Shoulder Pain Journey - Think movement, not stretching

Shoulder Pain Journey

In this episode, I talk about my shoulder pain journey.
I share the four key words I learned from an excellent yoga teacher:

"Think movement, not stretching"

Here is the link to the video

Background
I began to experience shoulder pain and mobility problems around 15 years ago. I've been going to gyms my entire life. 
For sure, the lifetime of heavy weightlifting did not help my shoulders.
I made the mistake of listening to some guys who said, "Peter, you should not lift your arms overhead with bad shoulders."
The pain got worse to the point where I stopped overhead presses and swimming laps in the pool.
The worst part was sleep disruption. My throbbing shoulders would wake me in the middle of the night.

Breakthrough moment
After one of my yoga classes, I was complaining to the yoga teacher about my shoulder pain. He could clearly see my shoulder problems during class. His four words changed my thinking about shoulder problems when he said, "Peter, think movement, not stretching." He added that I would run the risk of "frozen shoulders" if I did not start serious shoulder movement exercises. 

I'm not a doctor or physical therapist, but I do know one thing for sure. The shoulder movement exercises I demonstrate in this video have completely changed my thinking about shoulder problems. After 8 months of work, I can now do overhead presses and swim a mile in the pool.

Two categories of shoulder movement exercises
Here I share the shoulder movement exercises I learned from the yoga teacher and from trainers in the gym.

Exercises without weights
- Exercise band - Rotations (internal and external), 90/90 (internal and external), lateral raises
- Window washing
- Wall rotations - clockwise rotation and thoracic rotation movements
- IYTW - on the floor
- Bar hanging - not hanging out at a bar, but hanging from a bar (I can now do over a minute easily)
- Shoulder tap - plank position, alternating shoulder taps
- Exercise band - plank position, left/right, forward/backward

Exercises with weights
- Overhead press - start light, it's about movement
- Reverse delts - bent over on a bench, light dumbbells
- Face pull - using a cable rope, pull to the face
- Dumbbell - side raise to rotation position

Conclusion
I'm not out of the woods but for sure my shoulders are much better now. 
The best part is I no longer have throbbing shoulders waking me during my sleep.

Here is the link to the video