Sturdy Shoulders, Big Bench
Written on September 22, 2008 at 9:26 pm, by Eric Cressey
Anthony Lucia is a guy who came to Cressey Performance just over eight weeks ago with some chronic, painful shoulder issues – and he had just pre-tested for the Maximum Strength program. I gave him some takeaway mobility and soft tissue drills, plus a few subtle modifications to the Maximum Strength program. This morning, I got this email from him:
“Hey Eric,
“I just thought I’d give you some feedback. I have been doing MS for 8 weeks now, in fact I just started phase 3 today. On packing day my shoulder hurt so much I tried to bench 245 and just about couldn’t rerack it. After seeing you personally, and 8 weeks of stretching and stretching and stretching, I benched 285 for 1 the other day, with no discomfort!
“You set straight an average gym guy with 25 years of lifting experience, who thought he knew it all. In fact, after I told my dad (age 70) what you did for me, he went out and bought your book.
“I can honestly say, I never believed in stretching, I thought my warm-ups were good enough. Boy, was I wrong. Stretching has made me more flexible, and most importantly more aware of my form and balance.
“You have helped me with my recovery so much, thank you. I can’t wait for the sequel to Maximum Strength!”
Anthony Lucia
South Hadley, MA
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Category Blog | Tags: Building The Efficient Athlete, Eric Cressey, Magnificent Mobility, Maximum Strength, Powerlifting, Rotator Cuff Exercises, Rotator Cuff Rehab, Shoulder Exercises, Shoulder Health, Shoulder Impingement, Shoulder Pain, Shoulder Rehab, Unstable Surface Training, Weight Lifting Program, Weight Lifting Routine, Workout Program, Workout Routine
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September 23rd, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Couldn’t agree more…. you know what it did for my bench. I couldn’t do 185 a year ago without my neck and shoulders hurting.
September 23rd, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Eric,
when you list exercises as B1 and B2 in max strength book and ask to do 3 of B1 and 4 of B2, does that really mean alternate B1 and B2 3 times and then rest and to one extra set of B2? No misprint? Also, can the order of B1 and B2 be switched?
October 7th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Your mobility drills have changed my training career for the best after 7yrs of training very hard.
I will never be without that in my program!
Thanks!