Peregrination Props

This isn't so much a form check but rather just a fun post showing how motivated I am to maintain consistency. Love these workouts for how versatile they are, the low equipment requirements, and ability to do at home (esp. as a father of 2 now). Well, on holiday right now and now adding a double entendre to the term "mobility" (1. ROM w/ strength; 2. taking your workout with you across the continent). 

Using improvised materials for my Static Seated Shoulder Flexion with Weighted Bar. Water bottle filled w/ H2O weighing approximately 2.2 pounds. Using ring of plastic from cap to thread an old broomstick handle found at our vacation sublet. 

As a funny aside I idiotically thought I could take my 5lbs kettle bell with me on the plane... TSA agent immediately was like "nope, bludgeoning device" and in the garbage it went lol. 

Done!

Hey Brian,

That's a bummer you lost your kettlebell to TSA! So lame. This is a very creative setup though and your form is excellent! Nice forward lean and flexion. Let's see twice that much weight on the bar now. 

Very nice open shoulders , flexion and lean. can you film the extecution with a back view?

@Alessandro Mainente as requested. Sorry the video is a little askew as I couldn't find a very stable prop-up for my phone. View of Lake Jackson (aka Lac a Jacques) provided as a bonus!

Hey Brian pay attention to:

-symmetric work on the arms (one it is more tilted to the side)

-The amount of the grip. try to reduce it a bit more.

@Alessandro Mainente @Everett Carroll You guys have been awesome in walking me through the minutiae of this exercise. I'm posting another video with both back and side views. I think I've cleaned up the asymmetry in the arms and the grip. Thanks for any feedback as always!

Hey Brian,

As you lean forward, you are leaning slightly to the right, putting more weight towards your right hip. If possible, try doing these in front of a mirror. That should help you achieve a more symmetric position. 

We can also start looking at narrowing your grip a little bit more. Like Alex said earlier, your shoulders are nice and open so move your hands a little closer together. 

Thanks @Everett Carroll This is a very humbling progression and I'm encouraged by the progress I've already made in opening the shoulders. 

Did a lot of forum reviews and self-experimentation this AM with mirror and video. I already knew (and am working on) the my hip abduction and external rotation when in cross-legged position; my left is certainly more tight than my right. Figured this might have something to do with my lean on this progression and the subsequent upstream slant in my torso and therefore, higher in the chain, the dowel.

So I tried a prop under my butt but this didn't correct it much. Thereafter I simply leaned my torso a bit more towards the left (as you suggested @Everett Carroll) and I think this made a large difference, even if I need to smooth it out. I suspect that as I balance out my hips in the cross-legged position I won't have to correct for the torso slant it creates. Anyways, putting this out there in the name of science for critical review. 

PS - I worked hard to narrow the grip to shoulder width; I think I'm there in the video. 

Nice fix, Brian. Looks good now! Once it feels comfortable, go ahead and advance.

does it not matter that his arm internally rotates at the top position? kind of like the beginning of a dislocate?

On 23/9/2017 at 5:15 PM, Brian Sparks said:

Did a lot of forum reviews and self-experimentation this AM with mirror and video. I already knew (and am working on) the my hip abduction and external rotation when in cross-legged position; my left is certainly more tight than my right. Figured this might have something to do with my lean on this progression and the subsequent upstream slant in my torso and therefore, higher in the chain, the dowel.

So I tried a prop under my butt but this didn't correct it much. Thereafter I simply leaned my torso a bit more towards the left (as you suggested @Everett Carroll) and I think this made a large difference, even if I need to smooth it out. I suspect that as I balance out my hips in the cross-legged position I won't have to correct for the torso slant it creates. Anyways, putting this out there in the name of science for critical review. 

PS - I worked hard to narrow the grip to shoulder width; I think I'm there in the video. 

 

He Brian , an important correction it is needed:

-the back views shows 2 separated movement

-a flexion and after an internal rotation of the upper arm

the first one it is the ONLY ONE REQUIREMENT.

Thanks guys for bringing this up. I had asked about this earlier in my Form Checks post a few months back but was focusing on the scapular movement. The arm rotation makes sense. Lots of minutiae to pay attention to! Will see what I can do and will report back.

