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Started by Mike71, March 5, 2014 · 6 Replies · 425 Views
In the bottom position, is the hand not holding the dumbbell supposed to touch the back of the ankle? Or does the hand just go straight back between the feet?
BTW - this seems like it will be a great shoulder exercise once I can work my way up to decent weight. My shoulder flexibility is horrible and I am using a 5 pound dumbbell until I get my form correct.
Mike
The arm goes through the legs.
Tip: If you're a bit stiff, increasing the load may help you get better form. A heavier weight forces the arm to stay vertical, whereas with a light weight you can get away with less than vertical.
Thanks!
be careful moving to higher weight. 5lbs should be enough to activate the proper shoulder muscles and feel the feedback of gravity. if your ROM is poor, it's unlikely extra weight will solve your mobility issues. instead you might end up pushing yourself to move a too-heavy weight through a weak point during a complex movement executed with improper form.
anecdotally, i worked hard to get up to 10lbs only to realize my ROM still sucks. i moved down in weight so i can focus on actively stretching into the proper position. hopefully this helps.
Ravn said:The arm goes through the legs.
Tip: If you're a bit stiff, increasing the load may help you get better form. A heavier weight forces the arm to stay vertical, whereas with a light weight you can get away with less than vertical.
I strained my hamstring last week doing Windmills with locked legs (knees locked). I had been doing them for 3 weeks with knees not locked.
My hamstring is feeling better and I have been re-watching the video to really focus on my form in order to prevent over stretching my hamstring again. Do we want to touch the floor at the bottom part of this exercise? When I performed Windmills with locked knees for the first time I was touching the floor (which I had also been doing with knees unlocked). So this may have resulted in over stretching my hamstring.
I noticed the athlete in the video never touches the floor. And someone had mentioned in another post, "when in doubt, match the video." But I thought the further the stretch at the bottom (touching the floor ) would be better for improved flexibility.
Thanks.
Mike
Can't speak for everyone else, but the reason I don't touch the floor, but rather put the lower arm between the legs, is that, as you become more flexible, the stretch actually stops when you put your hand on the floor. Instead you want to continue to go deeper into the stretch, and passing the hand between the legs helps in achieving that.
Ravn said:Can't speak for everyone else, but the reason I don't touch the floor, but rather put the lower arm between the legs, is that, as you become more flexible, the stretch actually stops when you put your hand on the floor. Instead you want to continue to go deeper into the stretch, and passing the hand between the legs helps in achieving that.
Thanks! I will keep that in mind as I am back to square one in performing this routine with knees locked.
Mike