This movement has done more to de-impinge my shoulder than anything I have done yet. I use a regular stretching stick and slide it up and down the outside of a power rack( as if it were a smith machine) going through the full ROM of a perfectly strict military press.The forerarms stay perpindicular to the ground at all times and this is one of the keys. FIghting to keep the arm externally rotated as the bar passes the head is vital for 'turning on' these easy to deactivate but critical external rotators.The upward shrugging releases the lower rhomboids in some way normalizing scapula mobility and allowing the humeral head to position itself more in neutral. I dont quite understand how the mechanics actually work but they have! I can wake up relly impinged, go to the rack, do a bunch of these and have it release the teres, the levator , the corocoid brachialis and reset the shoulder! It also has worked wonders for all my clients.
I can now also get the same release with a free movement but the rack was pivotol in finding the correct groove.Slide the bar overhead as if you were holding a big med ball between your elbows.
Sorry for the dark pictures; we took these months ago.
A MUST read; the article that really change my shoulder by Bill Hartman. The shoulder from the inside out.
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1426252
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12 comments:
Hmmm, I'm going to have to give these a try. Good stuff Rif!
One stick does a lot of thing. I'll give it a try.
great guys, please read the article I just put a link to by Bill Hartman, it is one of the best ever.
Thanks for posting the photos Mark, I have quirky shoulders, so far they respond best to Valium, but I will try the stick shrugs.
How'd you come up with this one?
What's the low position? Parallel with the top of your head, forehead, chin, etc?
That's ingenious Rif. I re-read the article it made much more sense to me this time around.
aaron,
I came up with it because I was too tight and weak overhead to do this with a barbell, as per the article.I used the rack as a guid because I kept internally rotating as I pressed overhead.
I bring the stick down to chin level at the beginning as it is hard to keep the elbows under the wrists if you go lower. Now I can go all the way to the rack position(like an OL lifter) but start at the chin.
valium, hum, never tried that.
Well, Mark... I just got home from work (the gym), I tried the stick presses. I like them... my shoulders are both feeling healthy and have been all day. I am going to rotate this in as a preventive stretch.
I am going to try this out on a client who has a lot worse shoulder trouble... I will keep you posted as to the outcome.
Great photos! Thanks for sharing!
fawn thats great. the stick press goes very well with the face pulls too.
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