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Bodyweight Stretching for shoulder/bicep pain and tightness when training hangs and pullups

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joemac

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Hi.

I injured my knees so during physical therapy I switched to training upper body.
I am currently training for (1) hanging leg raise, and (2) tactical pullups.
Currently, I do as follows a few times a week, with 6 reps of the following
  1. Get into position and hang from har
  2. Clean hang for 5 seconds
  3. Raise legs and hold for 5 seconds
  4. Bring legs down
  5. Get into a hollow position
  6. Perform 5 active hangs with my shoulders
  7. Finish
I just made that up, and have no idea if it is optimal.
I have noticed after a few months of this that my shoulders, upper back, biceps, triceps, and neck have tightened up.
In particular, my biceps are the worst. When I try to do an active hang for the pullup, bringing my shoulders up makes it feel like I am being stabbed in the biceps.

Is there a set of recommended standard mobility/stretches exercises that is necessary to do when performing so much hanging with one should shoulders?

Thank you.
Ilya
 
I just made that up, and have no idea if it is optimal.
The optimal can be the enemy of the good - if you're making progress, stick with what you're doing. If parts of what you're doing are causing you pain, drop those. If you've been at it for a while, try taking a break. If you don't regularly program breaks into your schedule, you should add that. The simplest thing, in terms of a break, is to take one week out of every four and cut back on both volume and intensity. And on a longer schedule, consider varying your routine every 3 months. The only approach I'm aware of that you can stick with for a long time is Plan Strong, where the varying volume and intensity is what allows sufficient recovery to facilitate progress.

To put it more succinctly, the first thing I'd do in your place is stop what you're doing for 3 days and pick up "Super Joints", "Relax Into Stretch", and "Flexible Steel" as sources for mobility work. Then ease back into your routine slowly. Shoulder overuse injuries aren't fun - I spent a year (maybe it was even longer ...) recovering from mine a few years back.

-S-
 
Steve’s advice to back off is good. If you are able to upload a video of your hang where we can see you from the side (or from the side as best as possible) that would be very helpful.

Aside from a video, here are a few thoughts:

- how’s your shoulder mobility? Pain when raising the arms over head is often a sign of impingement. This doesn’t mean you can’t hang, as hanging might help the situation, but it does mean you might have to change how you are hanging. So here’s a couple things;

-first, stand with your back to a wall. You need to get your hips, lower back, and shoulders all flat to the wall. It’s okay if your feet are out away from the wall a foot or two. Without any part of your back coming off of the wall, can you touch the wall by raising your arms overhead without bending at the elbows? If simply raising your arms overhead is too uncomfortable then rest a few days and see if it improves before doing this.
If you cannot do this, first of all, you’re not alone ;) Second, it just means you need to spend some time improving your overhead mobility.

Here’s a way to adjust your hang:
-support your body weight with your feet so that you can allow the arms to reach a pain free angle. The goal should be to increase your pain free range of motion, not work into pain and hope it will improve someday :) you might end up with an angle less than 180° flexion but over time it will improve. I had to do this to restore proper flexion on one side and it helped tremendously. Also most folks don’t reach a full 180° but get close enough to be comfortable.

Outside of that, your best bet is to see a professional in person (a physio) or reach out here for a movement screen. I believe some members are FMS certified. If it is some kind of shoulder dysfunction or impingement you will probably need some personalized drills to improve things. Good luck to you!
 
If you don't regularly program breaks into your schedule, you should add that. The simplest thing, in terms of a break, is to take one week out of every four and cut back on both volume and intensity. And on a longer schedule, consider varying your routine every 3 months.

To put it more succinctly, the first thing I'd do in your place is stop what you're doing for 3 days and pick up "Super Joints", "Relax Into Stretch", and "Flexible Steel" as sources for mobility work. Then ease back into your routine slowly. Shoulder overuse injuries aren't fun - I spent a year (maybe it was even longer ...) recovering from mine a few years back.

-S-
Thanks. I am actually away from for 2-3 weeks so all I'm doing is resting and stretching each day. My current routine is to only do the above on Tuesday, Thursday, and a Weekend-day, for plenty of rest. But I will add the good idea of adding an entire week of rest once a month. I am in my late 30s so I figure adding much more resting is particularly helpful as I get older.

Steve’s advice to back off is good. If you are able to upload a video of your hang where we can see you from the side (or from the side as best as possible) that would be very helpful.
I will return home in 2 weeks. I have equipment will upload a video there and would appreciate feedback.

Aside from a video, here are a few thoughts:

- how’s your shoulder mobility? Pain when raising the arms over head is often a sign of impingement. This doesn’t mean you can’t hang, as hanging might help the situation, but it does mean you might have to change how you are hanging. So here’s a couple things;

-first, stand with your back to a wall. You need to get your hips, lower back, and shoulders all flat to the wall. It’s okay if your feet are out away from the wall a foot or two. Without any part of your back coming off of the wall, can you touch the wall by raising your arms overhead without bending at the elbows? If simply raising your arms overhead is too uncomfortable then rest a few days and see if it improves before doing this.
If you cannot do this, first of all, you’re not alone ;) Second, it just means you need to spend some time improving your overhead mobility.
All my muscles are clearly tight, but I can do this no problem. The only muscle which is in "pain" when I lifted was the bicep, which was a stabbing pain.

Here’s a way to adjust your hang:
-support your body weight with your feet so that you can allow the arms to reach a pain free angle. The goal should be to increase your pain free range of motion, not work into pain and hope it will improve someday :) you might end up with an angle less than 180° flexion but over time it will improve. I had to do this to restore proper flexion on one side and it helped tremendously. Also most folks don’t reach a full 180° but get close enough to be comfortable.

Outside of that, your best bet is to see a professional in person (a physio) or reach out here for a movement screen. I believe some members are FMS certified. If it is some kind of shoulder dysfunction or impingement you will probably need some personalized drills to improve things. Good luck to you!
Thanks. I have a StrongFirst coach and plan on reviewing this with him.
 
But I will add the good idea of adding an entire week of rest once a month.
We can take a lesson from PlanStrong here - take what would have been your normal week, and make two weeks a month easier and two weeks a month harder, so one week clearly off/easy, another week a lighter load, e.g., something that might have been a 'normal' load a month or two ago, a third week where you push things a little, and a fourth week where you push things pretty hard. (And if you really want to get creative, don't do them in order, but that's a whole other conversation ...)

I am in my late 30s so I figure adding much more resting is particularly helpful as I get older.
I am in my late 60's - take care of yourself because you've got decades more of this ahead of you, we hope.

-S-
 
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