Hi Curtis, Thanks for staying in the process. You may have read on some of the other posts that I consider myself more a fitness tutor than a personal trainer. This means, for myself and my clients, that I teach exercise protocols specific to the individual with a great deal of focus on detailed mechanics of individual physical attributes. Unlike most 'trainers' who will take a client through a full workout the very first day, it's not uncommon for my private clients to only learn 3-4 resistence movements the first workout along with 2-3 flexibility movements and then a little real life movement therapy (occupation therapy like proper way to stand when walking or getting out of a chair or sitting at and placement of their computer). It often takes the full first month before they have a full workout program. The reason for this is that my 'people' are all adults with misalignments inherent in living a life that tends to over emphasize postures that encourage rounded shoulders. Look at our favorite positions, golf, reading, sitting at a computer (I sit straight, BTW), driving, even giving a hug. Most of us spend little if any time coming back into a fully prone position. No even in sleep most of us wind up laying on a shoulder or curling up.
The good news is that it takes only a little time everyday to counteract the daily postures with training, in all it's various forms, as long as the execution is correct. All of this to say that posture is the secret. So if your posture is off and your cervical vertebrae (your neck) have adapted to a position forward of it's appropriate alignment with the trunk vertebrae over a slow number of years, then the rapid correction of training will create a new, though preferable, stress that will require more work in the neck muscles (and the traps are primary) and they may show signs of soreness and/or fatigue as they take on the newly acquired work load. A silly example is how new Mother's can carry a baby around on their hip all day with seeming ease. Then one of us try to carry the baby for an hour and can't believe how tired our arms and shoulders get.The new Mom was tired also, at first, but continued the new work load out of necessity and eventually adapted both muscularly and structurally. Many of the women I have trained have addressed hip issues and the origin can chart back to raising the babies. Told you it was silly.
Anyway . . . Your difficulty with the abduction exercise is understandable. The advantage I have one on one is that I can tweek the degree of movement to the specific action of an individuals shoulder alignment to get maximal incorporation and thereby increase 'access' to the focal muscle. The movement can still be beneficial but with less satisfaction if you don't know how to make the body alignment compatible with the joint action. So I will try to tweek this one exercise here for you.
First of all you have to establish standard form to do this, and all, exercise. You should feel very "soldieresque" in this position and you should feel your neck really pulled back and your shoulders back and dropped. Make sure your low back is not over arched but feel like you are slightly sitting in your heels, just slightly - not a squat.
I'm changing the words and even positioning for you, as I know a little about your condition, so don't be surprised.If you can face a mirror, all the better. Tie a knot in each end of your band, use a therapy band (like a wide strip of ballon type texture) not surgical tubing. Start with a really light resistence. Once you get the form and the joint position improves you can start to strengthen. Why strengthen an unproductive apparatus?
Standing Abduction Band Stretch
Standard Form facing a mirror.
Stand with your left foot on one end of the band or secure the
band at floor level.
Hold your band in your right hand with your arm straight by
your side your band taunt but not stretched. You may have
to roll it around your hand a little to get the right
tension.
Hold the band with your palm facing forward and your thumb
pointed outward. Using the upper arm (rotator cuff
muscles), rotate your fist gently to about 45 degrees -
not 90. Your hand will not touch your leg. (This position
changes as you improve joint flexibility and position.
Keep your torso stationary and your arm straight throughout the
movement.
Stretch your band up to shoulder height in a side lift. Make
the movement is created completely from the deltoids (your
shoulder capsule) and not by leaning or lifting your
shoulder toward your ear.
Make sure your wrist is straight and is perpendicular to the
middle of your shoulder joint. This is usually slightly
more toward your back than feels normal. Your thumb will
point directly toward the ceiling.
You can look over to your arm to check once you are in position
but keep your head straight when you arm moving through
each motion.
Resist as you bring the arm back down without rolling your
shoulders forward or allowing your arm to roll forward
(keep the heel of the hand coming into position), or leaning
forward.
