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Kettlebell Could getups fix my shoulder issues this quickly?

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Enkidu

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My sport is Olympic weightlifting and I will be entering my first competition on February 6 as a VERY light masters lifter (will be a month shy of 45) in the 77kg class (although my actual weight is more like 72.5kg). My goals for my first competition are to hit an 80kg snatch and 100kg clean & jerk. The one MAJOR issue I have is with shoulder flexibility and stability (due in large part to an injury I suffered over 20 years ago). My quest to lift with healthy shoulder has eventually lead me to KBs.

So, last week I decided to start doing daily (5 days per week) of KB 1-arm presses (2x5/each), swings (5x10), and getups (10 total, 5/ea side). I've started very light on all the movements (16kg on 1-arm presses and 24kg on swings). I'm going light because I've added this to my second daily workout of about 20 minutes practicing handstands and about 5 minutes at the end of bridge and compression work. I didn't want to massively increase the volume or use heavy weights since I already lift 5 days per week. I have a really high work capacity and a long history of using 2-a-day workouts, so I was certain I could handle the volume without overtraining, but I still wanted to ramp up slowly.

It has been less than 2 weeks of doing this and my shoulders feel GREAT. Amazing actually. One of my least favorite exercises are overhead squats because of the mobility restriction in my shoulders. Yesterday we had 4x3 overhead squats programmed. I was very tentative with the weights, starting very light. 40 kg, no pain, ease of movement. 50 kg, no pain, ease of movement. 55 kg, no pain, ease of movement. 60 kg, no pain, ease of movement and then coach notices me and says, "Put some weight on that bar! You have no mobility restrictions and it is way too light!"

Hey, maybe it is just coincidence that my shoulders are feeling better than they have in YEARS, but I don't think so. I'm fairly certain it is the getups, even with a fairly easy and light weight, even doing just 25 reps per week per side. I'm very excited by this.
 
Get-ups can be very effective - glad they seem to have made a difference for you.

The key now is to not get "out of hand" with the volume and weight (the if one is good x 10 is better syndrome). Keep them in their "place" as it were - as an assistance drill(s) to our OlyLifting.

Keep us posted

BTW - I'd be remiss if I didn't mention getting the shoulder cleared by a medical pro just to be sure you aren't missing something. JMO
 
I fell down a rocky hill in Wales when I was eight years old. Wrecked my left shoulder, probably should have been treated but wasn't. It's always been unstable and weak and I've been told the injury is too old to do anything about surgically. TGU's stabilized and strengthened it beyond belief to the point where it felt as good as the right. No other exercise has ever done that for me. I went from TGU with 16kg to 32Kg in less than four months.
 
Great discussion! After too many years of being too hard on my body, I've realized that KB Presses, overhead carries and of course Turkish Get-ups are necessary for me to maintain shoulder health (mobility / stability / etc). I find that when I take time off from overhead KB work, my shoulders start to hurt again. Now, I make sure there is some form of overhead work (presses, carries, get-ups) in my program NO MATTER WHAT I'm focusing on.
 
I recently broke down and had arthroscopic surgery on my left shoulder. I only had a subacromial decompression so there weren't any issues with tendons or ligaments, but the PT is amazed at my shoulder's resiliency, stability, and range of motion. I've never been big on overhead pressing because I've had shoulder pain since high school and pretty much avoided it (I'm optimistic this may change that for me). The only real shoulder work I've done is the TGU so I would assume that is why my recovery is going so well. The work you get at so many angles is fantastic.
 
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