A Collection of Band Exercises to Improve Shoulder Mobility and Stability

This post offers a collection of my favourite band exercises for improving shoulder mobility and stability.

If you've dislocated a shoulder in the past, please be conservative with any exercises you try, and after clearing things with your physician, you might start with those that have your arms no higher than chest level. Over time, as your shoulders feel stronger and more mobile, you can gradually work your arms overhead.

Improving shoulder mobility opens up countless options for exercises that you can use to improve functional upper body strength, be it with monkey bars, gymnastic rings, or any suspension training system that you can use at home. If you anticipate that you will want to do body weight drills to develop lean muscle mass and improve functional strength, here are some links to equipment that I can vouch for at Amazon:

WOD Pull Up Resistance Bands

Nylon-Covered Resistance Band

Gymnastic Rings Plus Heavy Duty Straps

Wall Mount / Anchor

If you have any questions about how to set up any of this equipment, please feel free to reach me via e-mail at benkim@drbenkim.com, as I am happy to share how I have gone about it.

I hope you find the following exercises useful:

General Warm-up:

Palms Inward to Outward:

Lateral Pull-downs:

Front Pullovers:

Standing Arm Circles:

Shoulder Extension & Flexion Arcs:

Front to Back Shoulder Arcs | Abduction Plus External Rotation

In my experience, it is fine to do these band exercises several times a week - I aim to do them daily as a part of my warm-up before more intense body weight work, whether I am working my upper body or not.

For an overview of exercise progressions that you can work at to improve your mobility and balance in a systematic way, please feel free to visit our Mobility Exercise Progressions page here:

Mobility Exercise Progressions

For some suggestions on how to set up a simple workout area at home, please feel free to view:

Suggested Resources for a Home Gym