Do 3-8 of these building toward 15 in perfect form each time -
be methodical in the execution. It's not about the number
of repetitions but the quality of each one.
Repeat on the other arm.
Now you know why I train one on one. I really believe, through experience, that the work has to be methodical and specific to each joint (and don't be surprised that your right and left sides will work and feel differently). I also will reiterate that the number of repetitions is less important than the quality of each repetition. If you are moving slowly to insure total isolation of the joint action it just means you were in the muscles longer and fatigue can set in sooner but you still stayed in the muscle and profited the benefit. It's not worth loosing an ounce of form to get to some magical number of reps.
You ultimately want to feeeeellllll each movement and all the other body tensions that come into play to create that perfect repetition. Just as in the golf swing: Lessons teach the form and the positioning and the technique but ultimately a really good golf swing comes down to finally feeling when you are "on" and then . . . you hit the sweet spot.
That's what I have to say today. At this point I have forgotten your other questions. I'll probably readdress those in a little while. It would take less time to teach you this than for you to read it all. Sorry, it's the nature of the beast. Vickie
Just to clarify, I need to work through the soreness correct? I'm trying to understand, it's just hard to get in my head. When I'm sore, my brain tells me to stop, but it sounds like I need to keep going. How do I know when too much is too much, you know what I mean?
The thousand dollar question. Part of the reason I like slow, methodical movement is that your brain can receive the signals that you call pain which are indeed valid. The trick is to first interpret if the feeling is pain or discomfort. The second trick is to translate if the sensation is caused by of inappropriate movement or because you are entering the productive zone. Truly if you feel sharp or dibiltating sensations by all means stop. If you have just become aware of the 'tender' area and you can create a deliberate movement without loosing form or grimmicing then you are transmitting information to the area that you have a higher expectation of performance. This is a tricky area. Basically, if the discomfort makes you grimmice or loose form you are done.
I don't believe in pain but discomfort is the impetus for growth.
Great question. You already read that email. And did the clarification, adnaseum, help?
I haven't tried the new one yet, didn't get a chance to print this off from work. I did however do the other exercises last night and this morning. The pain isn't sharp, it feels like someone, someone big, slugged me in the shoulder and I have a deep bruise. Hope that helps. It's been 2 days straight which is really upsetting since I thought I was almost done with this "beast". Thanks again.
Curtis, I recommend laying off a couple of days, stay away from the ball throwing and then resume the work isometrically with no band. Get the motions down pat and learn to feel the appropriate. Then add the band and do the exercises once, repeating a second time during the day isometrically for a couple of days. Then do them twice a day with the band. From there we can talk again. There might be a couple of the movements that you would do a third time. This is very consistent with the rehab model. Let me know how it goes. Vickie
Curtis, Thanks for typing in. I just wanted to say that I admire your ability to stay in the process. I teach my 'people' to ask questions when their body feels unusually bad or unusually good. The silly statement of choice is "Isn't that interesting?". This keeps your mind asking for answers from your body instead of going into decision mode. The mental body can accomplish things we can't always understand with our 'inquiring minds'. So stay in discovery through this period.
I have a client (age appx. 60) that just came back from six day golf trip with his buds. He played 36 holes a day and had enough energy for scotch at night, slept great and was eager for the next day. When we first met he could barely finish 18 holes with any small amount of joy and by day three had to micro-manage his physiological symptoms, often not playing the last day or two. Now don't let me fool you, that was a couple of years ago that we started. But he would tell you that he only does 'the work' [that I recommend] at about 40%. So if you do it more diligently would the positive results come faster??? He was so excited during this trip that he called his wife to have me send his stretch protocol via email. That happens rarely for this fitness tutor. (His wife was so excited, BTY, caz she loves for him to be happy and pain free.)
Keep up the good work. Much of your benefit happens during the rest so don't be discouraged. You will be able to throw a ball again, I promise. A man and his toys. Sheesh.
Hybrid Mode
