Started by limbeh, October 23, 2012 · 5 Replies · 6,245 Views
Hi GB!
I'm Limbeh from Singapore and I just finished my conscription time. Got introduced to gymnastics by someone in my army camp and decided to take it up. So I'm now enrolled in a gymnastics class.
They taught us German hangs. I've been doing it every few days - I notice my shoulders pop a lot more often and my head seems to stick out more forward. Should this be happening and what should I do? (this isn't something I can find in the BTGB book)
Thanks!
Please explain what you mean by "my shoulders pop a lot more often."
What makes them pop, and any other details. Pain, no pain, swelling, no swelling, everything. Also, if you can show a video of what you are doing it would be very helpful.
Joshua Naterman said:Please explain what you mean by "my shoulders pop a lot more often."What makes them pop, and any other details. Pain, no pain, swelling, no swelling, everything. Also, if you can show a video of what you are doing it would be very helpful.
This popping happens when randomly moving the shoulder around in the course of the day (when there is no load). I used to do a lot of swimming a few years back, however swimming emphasises overhead mobility and not the other way around.
There is no pain or swelling; was just taking the precaution to ask first so as not to do something stupid and get injured unnecessarily.
Did this happen when you used to swim? If not, you may want to implement whatever you were doing that kept your shoulders from acting funny during that time.
Rotator cuff work and scapular stability work (both static and during regular movements) are both good ways to do this.
I can't offer more without being there in person.
We also can't offer much insight into your situation without very specific details.
Hypothetical example: When I reach for a box of cereal things are fine, but after I put it on the shelf my shoulder pops when I bring my arm back down to my side.
We would also need the most complete details of what your weekly training looks like in terms of exercises, sets, reps, all laid out the way you do them. Order is important. Accurate sets and reps are important. Video of these is immensely helpful as well.
In my experience as a coach, swimmers have often had poor shoulder mobility often. OTOH, they tend to be strong, especially if they swim butterfly. If they do, I'll deal with them as they might have some potential worth working with. Basically they work the internal rotators a lot and often.
Troy had pretty crappy shoulder flexibility in his bridging and tumbling early on (they also tend to be inflexible because they never stretch the hips open). However, he would have been good on rings as he was able to pump out 20+ pullups in a few months of training. Besides a FL. Bare in mind, he was also on the small side and about 8 years old.
Which was really funny since the mom who referred him to the gym told me she didn't know how he would because he liked to play soccer and do art. Her daughter was a kid who couldn't cut it at Bela's camp but was elite potential. Son would have been good too but his strength was nowhere near his friend's but he had good flexibility and body awareness besides dad being a bodybuilder had their nutrition down (Mr. California in his 50's).
Blairbob said:In my experience as a coach, swimmers have often had poor shoulder mobility often. OTOH, they tend to be strong, especially if they swim butterfly. If they do, I'll deal with them as they might have some potential worth working with. Basically they work the internal rotators a lot and often.
Troy had pretty crappy shoulder flexibility in his bridging and tumbling early on (they also tend to be inflexible because they never stretch the hips open). However, he would have been good on rings as he was able to pump out 20+ pullups in a few months of training. Besides a FL. Bare in mind, he was also on the small side and about 8 years old.
Wow - this is pretty much a description of myself. Among the group in the class I'm in now, I'm one of the strongest, but mobility wise very poor. Plus, my psychomotor coordination isn't very good. I used to swim breaststroke most of the time so by default my legs tend to open up ("straddle"?).
Anyway, I only did swimming for about 3 years - during senior high. From the start, my mobility was pretty screwed up - even the swimming coach told me that and said that he had no idea how to solve that.
Joshua Naterman said:Did this happen when you used to swim? If not, you may want to implement whatever you were doing that kept your shoulders from acting funny during that time.
My shoulders hardly ever popped when I used to swim. There is no problem now, but I'm basically erring on the side of caution and trying to prevent any potential injury before it happens. The popping usually happens during daily stuff, such as reaching for cereal in the hypothetical example.
Joshua Naterman said:We would also need the most complete details of what your weekly training looks like in terms of exercises, sets, reps, all laid out the way you do them. Order is important. Accurate sets and reps are important. Video of these is immensely helpful as well.
For now, my weekly training still isn't really fixed due to the gymnastics class. Since my coordination is a bit slower, I try to "practice" the stuff that was done in class in order to catch up. So I do very little things on a constant basis.
What I do on a constant basis everyday:
- Joint mobility (some Intuflow thing that my friend taught me, I've never found any exact video matching it online)
- Shoulder dislocates using any random pole, pipe, towel, rope I can find.
- Shoulder width Pushups, 2 sets of 10. These are done slowly - 2 counts down, pause 1 count, up 2 counts.
- Tuck Front lever Pulls or chinups - 2 sets of 6
- Skin the cat / German hangs with straight arms. 3 times every 1-2 days. I normally train between classes, so it really depends on how often I can get to my training area.
I don't have videos, but I'll take some ASAP so that I can get you guys to comment.