Pulling Exercises: Are You Doing Them Wrong? Perfect Your Pull for Optimal Arm Health

One of the biggest overarching themes we hear about when training baseball players is arm health: which exercises are good for it, and which are bad. In my opinion, that's not the conversation we should be having. The conversation we need to be having is how one can perform whatever exercise that is given to them in a way that is going to yield the best results for that individual's goals as a baseball player.

Pulling exercises: movements that emphasize the action of bringing an external load closer to your body, or your body closer to an external object, not in any particular plane of motion unless specified in the exercise. Right? Right.

Pulling exercises: movements that classify under the definition above used to target and strengthen the muscles of the back, usually the lats, traps, and rhomboids. Right? Well, not necessarily. For a bodybuilder or powerlifter looking solely get stronger or build muscle, this may be a worthy focus. s a throwing athlete, our attention needs to be a little more refined.

Arm health has a ton of moving parts. One of the lowest hanging fruits that I choose to focus on with our athletes is scapular control, as it plays a massive role in how forces are distributed throughout the shoulder and elbow when throwing. On the field, this ability for the shoulder blade to effectively auto-correct and put itself in the most efficient position is subconscious, but in the gym, it needs to be intentional. Scap movement and engagement needs to ALWAYS be at the front of your mind when performing upper body exercises. Here's a few things we highlight when we program a pulling exercise:

1. Focus on protraction and retraction of the scaps: For example, when performing exercises like chest-supported rows, allow the weight to separate your shoulder blades at the bottom of the rep. As you start to pull, focus on retracting and engaging the scaps before your elbows bend.

2. Avoid downward rotating the scaps: It's common for people to compensate by rolling their shoulder forward when performing upper body exercises. To avoid these compensations, avoid over-pulling to the point of gross shoulder extension.

3. Make scapular control a priority: Rather than thinking of exercises as "back" or "bicep" exercises, think of them as opportunities to train scapular control. Every rep you perform is a chance to either develop a good habit or a bad habit. We want to accumulate as many high quality reps in our session as possible.

4. Don't be too neutral: An unsuspecting athlete may take "neutral" to the extreme. Often times, an athlete will end up fighting for extra range of motion. With a neutral grip, this likely results in the scapular downward rotation that I emphasized above. Also, it can take away from recruitment of the muscles you actually want to target with a pulling exercise. Ideally, we consistently lift with about a 30-45 degree angle between our rib cage and upper arm. This creates some daylight between our arm and torso, and sets the shoulder in a healthy, supported position.

It is imperative that we train these things with intention when in a controlled setting so that when you get in an uncontrolled setting, you don't need to think about it. Our body needs to learn how to function properly by routinely being put into good positions. Next time you stroll up to your first exercise on a pull day, don't think of it as a "back exercise." Instead, think of it as a "scap exercise."

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