18 Week CHAOS® Shoulder Stability Program

Welcome to the CHAOS® Shoulder Stability Program, a one-of-a-kind resource for athletes, coaches, therapists and other professionals working with the upper body in sport.

Here's everything you need to know about the program:

The problem

The shoulder is a ball and socket joint. This means controlling degrees of freedom is hard, but extremely important to avoid stress to its passive structures. This program is designed to improve local cooperation of the shoulder muscles, so that stability can be built into larger and larger patterns.

Who's it for?

This program is great for improving performance and robustness in overhead sports (baseball, cricket, javelin, softball etc.), but can also be used for mid to late stage rehabilitation of shoulder injuries, by manipulating and progressing the working degrees of freedom.

How does it work?

Rather than cueing athletes to consciously 'brace your shoulder', or attempt to increase the strength of muscles individually we take a constraints-led-approach to stability, inspired by modern ideas on motor learning;

When dynamic weights are introduced to the system (instability in the environment), athletes are required to self-organize in a way that the vulnerable joints (in this case the shoulder) can be adequately controlled. This comes from synergistic muscle action, often in the form of a co-contraction (simultaneous activation of both agonist and antagonist muscles) to hold the joint in equilibrium.

Why is this important?

The brain is too slow to predict and react to changing forces in the environment. If the shoulder is to remain healthy in unpredictable situations, then bottom-up control mechanisms (such as co-contractions) must be in-place.

How is the program delivered?

This program is designed to COMPLIMENT your existing training program, not CONFLICT with it. To achieve this, we deliver the program to you in the form of very adaptable 'mini sessions'... each mini-session consists of two shoulder stability exercises of varying difficulty. Your mini-sessions could act as a primer for your main session, or you might combine multiple mini-sessions to make a full standalone session, it's up to you. Feel free to adapt the exact volume (reps, sets & weight) as required, our prescription is simply a starting point.

What equipment do I need?

The best part about this program is you do not need a gym. All you need is a single CHAOS Ball (we also provide advanced options for those athletes who have 2x CHAOS Balls). This is an important factor, as it means you can be consistent with your stability training no matter where you are in the world. Travelling for sport? No worries, just deflate your CHAOS Ball and pack it in your suitcase.

How do I know if I'm doing the drills correctly?

To ensure best results it's important that you set up each drill correctly. This means the cues, constraints, and intentions need to be set and executed well. Before performing each exercise, make sure you read the (very detailed) descriptions next to the video demonstration, this will tell you how to assemble your CHAOS Ball, what to focus on and provide some helpful, targeted coach cues.

If you want feedback on your execution, tag us on Instagram @calibratesports and use the hashtag #chaostraining

Good luck! We look forward to seeing how you go!

-- The Team At Calibrate Sports