Okay so I think I've figured out my problem which is pretty fundamental: I simply am just a bit shy of full shoulder flexion and was compensating with the remaining ROM needed to achieve 180^o flexion by rotating my arms.

After perusing GB articles for one on shoulder flexibility, I found a piece that described a simple test to check shoulder flexion. This involved placing feet 12" from a wall, PPT w/ back flat against the wall (and NOT letting it come off at any point), then noting how close the arms get to the wall when engaging shoulder flexion (at shoulder width apart). Here's a pic of my results:

I definitely have about 15-20^o more to go. I cued my traps as well, making sure it mimicked the seated shoulder flexion iM. 

Try my darnest, I worked as hard as possible yesterday to achieve 180^o shoulder flexion in the HS iM1 exercise WITHOUT ROTATING MY ARMS.... yet from this video you can see I still have to do that just a little bit in order to compensate for incomplete shoulder flexion. 

To end a lengthy reflection, I'd been really uncertain about why I was having such discrepant feedback across my form checks, but I believe it was because of the subtle way I was rotating my arms through the very end of my ROM. The test above, against a wall, is such a simple and effective starting point I highly recommend it for anyone else confused about their progress on this particular exercise. 

Anyways, thanks again for any feedback in particular, especially specific exercises to improve shoulder flexion. Cheers!

You are welcome Brian and keep up the consistent, thoughtful and methodical training of yours.

Okay so looks like it's been 6, 7 weeks since I last posted. I redoubled my efforts and incorporated a hard shoulder flexion day and limbering everyday (puppy pose, butcher's block). These have been exceptionally helpful! I actually started with a prone (lying face down) version of puppy pose and worked up to hips-piked puppy pose, which was a nice way to gently work up to it. 

Here's the progress (compared from above):

The arm rotation is completely gone and I'm very pleased with having reduced the weight to empty bar and now up to 2.5#. Makes a lot of sense that I need to now progressively increase the strength in this new end of shoulder flexion ROM. I can even feel the difference when doing the leaning PE2 wall walks with the new shoulder flexion capacity (tire much quicker at that joint but better form nonetheless!).

Hey Brian,

Nice progress!

1. I suggest you start moving your hands a little closer together now, before you increase the weight again.

2. Shrug strongly before pulling the bar back behind your head. With a narrower grip, you should feel your shoulders, or at least your biceps, touching the sides of your head. 

3. It looks like your right arm is dropping as you lean forward. Try performing these in front of a mirror so you can watch closely for symmetry. It could also just be the way your body was angled against the camera. 

10 months later: lots of patient work on shoulder flexion. 

Compared to my 12/2017 above, the hands are way closer in, stacked above the shoulders. I do still have to work on the rightward lean a bit. 

My approach was to lay on the floor supine (though with legs uncrossed at 90 degrees-bent knee on the floor), holding the dowel on the floor overhead and allowing gravity to support my flexion on the ground while maintaining PPT. This was a very slow process but worked to open my shoulder flexion. I was fatiguing too quickly trying to progressively move the hands closer in the seated position. The laying on the floor method gave me more passive support. 

Bigger comment for the forum coaches: I'm now working on the endurance aspect while seated upright. I can't hold the position longer than 10" for 1 set, thereafter more like 5". I plan on progressively increasing this endurance over time as per the recommended sets/reps in Foundation.

Should I just dec time/set and do more frequently? Also, should I be pulling my chest further through my arms, or am I at adequate shoulder flexion yet? Thanks for any guidance!

HI Brian you need a bit more of a range of motion. the test you are referring to it is something that i use regularly when a new client asks me for handstand development. no test passed? no handstand. my suggestion is to use the test as a daily work by doing it when lying on the floor. this is more appropriate for you.

Hi All, 

Curious for feedback, especially compared to my video from last year. The shoulder flexion has been getting progressively better for sure.

Thanks!

16 hours ago, Brian Sparks said:

Hi All, 

Curious for feedback, especially compared to my video from last year. The shoulder flexion has been getting progressively better for sure.

Thanks!

 

H Brian, the side view shows definitely improvements BUT the back view reveals 2 major problems:

- asymmetric bar;

-bent elbows.

probably the best solution is widening the grip.

Great thanks Alessandro for the cues.