Home Posts tagged "Optimal Shoulder Performance" (Page 8)

A Simple Shoulder Fix

For those of you with testy shoulders, give this levator scapulae stretch a try: To stretch the right levator scapulae, put your right hand behind your back as if you’re getting handcuffed, then look down toward your left foot while pulling your head in that same direction with the left hand. You’ll feel a stretch along the right side of the back of your neck. I’ve seen a lot of people who get some immediate short-term relief simply from stretching out the levator scapulae. Regardless of the shoulder problem, scapular upward rotation is almost always limited or occurs with the wrong muscle firing patterns. The serratus anterior, lower traps, and upper traps work together to upwardly rotate the scapula, and when they’re weak and combined with tightness in the downward rotators, we get into trouble. What are the downward rotators? Pec minor, rhomboids, and, you guessed it, levator scapulae. The only problem is that it’s tough to stretch out rhomboids and pec minor on your own; they actually respond better to soft tissue work. You can get right on levator scapulae, though. Give it a shot (15s/side) and see for yourself. Of course, an adequate corrective exercise program is going to address a host of other factors such as thoracic mobility and scapular stability.

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Shoulder Problems: Check your Hip and Ankle

When we're discussing functional anatomy, one thing that a ton of people overlook is the effect of fascia on how we move. Anatomy charts are always nice and neat for us, but anyone who has ever taken gross anatomy or watched a surgery will tell you that there is fascia EVERYWHERE. This connective tissue both facilitates and restricts movement, and as is the case with muscles, fascial restrictions (adhesions) can negatively affect how we perform. A common example of this phenomenon that might surprise you involves the spiral line, a fascial "train" Thomas Myers brought to light in his fantastic book, Anatomy Trains. Essentially, the spiral line links one shoulder girdle to the opposite leg. If you have restrictions in the spiral line, both "ends" of the train will be negatively affected. This is one reason why I almost always see poor flexibility in the opposite ankle and hip in anyone who has a shoulder problem that involves tightness of some sort in the shoulder girdle. Additionally, we know that via the "serape effect," the latissimus dorsi works intimately with the opposite gluteus maximus during the sprinting motion. The only way that this "link" is possibly is through the thoracolumbar fascia, a dense section of connective tissue that helps to transfer force. So what are the take-home points? 1. Don't overlook the importance of soft-tissue work! It's tough to stretch fascia, but modalities like foam rolling, massage, and ART can make a huge difference. 2. Injuries never occur in isolation; as the shoulder-hip-ankle connection verifies, we need to look at the body as a whole. 3. If you spot poor shoulder mobility on one side, as part of your corrective exercise approach, incorporate plenty of mobility exercises and soft-tissue work for the opposite ankle and hip. Eric Cressey
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Bench Pressing with the Feet Up?

Q: I recently was in attendance at your lecture/hands on session at the Learn-by-Doing seminar in Atlanta, GA. I signed up for your newsletter and have been following your blog ever since- it's great! I have a question for you and would love to hear your thoughts. I was recently asked by a Physical Therapist about form on a bench press after watching one of my clients training. She wanted to know why I wouldn't put a clients feet up while performing the exercise. She has a theory that when everyone does a bench press (any prone horizontal push for that matter) they should do it with their feet up (as in on the bench)- to take stress off of the lower back. The client I was working with at the time (goal fat loss by his reunion this summer!) was performing dumbbell close-grip bench press with his feet planted on the floor. Thoughts? A: Thanks for your email and the kind words. Most back problems you’ll encounter are extension-based (a tendency toward an excessively lordotic posture, generally secondary to tight hip flexors and weak glutes/external obliques/rectus abdominus). As I recall, Sahrmann has noted that extension and extension-rotation syndromes account for 80% of back issues. In SOME people with these problems, flat benching pressing with the feet on the floor can pose a problem. In these same people, sleeping on the back ends up being uncomfortable – one reason why I feel it’s valuable to place a pillow under the knees when sleeping in this position. Flatten the lumbar spine out a bit and you ease the extension stress. Unfortunately, benching pressing is a lot different than sleeping! Benching with the feet up on the bench is, in my opinion, throwing out the baby with the bathwater. When we flatten out the lumbar spine, we also flatten out the thoracic spine. It goes without saying that the loss of thoracic extension is closely related to scapular winging (abduction). And, if you’ve read stuff from myself, Mike Robertson, and Bill Hartman (who made Inside-Out, a fantastic DVD and a manual along these lines), you’ll notice a resounding theme: the shoulders are at the mercy of the scapulae and thoracic spine.* To that end, I don’t feel that benching with the feet up is the best option. Rather than just criticize without an alternative solution, though, I’ll throw a few out there that I’ve used with great success: 1. Incline Press – Throw in a bit of hip and knee flexion, and you reduce the need for an arch – unless you’ve got a client who uses the “ceiling-humper” style of cheating! Additionally, incline benches tend to be a bit easier in terms of set-up on individuals with back pain. 2. Bent-Knee Floor Presses – On the surface, this sounds like exactly what you get with a bench press with the feet elevated, but in fact, you’re protecting the shoulders by avoiding the bottom position of the movement. We can get away with sacrificing a little bit of scapular stability when we stay away from the more “at-risk” zones. Some might recommend stability ball dumbbell bench presses, but I think it would be a bit inappropriate right now. I use unstable surfaces very sparingly in training (and almost exclusively in the upper body), but this exercise has some merit in certain cases. Research from Behm et al. demonstrated that muscular activation is maintained with unstable surface training, even if total force production is lower. Essentially, muscles do more work to stabilize a joint than they do to generate torque in the desired direction of movement. In other words, you can get a solid training effect with less external resistance. So, it can be a great thing with bouncing back from shoulder injuries, or just tossing in a lower intensity deload week. Unfortunately, stability balls markedly increase spine load – not something we want to do with those with back pain.  For more information, check out The Truth About Unstable Surface Training.

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To get back to the feet on the floor versus the bench debate, I think the “on the bench” crowd really overlooks the fact that the bench press is actually a pretty good FULL-body exercise. When performed properly, there is a ton of leg drive and momentum transfer from the lower body, through the thoracolumbar fascia, to the lats and rest of the upper body with the help of solid diaphragmatic (belly) breathing techniques. We aren’t just training pecs, you know? For more tips on sparing the shoulders and proper upper-body lifting techniques, check out the Optimal Shoulder Performance DVD set.

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