0-2-0 · rest 1:30
Prescribed: 8 @ RPE 6 · tempo 2-0-2-0 · rest 1:30
Dips
Bodyweight, light effort.
2 × 8 @ RPE 6 · tempo 2-0-2-0 · rest 1:30
Prescribed: 8 @ RPE 6 · tempo 2-0-2-0 · rest 1:30
Prescribed: 8 @ RPE 6 · tempo 2-0-2-0 · rest 1:30
Svend Press
Light.
2 × 15 @ RPE 6 · rest 0:30
Prescribed: 15 @ RPE 6 · rest 0:30
Prescribed: 15 @ RPE 6 · rest 0:30
Face Pulls
Kept at 3 even in deload — shoulder health does not get cut to zero.
3 × 12 @ RPE 6 · rest 1:00
Prescribed: 12 @ RPE 6 · rest 1:00
Prescribed: 12 @ RPE 6 · rest 1:00
Prescribed: 12 @ RPE 6 · rest 1:00
Mobility Finisher9 min
Overhead Wall PAILs/RAILs
External video — Overhead Wall Press: Shoulder Mobility Exercise by MVMT Performance & Rehabilitation.
How to do it
- Setup
- Stand with your back flat against a wall. One arm reaches straight overhead, forearm and hand flat against the wall. Low back stays flat against the wall too — not arched away from it.
- Execution
- PAIL: press the arm into the wall as if reaching higher, ramping the effort over 5-10s, hold the peak, release over 5s. RAIL: hold the same position as if actively resisting someone pulling your arm back down, for the same duration. That's one rep. Repeat, then switch arms.
- Common error
- Arching the lower back off the wall to gain extra overhead height — that's spine range, not shoulder range. If the low back lifts off the wall, you've gone past your real end-range; back off until it's flat again.
- Feel
- A building stretch through the lat and shoulder during the PAIL, a genuine active hold during the RAIL. Dull ache is fine. Sharp pain, or the arm visibly drifting forward off the wall to escape the position, means stop and use less range on that side.
40-50% effort, 2 reps/side.
2 reps/side · ramp 20s, hold 8s · effort RPE 4-5 · rest 0:30-1:00
Prescribed: 2 reps/side · ramp 20s, hold 8s · effort RPE 4-5 · rest 0:30-1:00
Wall Pec Stretch
External video — Pectoralis (Chest) Stretch by EmergeOrtho-Triangle Region.
How to do it
- Setup
- Stand side-on to a wall or doorway. Forearm flat against it, elbow bent roughly 90°, upper arm raised to that week's height — 90° (arm level with the shoulder) or 120° (arm angled up above shoulder height).
- Execution
- Keeping the forearm fixed on the wall, rotate your torso away from the wall until you feel the chest stretch. Hold for the prescribed time. Repeat at the second angle if the session calls for both.
- Common error
- Hiking the shoulder up toward the ear to fake more stretch — keep the shoulder blade pulled down and get the range from turning the torso, not from lifting the shoulder.
- Feel
- A steady stretch across the chest and front shoulder. Any sharp pinch inside the joint means back off the height or how far you rotate. The left shoulder sharpening at all is your signal to stop that side.
45s each side.
45s/side hold · rest 0:15
Prescribed: 45s/side hold · rest 0:15
Cross-Body Shoulder Stretch
30s each side.
30s/side hold · rest 0:15
Prescribed: 30s/side hold · rest 0:15
Dead Hang
External video — Dead Hang by OPEX Fitness.
How to do it
- Setup
- Both hands on a pull-up bar, roughly shoulder-width, full overhand grip. Step or jump off the floor so your entire bodyweight hangs.
- Execution
- Consciously release any bracing, then check yourself against two signs of a true passive hang: your shoulders should ride up noticeably closer to your ears than when you're standing, and your ribcage should feel like it's lengthening away from your hips. If your shoulder blades are still pulled down and your neck looks the same as standing, you're still actively hanging — let it go and check the two signs again. Hang and breathe for the full prescribed time.
- Common error
- Actively pulling the shoulder blades down ('active hang') without noticing you're doing it — this is the default position most lifters hold from habit. The two-sign check in execution is how you catch it.
- Feel
- A gentle traction pulling through the shoulders and lats, grip working the forearms, shoulders visibly higher than your standing posture. Any pinching in the shoulder, particularly the left, means come down and shorten the next hold.
30s, full relax through the shoulders and lats.
30s hold · rest 0:15
Prescribed: 30s hold · rest 0:15
Benchmark
shoulder wall slide height
Monthly screen: overhead reach/wall-slide max height (ear/eye/above-eye) — compare to Week 1.