CoreXcell Sports Training and Rehab

A question for anyone who's been given rotator cuff exercises: where do you actually feel them?

If the answer is the front or the side of your shoulder, you're feeling compensations, not the infraspinatus — and you won't get results from it.

Zach breaks down the setup: a small pad, elbow tucked into the side of the hip, 2 pounds, and a short low range. 15 to 30 reps, and you only progress once you can feel it exclusively in the groove behind the armpit. From there it's 1-pound increments, 3 sets of 15 to 20, twice per week.

Full isolation program: https://corexcell.com/app
Corexcell Sports Training & Rehab | Greenville, SC + virtual | (908) 318-4484

Before and after with one of our clients working on a winged scapula.

At the start, he had a very narrow range he could work in - shoulder rolled all the way down, and anything past that point and he lost control of the scapula entirely. That was his honest starting position, and training past it wouldn't have taught him anything.

Here's where he is now: arm farther out, shoulder rolled back, and no winging.

Work with us: https://corexcell.com/private-sessions
Corexcell Sports Training & Rehab | Greenville, SC + virtual | (908) 318-4484

A 10-second test: stand at a mirror, pull your elbow up, and look at the back of your shoulder.

If you're dealing with shoulder pain, the muscle that should be there usually isn't. Zach Fuller calls it the lower section of the rear delt, and this video covers the exact bench setup to isolate it - including why pinching your shoulder blades back defeats the whole thing.

Full exercise detail: https://corexcell.com/app
Corexcell Sports Training & Rehab | Greenville, SC + virtual | (908) 318-4484

One of the hardest muscles to actually reach - especially if you're dealing with shoulder or upper trap pain.

Zach walks through the 3-stage rear delt progression we use with clients, including the shoulder position that stops the trap from taking over and the 5 lb benchmark before you widen the arm angle.

As the rear delt gets stronger, it starts pulling load off the trap and neck.

Full progression: https://corexcell.com/app
Corexcell Sports Training & Rehab | Greenville, SC + virtual | (908) 318-4484

If you have hip flexor pain and you've been stretching it - stop.

The hip flexor is overworking because the opposing muscle group,
your glute medius and minimus, is weak. Bridges and clamshells
won't get you there; they load the lateral rotators and TFL instead.

Zach breaks down the knee drop - setup, starting load, and the one
rule that decides whether it's working: you should only feel it in
that upper lateral part of the glute. Feel it anywhere else and
you're training a compensation.

Know someone who's been stretching their hip for months with
nothing to show for it? Send them this.

Free sample video of this exercise: https://corexcell.com/app

Corexcell Sports Training & Rehab — Greenville, SC and virtual worldwide.

Torn labrum and shoulder instability. Most people in that spot get told surgery is the only path.

This athlete came in looking for another option. Three sessions later, he was throwing again.

Here's the part nobody explains: you can't fix a shoulder you can't feel. If the joint isn't positioned right - you can do the exercise perfectly and get absolutely nothing out of it. That's the Feel It To Heal It method. Feel the right spot, or don't bother.

Know an overhead athlete who's been told surgery is the only answer? Tag them.

Work with Zach 1:1: corexcell.com/private-sessions

Here's something most people over 40 get backwards with shoulder pain: they stretch first.

The problem is, if your fundamentals aren't in place, stretching just reinforces bad mechanics instead of fixing them. In our Train Like a Pro Over 40 system, we don't let clients stretch until they're deep into Phase 3 - after everything else is balanced out.

Once you're there, resistance stretching (stretching combined with strength) is a game-changer for shoulder mobility. We show all 4 stretches in this video.

Know someone who's been stretching their shoulder for months with zero progress? Tag them below. 👇

Full training system: corexcell.com

If you've tried massages, the massage gun, and every neck stretch on YouTube and the pain still comes back - this is for you.

The reason nothing's working usually isn't tightness. It's that the natural curve in your neck has flattened out, and stretching won't bring it back.

In this short video I'll show you a simple fix using just a water bottle to start restoring that curve - and exactly where to place it, because most people put it in the wrong spot.

Tag someone who's always complaining about their neck 👇