rebuilding shoulders

I am in the middle of a self experiment. 3 yrs ago I could hardly pick up a coffee cup without strong pain in my shoulders, wrists, elbow.

I am a firm believer that the body can heal many things. I started doing research and learned about Osteoblasts/Osteoclasts and their role in our skeletal system.

I started researching exercises best for rehab and ended up learning about gymnastic exercises. I have come along way with no drugs and no surgery. I am curious how you feel about this topic.

I workout on rings and weights, I do as much body weight type exercises and feel about 90% better.

I no longer have wrist issues unless I work out really hard and with new exercises, the same is true for my shoulders.

I am 59 and I can do muscleups

weighted pullups (75 lbs)

Windshield wipers with legs straight 16

ring dips

I use parrallettes doing l sits and headstand pushups. I also go into handstand and next to mirror I walk side to side.

I can do shoulder stands on the rings, I am trying to go into a handstand on rings but for some reason cant pushup from this position. I can lift 220 in military press but my own body weight is only 172 HMMMMM?? Any advice here.

I do something I dont know what to call it. I hang upsided down from a chin bar and am straight then I lower my body down until my torso is parrallel with the ground, I do sets of 12 and sometimes I have 10-20 lbs from a dip belt off my waist at rear to increase the difficulty.

I also do rotator cuff exercises

I am trying to get my gym to let me hang up my rings there.

Any advice for shoulder exercises that will strengthen??

Wow, Mr. Joe! Very, very well done! Welcome to the forum.

What you're doing now is great, and obviously it works since you're healing so well. It's great to hear stuff like this, I could never convince my parents that the right exercise could change everything.

If you were wondering about more exercises, you could lower the rings to the floor and do things like push ups and chest flies. Instead of trying to press up from shoulder stand, try a regular handstand. Handstands on rings are very different compared to handstands on floor or paralettes. If you can jump up and catch the straps with your legs, practice handstands like that or when you feel like it lower into the shoulder stand. When going into the shoulder stand (don't know if you are), you're actually not supposed to relax the arms, you're supposed to press a little bit so you aren't completely down there.

Great intro post. Pick up a copy of the book if you haven't already, it will keep you busy for a while.

Thanks for the replies.

I have done my hand stands from parrallettes and lately have used

2 20lb dumbells on end, I then go into a hand stand on the bells and then lower as far as I can and then raise back to handstand.

I can do about 7 muscleups, single ones. I am going to start doing consecutive ones.

I also do a sort of planche, hands on a plyo stand about 30" high and then pull elbows to my sides at hips and then straighten my body and raise parrallel to ground.

I work my shoulders as I mentioned in an effort to rebuild.

Osteoblasts are a part of our bone marrow, they react to our exercise level. (The stress we introduce on the skeletal system)

The research shows a 10% change per yr.

Is it possible to raise that percentage by increasing the level of exercises?

It amazes me that the medical world has not done more to help people with joint problems this way.

When your kid comes up to you at age 9 or so and complains that his legs hurt you usually respond that those are growing pains. The doctors dont suggest surgery or replacement metal parts. SOmewhere as we grow that thinking changes. HMMMM

Well, there's a field called regenerative medicine but it isn't necessarily about your own body's ability to heal. It's more about things like replacement joints and cell meshes which allow you to heal faster than normal. It's pretty interesting.

You're talking about osteoblasts/clasts/cytes, are you concerned about your bone health? Gymnastics training is good for the ligaments and tendons which classical weight lifting can miss, but I believe that martial arts style training is the best for the bones themselves. Obviously you'll strengthen the insertions of muscle where bone latches on through any muscular activity, but to get the sections of bones that your muscles don't affect as much, you can use an iron body approach. Through your research, have you come across Wolff's Law? It's the one where damaged bone structures will heal in a matrix, and that bone isn't constructed like a solid tube, but a network. When you damage the bone slightly (by stressing it repeatedly in a controlled manner), it will heal back stronger than what it was.

Here's a video explanation: skip to 1:21

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Thanks again, good info.

Anyone know about how the tendons are fastened to the bones? Also when I raise my right arm I can feel something roll in my shoulder. sometimes its a little painful. I have good range of motion, and I always stretch this area really good. As I mentioned earlier I think I am at about 80-90% :roll:

Interesting to hear what your doing with your shoulders. You are way further ahead than i am, but i am doing something similar in that i am starting to spend most of my time strengthening the shoulder girdle and core. I have been doing a lot of mobility and prehab work on this area in the last 9 weeks and have noticed excellent gains. In particular i do Ido Portal's two shoulder routines with the band 5 times a week and have noticed dramatic improvements from these simple yet effective routines.

