That moment when you realized how tight you were

For me, I knew I was in trouble when we got to SE3, the Supine Shoulder Extension.  "Arms straight behind you, fingers together, go back as far as you comfortably can," I hear Coach say.  I'm thinking, wait, it's possible to touch your hands behind your back with straight arms?!

 

For the next 90sec I'm sitting on the floor practically at 90 degrees, hands barely behind me, watching as the follow along class gets deeper and deeper.  Crazy thing, because despite barely leaning back at all, I started feeling a stretch sensation shooting up my bicep.

 

And it was around here that Coach makes a remark along the lines of, "We're starting this series off fairly light to get ready for the hard stuff later," and I just laugh. Oh boy, this is going to be some journey.

I had a similar thought. I was curious: is there a particular way that we should bias this, e.g. torso closer to ground but hands farther apart versus torso higher up and hands closer together? Obviously the goal is torso low down and hands together, but prior to achieving that is there one way which is better? 

Chest up higher and hands closer together.

With shoulders lower and hands wider you are only fooling yourself; not your shoulders nor your biceps.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Sensei JP said:

 I'm thinking, wait, it's possible to touch your hands behind your back with straight arms?!

 

Er ...I'm struggling to get my hands to shoulder width behind my back (palms down and straight arms)!!

I was thinking maybe my lats are too big ...... until I looked in the mirror.

I feel your pain Sensei. Did this series for the first time today and had similar issues getting my fingers to touch; had to sit way up to get them to and had to pause the class video so I could catch up as my reps were taking so much longer than the athletes in the demo video. In the end though I think we've just got to do the best we can and be consistent and patient.

I also simply couldn't even touch my hands to my shoulders with TBs/SE21 as my shoulders and traps were fried by that point, so I just focused on shifting my weight from hand to hand and trying to lift the hand ever so slightly because that was all I could manage. I'm sure that if I stay consistent though that I'll even tually be able to touch my shoulders and eventually hips like the athletes in the vid.

This one completely killed me, something about being a good 25% worse in angle to the floor compared to the guy in the video didn't sit well with my ego - my pronator teres (yes I had to look it up) swelled to the point I actually realised it both existed and didn't like what I'd been doing to it... lesson learned, go easy in the stretching especially when involving lots of groups of small muscles!

Are we supposed to retract our shoulder blades on SE3?

Tried the TB series today. I think I topped stone and was in the diamond stiffness level. It felt like I was playing at the stretches as I struggled to fund the right level of discomfort and position. Work in progress!

I'd be interested in knowing if there are any specific limbering exercises that would help.  I know lots of stuff for the legs, but I know almost nothing for the upper body.  I've thought of basic twists, arm circles, clapping behind back (trying to get pinkies together)... anything else?

Look through the foundation and handstand courses. There is tonnes of mobility stuff you could use

There is also a lot of foam rolling lacrosse ball work you can do to open up the pecs/lats.

 

In that vein, Kelly Starrett has a lot of great material for free on Youtube.

 

In this example, he uses a jump stretch band to help position shoulders in a shoulder extension stretch: http://www.mobilitywod.com/2012/09/better-shoulder-extension-better-bench-and-dips/

I'm more bendy than strong.   The two band pull elements...holy crap.

Did anyone else have a problem with the circulation in their arms being cut off?

 

stephen

I couldn't get my hands to touch even standing. Followed through the best I could, but not long, as elbows flared like a carnival. Long way to go. Also, is it better to try some limbering for this particular position (20-30s sessions through the day) 3-5 times a week or just stick to try it when I do the Thoracic bridge session?

I'm the same Iguanus. No touching hands for me. I tried holding onto the stall bars and walking them together while standing. It was easier as I had something to grip but there was still no touching. I think this ones going to take a while to loosen up.

Cheers

Ben

Nobody is complaining about the last 3/4 SEs? I've just realized how weak I am at pressing in that bridge position.. And those hip taps.. I'll just say that I was only able to touch my head! Hell of a stretch session, thanks Coach!

BenHack said:

... No touching hands for me. I tried holding onto the stall bars and walking them together while standing ...

 

Good idea.

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Ha! I barely got my hands to touch in back and then walking them in and out killed me! By the time i got to taps I could barely get my hands off the floor!

I didn't know how tight my abs where till this series. My shoulder extension strength is really bad. I had to that thing where you get into a handstand and lower down as I couldn't push up into the elevated bridge. After the 60s it was awkward as I couldn't figure out how to smoothly leave the position as I couldn't push back into a handstand nor had the strength to smoothly get down so I kind of clumsily pirouetted/rolled out of it. 

Just a quick update.  I know Coach says we need to take the long view, look at improvement over 6 and 12 month blocks, but I'm super excited for this: I can now touch my pinky fingers together behind my back.  A month ago I didn't think this was physically possible; the human body simply doesn't move that way.  Now I can do it!  Okay, I'm still sitting perfectly straight, but my fingers are touching!  Progress!

 

Also, my right cartwheel has always been iffy.  Something always felt off, around my shoulder area, but I assumed it was just a coordination thing, trying to do a skill on the weak side.  Well, this 'blocked' feeling has almost disappeared, and my right cartwheel is now way easier and more natural feeling.  All of this, and likely more I'm not aware of, all in one month.  This course may end up being the best thing I've ever done for myself.

Just did my first attempt at TBs yesterday. Here I was thinking my upper body flexibility was not too bad compared to my lower body. What a laugh I had with myself yesterday! After SE3 supine shoulder extension I understand why I can't get passed HS/PE2-iM. It's not lack of strengh, it's the flexibility in shoulder extension, stupid! I have none. 

 

I also had to forget about the bridge exercises. I couldn't push myself into position. I don't have stall bars, wich doesn't make things easy. 

Update again.  This is me after my first time going through the Bridge Series.  Yes, the grimace was necessary.

 

This is me after one month.  I improved maybe two inches, but it felt like two feet:

 

This is me today, roughly two months of work:

 

It's like magic.  I've tripled my shoulder extension.  I've also greatly decreased the amount of junk food I've been eating, so I think that's helping.

 

Also, here is my Bridge after the first day:

 

Here is my Bridge today:

 

I'm not winning any points for grace or style, but improvement is improvement.  

Thank the Lord for the forums.  I can echo something from everyone's posts on this topic so far.  I did TB series for the first time today and felt like I was doing a comedy routine. 

SarahsWhere said:

Thank the Lord for the forums.  I can echo something from everyone's posts on this topic so far.  I did TB series for the first time today and felt like I was doing a comedy routine.

what so you mean by Comedy Routine ?