HS/PE1>iM Form Check

Hi all - did my first official day of HS1 yesterday and I want to be getting the most out of the static seated shoulder flexion (HS/PE1>iM) so I thought I'd post a quick clip from last night's session for comments:

I'm sure it's obvious but my shoulders have always been very tight.  I want to make sure I'm not holding myself back with form - although I feel like there's not much to screw up here.  Should I concentrate on shoulder elevation, retraction, or both?  Should I attempt to externally rotate during the movement or simply pull backwards?

Thanks in advance.

I did the same last night and I think my form and ROM is pretty close to yours, so I'm curious as well.  The question hit me: for something like this what exactly constitutes as "mastery"?  I have no problem getting my arms over my head, and maybe a tad behind the shoulders, but not much.  Is there a "get your hand approximately xx inches behind your shoulders" guideline or is it more of a "do as much as you can" kind of thing while you are on PE1?  I found it hard to tell from the video exactly how much further back his arms go, as he ducks his head down and throws off the reference.

I've passed the PE1 so was just wondering whether or not to move on if my form is similar to that shown above.

EDIT: Actually on rewatching the video I see he doesn't duck the head as much as I initially thought... it just initially looks like he does because his arms are behind it.

Do me a favor and try something. Find a spot a few feet in front of you, now don't take your eyes off of it or move your head. Now try it again. Let your shoulders naturally move. Muscle wise if anyplace you would feel your traps.

Nic Branson said:

Do me a favor and try something. Find a spot a few feet in front of you, now don't take your eyes off of it or move your head. Now try it again. Let your shoulders naturally move. Muscle wise if anyplace you would feel your traps.

Hi Nic - thanks for this tip - I tried it last night and took some video.  While the video is uploading here is a comparison from the two videos at the maximum point of flexion I achieved:

The video will be up in a few minutes:

That looks much better, now narrow your grip.

Did it feel different?

It does feel like slightly more targeted activation.  I feel fairly limited in how much I'm able to lean forward by the tightness in my glutes, similar to Richard Hamilton, so I look forward to both that improving as well as my actual shoulder mobility.  I'll keep chipping away at it 3 times a week until then.  This week I go up to 5x10s each workout instead of just 3x10s, so hopefully the added volume will help.

Slow and steady, you got this.

Ok here's one:  Today during H1 I did HS/PE1>iM and while I was overhead "pulled" my hands apart - as if I was gently trying to pull the bar apart (kind of like in dislocates).  I found that this increased my ROM significantly.  Suddenly I was at the same ROM as it is demonstrated - I was able to maintain this ROM as I moved my hands further and further together (I started quite wide).

Is this a cue that I should use to achieve the ROM necessary, or should I avoid this "pulling apart" and only focus on pulling straight back?

I've got some video too - I'll get it on youtube in a bit and post it here.

Here's the video:  

You can see first I pull back without using the "pull-apart" cue (and go to my maximum range that way by about 0:19), pause, and then at 0:21 I begin using the cue and my arms go way further back.

I'd love to know if this is something that I should be doing or not for this element.

I don't mean to be annoying but does anyone know if this is the correct or incorrect way of getting the ROM for this movement?  Has anyone else used this cue?  Does the way I explained it make sense?

If it works then you're ok. Just make sure you're not using rotation. Use your traps to pull backwards.

Well I think that this cue does encourage rotation - like I'm trying to do a dislocate.  I guess I'll discontinue using it.

- "Pulling apart" is fine as long as the rotation is minimized as Nic mentioned.  

- Note also that as the hands get closer to shoulder width, the degree of possible rotation will decrease substantially.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Thanks Coach.  So it seems like that will become less of a problem to watch for as I progress.  

I guess I don't know exactly what is meant by "rotation" in this sense.  Is there anyway that you can clarify what rotation means in this element?

Cannister: when you are almost dislocating your shoulder start to actually rotate! And you should try to prevent this! I did a wall handstand which I thought looked nice by actually dislocating/hyperextending my shoulders, but this is very bad since I'm having sore shoulders from that.