Shoulder Strengthening

A little back ground before I tell you about the strengthening.


Ok so back in august 2008 I was competing in a kick boxing tournament when I hyper-extended a jab which kind of threw my shoulder out of position but I continued on after a short stoppage, around 1 minute later just towards the end of the round, as I threw a left hook I managed to put my body all out of shape and caught him on the chin with an awkward shot. Sure enough straight away I felt my shoulder come out of place and screamed in agony! Didn’t feel all too good at the time but after a few weeks I managed to get back up to full health but with a niggling problem in the back of my mind. Turns out I had a subluxation and didn’t tear the capsule, which is good news! Wiki defines it as this:


“A subluxation may have different meanings,
depending on the medical specialty involved.
It implies the presence of an incomplete or partial dislocation of a joint”

I spent around 2-3 months of going through shoulder rehabilitation and yes it definitely felt a lot better than before. Although I didn’t feel comfortable in putting it in some places, my range of movement was poor and I was still feeling weak, even after rehab.


So I did my own. I still do! The shoulder is one of the most complex joints in the body if not the most complex of all! Imagine a ball and socket; now imagine that being able to rotate 360 degrees. Now added to all that are tendons, ligaments, muscles, nerves and so much more. It is by far the most complex and most amazing joint in the body but why do we continue to ignore it?


I know a lot of people who say, yeah I have really good strong shoulders. Really? Just because you can shoulder press 45kg on each hand doesn’t mean you have strong shoulders all round. Have you seen those people in the gym who walk like Neanderthals, you know the type, dragging there knuckles along the floor pushing out everything heavy with AWFUL form. Yeah well check out their posture, are their shoulders rounded at the front? I thought so. Strength isn’t about the amount you can lift but what you full shoulder range is capable of, being injury free!


Here are 6 exercises to do that will help shoulder mobility and give you a great foundation to build upon. If you aren’t sure about the exercises I’m talking about, go to YouTube!


• Bent over rows – Simple and great for you. Helps bring back those rounded shoulders, as long as the form is correct! Remember Keep a straight back!
• Shoulder dislocates with Resistance band – This is great for rotor cuff movements.

• Scapular wall slides – Just stand with your back to the wall and keep your shoulders back doing this.

• Scapular push ups – Just like regular push ups but with out using your arms (in a sense)

• External Rotation – Great for building on lateral strength of the shoulder

• Lateral raises – Again another brilliant exercise for building on lateral shoulder strength


If you continue to build on shoulder strength using light resistance then hopefully you will reduce the risk of injury and pain. Let’s face it, no one likes being injured and everyone hates spending time away from the gym if they can help it! Give yourself a break from all the heavy lifting to work on some simpler routines. Who knows you may find improvements in your strength game!


Peace out for now

Resistance Bands - Are they any good?

Why do we need resistance bands? And why do we need to use them often? These questions that have been bothering me for a while now. I’ve had rehabilitation on my left shoulder due to a kick boxing injury, using the methods of resistance bands. Now at the time I did think that they would be a load of rubbish, I mean all it is, is a big rubber band. Right?


Well in theory yes it is a big rubber band, all different strengths. I think that using the resistance bands has helped me recover a lot faster and I definitely feel stronger. The reason why we need these resistance bands is because they are able to target parts of our bodies that normal weight training won’t be able to get to. For example, the shoulder is a very complicated and complex joint, with a HUGE range of movement it certainly has to have a lot of strength and flexibility.


Using a band will help keep your joints healthy and active. Taking them through full ranges of movement and putting just a little bit of stress on them to build them up. Also they’re amazing for people new to weights and trying to tone up. If you don’t have access to a gym or prefer to workout at home, they are easily stored and require little space to use them in.
A few workouts that are great for you:


• Squats – run a band underneath your feet, which should be shoulder width apart. Then whilst holding the ends of the band, squat down keeping a straight back and sticking your bum out, go till your thighs are parallel with the floor. And repeat!

• Overhead press – Place both feet on the band and grasp the ends. Bringing your hands up just over the shoulders with elbows bent and palms facing in. Press your arms over your head and then lower.