My approach to strengthening my shoulders is probably more basic than yours as i am not as strong as you and am inspired to see how much strength you have built!

What i currently do is a series of basic isometric holds every day as a warm up for 60sec each position:

Ring lock out

Bottom of dip position on rings (up to 30 secs now)

dead hang from bar

lock out on the top of the chin up position on bar

Inverted Hang on rings

False grip dead hang (only up to 20 seconds)

Plank

Side Planks

Reverse Planks

Hollow Hold

Arch Hold

V Up (30 seconds)

Coach's suggested Gravity boot Iron Cross Static with dumbells hanging upside down from a bar (3 x 10 seconds)

Aside from these i am focusing on building up my upper, middle and lower traps and Rhomboids as i am weak in this area and it was what led to me having impingement issues on my left shoulder previously. Over the last 9 weeks as i have built strength in these areas my shoulders have felt a lot better because my posture has vastly improved and my shoulders 'sit back' to where they should be posture wise now (at least they do most of the time). People tell me i look taller! i have spent my whole life slouching I have also felt more stable on the rings i think partly due to building up these muscles.

The exercises i do for them are:

Bat Wings

Shrugs (normal / behind the back / Overhead Shrug)

Overhead Squats (i am only up to using a 20kg bar for OH Squats but they have greatly improved my mobility)

Static Row (i row up on the rings then hold the lock out position for time contracting and squeezing the middle back)

I don't move a huge amount of weight in these exercises, instead i focus on form - particularly with shrugs making sure my body is aligned in the right way and am slowly building up the weight. I do 1 x 20 with a 303 tempo with front and BHB shrugs and 1 x 5 with a heavier bar for the Overhead Shrug.

In terms of the more pure gymnastics exercises i only do two - but i do them 5 days a week: The L sit and the Handstand.

I would be interested to hear what kind of exercises you focused in building up your shoulders the last three years and what you found most helpful.

That little click is most likely your bicep tendon, but it could be something else. That's what usually makes the rolling feeling, but you can't really be sure without a doctor checking it out. Apparently the german hang is great for that area, but you might not be ready for that yet, so you could scale it down by putting your feet on the floor instead of putting your whole body weight into it.

Tendons are connected to bone by collagenous fibers called sharpey fibers, and basically they squirm around through the bone's matrix I mentioned in the other post. Also, that point is called the insertion and there tend to be small holes in the bone where this happens. Sort of like how there are holes for blood vessels.

Good info. Does the bicep muscle connect at the top of the shoulder? That is where I feel the roll and some times snap. I dont notice it when I am working out, mostly in the morning. I dont baby myself at all when something hurts I usuall just add bengay and keep going. So far so good.

What is a German hang?

Will tendons repair themselves?

Thanks again!

New guy 5000, Sorry I did not see your post until tonight.

I have been a cabinetmaker for almost 40 yrs, In that time Ihave moved about a million sq ft of plywood and solid lumber. This is probably why I have shoulder issues, and probably why I am so lean and strong. Having said that, I have changed my training about 1 1/2 yrs ago.

I can do quite a few chinups/pullups

Did you buy a set of gravity boots? i have been considering a set mainly for abs but the workout for ironcross is another good reason.

For my abs I hang from straps and grab a 35lb dumbell with my feet and then lift up to my chest.

I use a tricep rope and am up to 140lbs, I pull the rope down and get into what could be considered a starting position in starting blocks. I then tense all my muscles and do sets of 10.

i also do rotator cuff exercises to help with my shoulder issues.

I have been doing quite a bit of research on muscle, bone, tendon, remodeling or modeling. When you consider the important things that goes on inside the bones, marrow Red/ white blood cells, antigens, Interlukin 7, Immune system etc.....

Too many people sitting on their butts these days, All ages. People that would rather take medication or have metal parts installed then fix what ails them the hard way.

Sorry, did not mean to ramble. :roll:

Sorry

joej said:

Too many people sitting on their butts these days, All ages. People that would rather take medication or have metal parts installed then fix what ails them the hard way.

So sad and so true.