Shoulder Roll

This is one of the most common ways to get injured with a shoulder roll. Usually it happens when you can’t smoothly roll all the way from your hands-forearms-arms-shoulder (when there’s too much momentum on your entry or a lack of timing on your micro-transitions) or when you don’t have enough rotation and start your shoulder roll with your hips and legs too far back and close to the ground.

A good and well rounded spine mobility (specially on your toraxic area) can help you to perform the shoulder roll smoother and to get yourself upside down just enough so this doesn’t happened. Make sure to work on hollowing your body and strengthening your core muscles. Spinal Mobilization, Hollow Rocks and The Tuck Up Exercise Page can help you with that.

Also try to get used to the timing and technique of your hands-forearms-arms support when you start the shoulder roll so you can eventually perform dive rolls and other technical variations where there will be more momentum for you to manage.

Make sure to keep your abs and core engaged so you can maintain a well rounded position until you finish the shoulder roll. You should feel an eccentric force pulling your legs/chest during the roll, but the key is to have the strength and body awareness to sustain the tuck position.

Your hip flexors are responsible to keep your legs as close as possible to your core while your abs are responsible to keep your spine hollow and flexed. Slow Motion Shoulder Rolls can help you to delevop this awareness and the Tuck Up Exercise Page can help you to strengthen your abs and hip flexors.

It’s quite common for those who are used to perform straight front rolls to bring their hips to the side in order to get the right path of travel on the shoulder roll. I always prefer to see practitioners performing a lateral roll instead of a front roll because of the spinal contact with the ground, but unfortunatelly this technical adjust won’t help with the shoulder roll.

The reason why our path of travel goes from the back of our shoulder towards the opposite side of our hips is the Axe Kick with the back leg. You don’t have to bring your hips to the side on the entry of the movement. In fact, by doing so, it will make it even harder for you to perform the Axe Kick. Wait until you’re upside down and half way through the roll so you can twist you hips just enough to sit on your glute/chick.

Explore a bit more your range of motion by performing a slow motion shoulder roll and reaching as much as possible with the Axe Kick while you still have the front foot or your front knee (Seiza Shoulder Roll) on the ground. If this is a problem to you, you can add some momentum by pushing the ground with your front foot and rotate a bit faster so your hips don’t fall to the side.

Keep in mind that Slow Motion Shoulder Roll drills will help you to develop your core muscles and awareness to stabilize your body while you’re half way through the technique.

The PSIS is the section of the hip to which all the major ligaments of the hip attach. It’s located right above your chicks and you might be able to feel it with your hands. Some people have this area of their body a bit more exposed and with a sort of hole shape in their skin. It’s a terrible place to roll over.

Slow Motion, Wall Assisted and Shoulder Rock Up Rolls can help you to get your path of travel out of the way of your PSIS. Remember to twist your hips when you’re half way through the movement and to keep your spine flexed as much as possible by contracting your abs and hip flexors. Focus on landing on the outside part of your thigh (Axe Kick leg) and this might help with the hip twist motion.

This is a quite funny one and it can even turn into a cool modifier for a shoulder roll combo, but if you would like to fix this problem, it’s simpler than it looks. 

Focus on practicing your Axe Kick entry so you can be aware of which leg should reach above your body first. Push the ground with the other leg (your front leg) and make sure to land with the Axe Kick leg first on the ground. You don’t want to step down with it, you want to continue the roll from your chick to the outside part of your thigh and step forward with your other leg foot in front while your chest and upper body raise up.

You can practice Axe Kick and Shoulder Rock Up drills to understand these micro-transitions better before performing the shoulder roll.

We see so many practitioners finishing their shoulder roll technique with legs binding. Even professional athletes. This is a common problem that might not hurt you but it can definitely decrease your momentum and mess up your transition from the shoulder roll into a next movement.

It comes from a lack of awareness and coordination to get the Axe Kick leg first on the ground. As we usually perform a shoulder roll at the end of a sequence or combo, this doesn’t bother too many people enough so they can take their time to improve their technique. But if you’re keen to perform Precision Shoulder Rolls and combine other techniques straight from it, this is something you should work on. Slow motion, Wall Assist and Shoulder Rock Up Progressions can help.