• One arm lateral raise – Stand or sit for this one. Put on foot on the end of the band and grasp hold of the other end. With your arm by your side start to lift it, keeping your elbow slightly bent, and bring up until your hand is up at shoulder level. Swap sides and repeat

• One arm Chest fly – Attach the band to a sturdy object at about shoulder height, it can be either standing or sitting. Hold the handle in the right hand and wrap the loop around the hand to increase tension if needed. Keeping your arm straight, but keeping a slight bend in the elbow, at shoulder level. Contract the chest to bring your arm in towards the middle of your chest, return to the beginning and repeat. Then swap sides.


Now these are only a few samples of the things you can do to use resistance bands. I will put up more articles about strengthening other parts of your body so keep reading my blog! There will be articles on, shoulder strength and mobility, back strengthening exercises, leg strengthening and mobility workouts, amongst other article that I will be talking at length about. Making you injury free and stronger (hopefully).


Peace out for now

W.O.D

This post comes from the guys at CrossFit.  Sounds like a pretty intense workout so I HAD to put it up!

For Time

• Row 500 meters
• Body weight Bench press, 30 reps
• Row 1000 Meters
• Body weight Bench press, 20 reps
• Row 2000 Meters
• Body weight Bench press, 10 reps

Good luck with that one! I'll be trying it out on my day off!

Verification

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W.O.D. - Fat Burning

Ok so today I am going to specifically target some fat burning.  For this routine you will need a good place to run (treadmill is fine) and a kettlebell you are comfortable to lift with.  Ok so here goes:

• 5 minutes light jog to warm up
• Sprint intervals, jog for 30 seconds sprint for 30 at 75% max power, 5 rounds
• 3x rounds of 10m lunge to overhead kettlebell press, rest period is 20 push ups
• 30 seconds kettlebell alternate hand swings, 5 rounds
• Shuttle run 5m,10m, 15m 5 rounds
• 50 burpees

If you are feeling good to go another round, start from the sprint intervals all over again!  Good luck!

Kettlebell W.O.D

Ok so heres a quick 6 minute (or there abouts) workout for today.  See how many rounds you can complete.  Good luck!

• 20 seconds kettlebell swings (left arm)
• 10 second rest
• 20 seconds kettlebell swings (right arm)
• 10 seconds rest
• 20 seconds kettlebell swings with high pull (left arm)
• 5 seconds rest
• 20 seconds kettlebell swings with high pull (right arm)
• 5 seconds rest
• 20 seconds snatchs (left arm)
• 5 seconds rest
• 20 seconds snatchs (right arm)
• Repeat!

Ok so that is the full workout and 1 round is that circuit twice.  See how many rounds you can complete!

W.O.D. - Number 2

Yes I know this one is two days late!  Been a little busy so didn't have time to get to my laptop to talk about my last workout.  OK so I left off with the weight session I did on Thursday, it's now Saturday.  So hill sprints with Tom were different, I decided to bring along my new toy, the 20kg kettlebell!  Happy days!

  We went off to the local woods by our house and found a decent steep hill that we could run up.  Although pretty small, the slippery wet mud was leg sapping enough along with the gradient.  While one of us was doing hill sprints, the other was doing a simple kettlebell work out.  Here is the workout we did:

• 5 hill sprints/alternate arm kettlebell swings
• 2 rounds of 2 hill sprints/two handed kettlebell lift to chin to burpee
• Continuous push-ups/alternating kettlebell clean
• 2 rounds of hillsprints up the BIG HILL

Let me just explain the big hill, this is the hill that runs along side the woods and is an absolute killer!  It takes me about 2-3 minutes to get up it at a fairly steady pace!  So when it came to doing them today, armed along with my vibram five fingers, I decided to go for it.  As fast and hard as I possibly could!  It was fairly difficult and really felt my legs turning to big heavy lumps of meat!  I did however enjoy it and felt much better than I normally do on that...maybe I wasn't pushing as hard as I thought?  Oh well.

Peace out for now