German Arm Swings and Lat Lean

1.  For the German Arm Swings- Should I tolerate any shoulder clicking when doing  the movement?

If the answer is no, should I restrict the range of movement to click free and focus on the swings or do something else? What I've been doing is to just do frequent lat leans and stretching and test for progress with the swings. I think I see progress. The stretch I use is to kneel, sit back onto my ankles and slide my palms out along the floor in front of me...sort of a "kneeling prayer" sort of position. I can do something like cat/cow in that position (just upper spine) or lean side to side and it really gets the lats.

2. Lat lean- the video shows gripping a horizontal bar. Can I use a door frame?

The difference is changing the hand from pronated if I grip the horizontal bar to neutral if I grip the door frame. I hope the door frame is okay because there are lots of them and it lets me do the exercise frequently.

My shoulders are a mess. Poor range. Weak. Winged scaps. I wonder if I should be doing some bands and foam roller or something to supplement.

1. Some clicking or popping is normal and will abate with time. However, if you experience any pain, or a snapping sensation, that means you need to back off the ROM and/or intensity. 

2. Should be fine. I don't think pronation/supination will have too much of an effect on how the stretch hits your lats.

Bands and a foam roller are always a good idea, even if you have good shoulders. 

Many thanks. What is the difference between clicking and snapping? Is clicking just heard but snapping is felt? I definitely feel it.

If I just relax and swing my arms I get more of this than if engage a bit and try to "keep it together." Have no idea how to describe that or what I'm doing, but clicking goes down a bit.

Not trying to make this complicated....

I'm having this exact same issue and would too like to know the distinction between "popping" and "snapping", can anyone shed some light please? Is it "snapping" if there is a feeling of a tendon "jumping"? That would describe my situation but the sound and feeling is probably more of a pop than a snap. No pain at all and the ROM is fine, but every single rep it's there, left shoulder only. My instinct is to keep at it for a month or so and see what happens, but open to wiser advice if there is any.

Thanks in advance,

Mike

You'd have to wait for Josh to clarify his statement but for me, popping and grinding are often felt and heard, jumping and snapping would be a similar sensation and yes it would feel like your tendon suddenly jumps to catch up. Imagine a rope sliding around a corner, it doesn't do it very smoothly if it rubs the corner and may catch and then release when more tension is applied to pull it around the corner. If you think of the tendon as the rope in this situation, give the rope more slack so it can more smoothly come around the corner, you have less resistance and no snap. Your tendon only lengthens when you have stretched it long enough or your body is comfortable in that ROM. Try do some shoulder ROM stretches and warmups or apply heat prior to the arm swings to stretch the joint out statically first then try the dynamic arm swings.

If it isn't causing you pain or it doesn't feel uncomfortable before the jumping sensation (almost like a build up of restriction in the muscle until it snaps or jumps) then I would continue on with the exercise, otherwise back off in ROM to a degree that it stops snapping or popping and continue to progress from there, testing for progress frequently.

Popping, snapping, grinding are all terms that involve a bit of poetic license.

It's mostly a matter of a little experience and common sense.

A little sound is nothing to fear, if that sound is accompanied by a feeling of not moving smoothly, somethings not right, if it doesn't hurt then playing with the movement and trying to smooth it out is fine.

If it down right hurts, or feels bad the next day, then cease and desist or make major modifications to ROM, post form checks etc...

Many pops are caused by cavitation, which basically means a vacuum it formed in the joint as it moves and the pop is the vacuum being released, sort of like popping bubble wrap. This is harmless.

Cole Dano said:

Popping, snapping, grinding are all terms that involve a bit of poetic license. 

 

It's mostly a matter of a little experience and common sense.

 

A little sound is nothing to fear, if that sound is accompanied by a feeling of not moving smoothly, somethings not right, hub it doesn't hurt then playing with the movement and trying to smooth it out is fine.

 

If it down right hurts, or feels bad the next day, then cease and desist or make major modifications to ROM, post form checks etc...

 

Many pops are caused by cavitation, which basically means a vacuum it formed in the joint as it moves and the pop is the vacuum being released, sort of like popping bubble wrap. This is harmless. 

The cavitation, will it fade over time, or can any specific work remove it?

Cavitation popping is completely natural, it's not soothing that needs to be worked on.

An everyday example of it would be cracking your knuckles. You may or may not get a sound and if you do it usually can't be repeated for a while. There is nothing there to be worked on.

This is a very late reply, but hopefully somewhat useful.

If your shoulders are like the majority of the population they will be misused, out of muscular balance and with an amount of calcification here and there. Time and dedication can reverse a lot of crap. I've been doing the arm swings and the oh so manly push-up for more than a year now and it sure was a hit to the ego when I used to do weighed ring dips, but the again my shoulders hurt and I had not slept on my right shoulder since 2004..

Know I can, and I've moved on to the next PE, but I took along time in this first PE to sort out the issues, also hinge rows will help:) My shoulders used to sound like firecrackers in a garbage can, and everyday a tried to do the swings with just the right intensity and rom to only get the occasional pop and not the full on diasater alarm.

My point being it takes time to sort out wonky shoulders, but it sure feels good when they work again.

Thanks for the encouragement there, Frederik. That all makes sense and while I've seen vast improvements relative to 3 years ago when my shoulders were much weaker and not being used through their full natural ROM, there is clearly a lot of work to do.  I'll keep at it, I'm not in this for instant gratification, I want my "foundations" work to live up to the name.