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Kettlebell No shopping at the Jerk Store for me

BrianCF

BrianCF

Level 7 Valued Member
4 and a half months post shoulder replacement surgery, I've started lifting again. Light chest, rows, shoulder shrugs and arm work. Feels good, my cadence is slow since I have to go light. Conditioning is excellent, down 17 lb. in 6 weeks (Thanks Geoff, Kettlebell Burn Extreme Diet + no alcohol). Today I was doing two hand swings with a 70 lb. bell. Just good sets of 10. After 100 I walked over to the kettlebell rack and grabbed a pair of 25 lb. bells. Did 5 double cleans, no pain and thought, (well let's see...) dipped my knees, went to push bells up from the rack....NOT EVEN CLOSE. The overhead days are officially over. My shoulder reminded me quickly that was a no no. Not pain, just a quick tug in the rotator cuff.

And I thought it was 95 %. Do some presses, jerks and snatches for me! I'll stick with rows, swings, goblet squats, farmer's carries and double kettlebell deadlifts.
 
At age 50, with generally bad mobility, but no major injuries, I have completely stopped doing all movements with fast extension or flexion on the shoulder or elbow. So that means NO Jerks or Cleans. Presses ok because they are slow and you can tell if its gonna be ok on the way up.
 
@BrianCF, I'd give something like an 8 or 12 kg one-armed overhead press a try. It's important, IMO, to remember that you have a lot more freedom to find a good groove for yourself when pressing one arm compared to what you have with doubles. I have borderline barely enough mobility to press a pair of kettlebells but I can press with one arm or the other just fine. No doubt there is some sort of compensation someone could point to happening, but the take-away is that one-armed overhead work requires _way_ less in terms of mobility.

-S-
 
Steve Freides said:
@BrianCF, I'd give something like an 8 or 12 kg one-armed overhead press a try. It's important, IMO, to remember that you have a lot more freedom to find a good groove for yourself when pressing one arm compared to what you have with doubles. I have borderline barely enough mobility to press a pair of kettlebells but I can press with one arm or the other just fine. No doubt there is some sort of compensation someone could point to happening, but the take-away is that one-armed overhead work requires _way_ less in terms of mobility.

-S-
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Or just start w. very light waiter walks, overhead holds, etc. If you can't hold a weight overhead, you have no business trying to press or jerk it overhead.
 
Are you really done with overhead work for the rest of your life? Maybe your shoulder just needs more time to heal.

You're 4 months out from surgery if I read your post correctly. It took more more than 4 months for my shoulder to heal enough from the latest injury before I could reach overhead again. Half a year maybe? I forgot.

Anyway I found some chest expander exercises - carefully selected of course! - and isometric work to be helpful in my own recovery.

Good luck!
 
BrianCF said:
4 and a half months post shoulder replacement surgery, I've started lifting again. Light chest, rows, shoulder shrugs and arm work. Feels good, my cadence is slow since I have to go light. Conditioning is excellent, down 17 lb. in 6 weeks (Thanks Geoff, Kettlebell Burn Extreme Diet + no alcohol). Today I was doing two hand swings with a 70 lb. bell. Just good sets of 10. After 100 I walked over to the kettlebell rack and grabbed a pair of 25 lb. bells. Did 5 double cleans, no pain and thought, (well let's see...) dipped my knees, went to push bells up from the rack....NOT EVEN CLOSE. The overhead days are officially over. My shoulder reminded me quickly that was a no no. Not pain, just a quick tug in the rotator cuff.

And I thought it was 95 %. Do some presses, jerks and snatches for me! I'll stick with rows, swings, goblet squats, farmer's carries and double kettlebell deadlifts.
Click to expand...
Thank you for sharing your struggles. I feel these forum posts will help many people for a very long time.
 
GovernorSilver said:
Are you really done with overhead work for the rest of your life? Maybe your shoulder just needs more time to heal.

You're 4 months out from surgery if I read your post correctly. It took more more than 4 months for my shoulder to heal enough from the latest injury before I could reach overhead again. Half a year maybe? I forgot.

Anyway I found some chest expander exercises - carefully selected of course! - and isometric work to be helpful in my own recovery.

Good luck!
Click to expand...
My father, who's getting up there, had a reverse shoulder replacement 8 or so months ago. He wants to swim backstroke again - I don't know if that's ever going to be physically possible or not and doctors don't ever seem to give him a straight answer on how much range of motion he should or could expect to regain. He's not a patient man about some things and I've been trying to get him to temper his expectations of quick rehab - a reconstructive surgery seems like it should be a big deal and, personally, I would expect at least a year or more of regaining range of motion, proprioception, repairing neural pathways etc
 
Steve Freides said:
@BrianCF, I'd give something like an 8 or 12 kg one-armed overhead press a try. It's important, IMO, to remember that you have a lot more freedom to find a good groove for yourself when pressing one arm compared to what you have with doubles. I have borderline barely enough mobility to press a pair of kettlebells but I can press with one arm or the other just fine. No doubt there is some sort of compensation someone could point to happening, but the take-away is that one-armed overhead work requires _way_ less in terms of mobility.

-S-
Click to expand...

This. I'd at least try this before swearing off overhead work. What about other rehab work? Ido Portal used to sing praises about Cuban Rotations with dumbbells, apparently he came back from some kind of tear using only them, starting very light and slowly progressing to something crazy, like half bodyweight. I might be remembering that wrong, but I always thought it's probably a great idea for shoulder health.

Also, you said you dipped your knees, so you were trying to jerk the bells, yes? Have you tried just pressing them? It seems like an explosive motion would be less recommended for someone coming back from surgery.,.
 
