Stiff leg windmill (MN/PE1>iM) and shoulder mobility & pain

Hi all,

I'm having some difficulty with shoulder mobility during the stiff leg windmill.

I'm having a heck of a time keeping my right arm straight up throughout the movement.

It's worst during the up motion. I am flexing my shoulder muscle pretty hard in my effort to keep my arm vertical, but my arm just won't "go" there. Ultimately it's causing pain in my shoulder that lasts 1-3 days after doing the windmills, the pain feels like it's in the joint.

First off, I think I could benefit from doing some shoulder warmup and stretching, in order to get better range of motion. Would dislocates be good to warm up and stretch the shoulders? Or is there a better suggestion?

Secondly, I feel like since I'm feeling pain for days afterwards, I need to stop for a bit to heal before coming back to it. But I don't want to stop doing tuck-ups (MN/PE1), I'm enjoying the progress there. Any guidance about how to handle this? Could I maybe do a modified windmill, where I'm not holding a weight above my head?

Thanks!

You definitely shouldn't feel pain in your shoulder.  Definitely warmup more.  Make sure you're rotating your torso -- the shoulder should be in a fairly neutral position.  You're also probably descending further than you should at this time.  Post a video to be sure.

Of course, if you're nursing an injury, it would be better to working on tuck-ups without the IM than quit completely.

How much weight are you using?

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I'll post a video as soon as I can... I did realize that my torso flattens as I descend (shoulders become level with each other) whereas maybe they really need to be more vertically lined up. That's probably part of my problem.

Thanks for replying.

tex0413 said:

You definitely shouldn't feel pain in your shoulder.  Definitely warmup more.  Make sure you're rotating your torso -- the shoulder should be in a fairly neutral position.  You're also probably descending further than you should at this time.  Post a video to be sure.

 

Of course, if you're nursing an injury, it would be better to working on tuck-ups without the IM than quit completely.

Hi Coach,

The question suggests maybe I should try a lighter weight? The very first week I tried 5 pounds and quickly realized that was too much for me, so I dropped down to 1 pound. Then I thought I was getting the hang of it and worked up to 5 pounds over 8-10 weeks, so now I'm pretty much at 5 pounds.

I'll take some time off from this exercise and come back at it with 1 pound again when I start it again.

Any suggestions for an alternate iM for the tuck-ups while I take a break?

Thanks

Coach Sommer said:

How much weight are you using?

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer