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The shoulder joint is the most unstable joint in the human body. It is a ball and socket joint, and has the freedom to move in multiple planes. With that in mind, we need to strengthen it throughout as much of the available range of motion as possible in order to prevent injuries and maximize athletic performance. "A chain is only as strong as its weakest link." Our shoulder joint has primary movers such as the deltoid muscles, and the stabilizers or rotator cuff muscles. Many times, the rotator cuff is the "weak link." Repetitive activity will usually bring out these weak links, especially if the activity is performed with poor mechanics and posture. This may present itself as rotator cuff tendinitis, bursitis or impingement. Without correcting this, a major injury may occur. We must work to strengthen and teach the shoulder stabilizers to remain engaged throughout all motions, all angles and positions, especially in sports such as MMA in which our bodies may be placed in awkward positions. Going to the gym to perform the traditional exercises such as Military press is a start, but with poor stability in the shoulder joint, this will not be enough. Using a dumbbell which has the weight perfectly balanced and centered in your palm is not always the best choice for stability training either. Most everyday functional tasks and athletic requirements deal with handling clumsy weights, which must be balanced while trying to perform some other activity, such as walking, running, squatting or lunging. You are not sliding this weight along a predetermined path like you do with most gym machines, but are working to prevent the object from falling forward or backward while keeping it over head and moving the rest of your body in some other direction. Many of the 'instability' related injuries not only occur in sports but also at work. 
This picture is a pretty good depiction of positions many workers may find themselves in on a daily basis (not exactly as controlled of a situation as using a dumbbell or Smith Machine in the gym). To summarize, if you want to maximize your strength and abilities for as many possible functional movements as possible, you need to focus on the stabilizer muscles as well as the primary movers of a joint. You must focus on Stability throughout the entire Mobility of your joints.
The Nabard Combat Fitness Tools were developed keeping this concept in mind by incorporating an "offset handle" to its design. I was lucky enough to train with Nabard founder Marco Safakhoo
a few years ago and just recently began training with his newly released Nabard Shield. It provides amazing results, particularly for joint stability and strength. As a Physical Therapist, this is a great tool for Post Rehab Fitness, and many athletes should definitely consider incorporating it into their routines in order to prevent injury and take their strength training to the next level.
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