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marlowe said:
Ido Portal used to sing praises about Cuban Rotations with dumbbells, apparently he came back from some kind of team using only them, starting very light and slowly progressing to something crazy, like half bodyweight. I might be remembering that wrong,
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I think you're remembering that wrong or Ido is full of it.
 
Steve Freides said:
@BrianCF, I'd give something like an 8 or 12 kg one-armed overhead press a try. It's important, IMO, to remember that you have a lot more freedom to find a good groove for yourself when pressing one arm compared to what you have with doubles. I have borderline barely enough mobility to press a pair of kettlebells but I can press with one arm or the other just fine. No doubt there is some sort of compensation someone could point to happening, but the take-away is that one-armed overhead work requires _way_ less in terms of mobility.

-S-
Click to expand...
I agree. I thought my pressing days were over, for many years. Then I started thinking about how I could TGU 40kg, with no pain, and wondered if I could side press.

I had to start with a loaded backpack, because the 16kg bell was too heavy. I couldn’t use my wife’s little dumbbells either, because they were too light to find a groove. After pressing the pack for a while, I was able to move on to the 16.

I started with sort of a side press; I wasn’t able to get my shoulder into the regular starting position. Then my side press became a military press with a wiggle. Finally it turned into a strict press.
 
Boris Bachmann said:
My father, who's getting up there, had a reverse shoulder replacement 8 or so months ago. He wants to swim backstroke again - I don't know if that's ever going to be physically possible or not and doctors don't ever seem to give him a straight answer on how much range of motion he should or could expect to regain. He's not a patient man about some things and I've been trying to get him to temper his expectations of quick rehab - a reconstructive surgery seems like it should be a big deal and, personally, I would expect at least a year or more of regaining range of motion, proprioception, repairing neural pathways etc
Click to expand...

Good luck to your father.

OP said he's in his 40s so I'm not convinced he's done with overhead pressing, snatching, etc. for the rest of his life, unless he left out particular details.

Whenever I felt impatient or frustrated with my own seemingly slow recovery, I would remember a coach who I worked with for a bit. When that coach was younger, he had an arm injury. Instead of giving up on exercise, he just worked on his lower body, eventually doing pistol squats, and progressing to double 32kg weighted pistols.
 
I read in many articles that older people should not do shoulder presses at all. They explain it by the fact that the mobility in the shoulders decreases with time and they are more at risk of injuries. I don't know where this logic comes from, because mobility decreases everywhere in the body if we don't exercise. I'm only guided by how I feel. Others advise to abandon bench presses, but I, for one, feel good about them. A person who believes in everything should not exercise:)
 
@BrianCF I'm glad your rehab is making progress and I agree with your approach, you do what you can do. God bless your effort because you and I know that so many would use it as an excuse to do nothing!

I think many of us are "designed" differently. I find pressing overhead to be less stressful than pressing horizontally so I tend to avoid doing benches. Like so many others back in the day, I chased that big bench and it wrecked my shoulders.

I'm 59 now and I've learned if it hurts don't do it!
 
BrianCF said:
4 and a half months post shoulder replacement surgery, I've started lifting again. Light chest, rows, shoulder shrugs and arm work. Feels good, my cadence is slow since I have to go light. Conditioning is excellent, down 17 lb. in 6 weeks (Thanks Geoff, Kettlebell Burn Extreme Diet + no alcohol). Today I was doing two hand swings with a 70 lb. bell. Just good sets of 10. After 100 I walked over to the kettlebell rack and grabbed a pair of 25 lb. bells. Did 5 double cleans, no pain and thought, (well let's see...) dipped my knees, went to push bells up from the rack....NOT EVEN CLOSE. The overhead days are officially over. My shoulder reminded me quickly that was a no no. Not pain, just a quick tug in the rotator cuff.

And I thought it was 95 %. Do some presses, jerks and snatches for me! I'll stick with rows, swings, goblet squats, farmer's carries and double kettlebell deadlifts.
Click to expand...
What does your Physical Therapist or Dr. recommend?

Where are you in the rehab process?
 
BrianCF said:
4 and a half months post shoulder replacement surgery, I've started lifting again. Light chest, rows, shoulder shrugs and arm work. Feels good, my cadence is slow since I have to go light. Conditioning is excellent, down 17 lb. in 6 weeks (Thanks Geoff, Kettlebell Burn Extreme Diet + no alcohol). Today I was doing two hand swings with a 70 lb. bell. Just good sets of 10. After 100 I walked over to the kettlebell rack and grabbed a pair of 25 lb. bells. Did 5 double cleans, no pain and thought, (well let's see...) dipped my knees, went to push bells up from the rack....NOT EVEN CLOSE. The overhead days are officially over. My shoulder reminded me quickly that was a no no. Not pain, just a quick tug in the rotator cuff.

And I thought it was 95 %. Do some presses, jerks and snatches for me! I'll stick with rows, swings, goblet squats, farmer's carries and double kettlebell deadlifts.
Click to expand...
I had a total shoulder replaced 9 months ago.I find that the get up has helped with preserving overhead stability and strength--start very light(4kg for me) and build slowly.Looking to get back to Simple--I'm not in any hurry.Good luck on your recovery.
 
s f said:
I had a total shoulder replaced 9 months ago.I find that the get up has helped with preserving overhead stability and strength--start very light(4kg for me) and build slowly.Looking to get back to Simple--I'm not in any hurry.Good luck on your recovery.
Click to expand...
Thank you for sharing. Can you pinpoint what caused you to need a shoulder replacement and/or what would you do differently?
 
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