Curl Up Issues

When I do these movements, and with the lightest band I have, by the 8th to 10th rep range my left shoulder basically gives out. By gives out, I mean it feels like it comes out of place; dislocates, and in the bad sense (not the warm-up movement by the same name). The lightest band I have is yellow in this package of bands I bought and is about 2-5 lbs I believe in resistance. In any case, yes I stop doing the movement at this point. I also realize that this is likely an issue of strength, in that I'm lacking it in my shoulders. Being that I'm using the lightest weight band for the exercise....I'm not sure how to go about strengthening my shoulders while still working on this movement pattern.

I relish the day when I can do a handstand, but these shoulders...I'll tell ya. I would have never thought that I was this tight up until I started doing this program. 

i do my best to keep the activation of all shoulder flexion exercises consistent. this means pressing the band away like in a handstand and minding the difference between what you're doing with your arms and your shoulders. shoulders should be protracting and elevating. upper arms should be kept with a bit of tension in external rotation, this keeps the arm from internally rotating while its overhead.

my advice if you're doing H1, depending on your level, is to keep the first iM's and especially pe 4, pe 5 and applying those cues to avoid any issues popping up in the future. keep it up the prone version of the band pull was brutal for me at first. just finish the reps with a bit of rest until no rest is needed

Yeah...as for handstand work I'm still stuck on HS/PE1. I've posted on this, too, in the handstand forums. My shoulders suck. My other main joints do, too, but with initial input from GST they've come around much faster than my shoulders (in this case, my ankles and knees). I'm planning to incorporate more mobility movements on off days, however, given your advice, I may add a few additional -ims from the HS 1 series (pe/-ims 1-5) to help with my shoulder issues. 

This is what I've come up with so far, as fillers for off-days or days when not working those muscles

Namely (for my legs on handstand or on upper-body days):

- swivel hips

- skier squats

- kneeling achilles stretch R/L (from FSs)

- curled seizas

(for my shouders when not working them on TBs days):

- static cat

- static side chest stretch

- side chest for repetitions

- static capsule stretch

- capsule stretch for reps

These would be as warmups or cooldowns, or whatevers, and they would be in addition to the stretching series and my regular mobility work on Foundation days. I know that over time these mobility issues will be resolved, but hopefully filling in the gaps with these moves will help to expedite the process.

no where else to go but up, Dan. it's a rough series, i know. it'll come

Hopefully you've realised by now to stop the set when you know your shoulder is going to give out.

Yes, yes I have. lol, my questions was how exactly to get my shoulders strong enough so, you know, I'm not dislocating my arm on a move where I'm using the lightest added weight (beyond simply arms) that I could.

Daniel Taylor-Shaut said:

Yes, yes I have. lol, my questions was how exactly to get my shoulders strong enough so, you know, I'm not dislocating my arm on a move where I'm using the lightest added weight (beyond simply arms) that I could.

Your shoulders are already getting stronger.  You simply need to be careful to not over indulge.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Damned patience.... but you're right, Coach. Buying F2, just makes me want to get to those progressions that much quicker. I can tell though that it's slowly working -- can finally do curled seiza with my heels together and shoulder flexion with my hands touching and without sitting upright.