Kettlebell Treat shoulder mobility issue before continuing S+S?

[Tom Lavery]

Hello SF community,

I lack mobility in my right shoulder and struggle to 'pack it' get it to sit in the socket - if I lie on my back with it kind of raises up. I've had it for years without getting treatment.

It feels 'in' and packed on the TGU, but not fully in the swings - definitely not fully balanced.

I'd really appreciate advice on whether to get this looked at by a ART professional (for example, other ideas appreciated) before continuing - or if it's likely the exercise will help it out - I feel some loosening already.

I'm on to daily 10x10 20kg 2 hand Swings and 5 x TGU each arm - feel great, no aches - and building actual strength in each movement (added 2 x one arm 16kg swings + 1 x 16kg TGU today for 1st time after finding one)

Started again 2 weeks ago after sporadically getting to about 10x10 swings without get ups previously.

Never had a SF session as all the coaches in my area were to busy.

Thank you in advance,

Tom

 

[offwidth]

Hello SF community,

I lack mobility in my right shoulder and struggle to 'pack it' get it to sit in the socket - if I lie on my back with it kind of raises up. I've had it for years without getting treatment.

It feels 'in' and packed on the TGU, but not fully in the swings - definitely not fully balanced.

I'd really appreciate advice on whether to get this looked at by a ART professional (for example, other ideas appreciated) before continuing - or if it's likely the exercise will help it out - I feel some loosening already.

I'm on to daily 10x10 20kg 2 hand Swings and 5 x TGU each arm - feel great, no aches - and building actual strength in each movement (added 2 x one arm 16kg swings + 1 x 16kg TGU today for 1st time after finding one)

Started again 2 weeks ago after sporadically getting to about 10x10 swings without get ups previously.

Never had a SF session as all the coaches in my area were to busy.

Thank you in advance,

Tom

Tom,
Welcome to SF.
Can you tell us a bit more about yourself? Age, injury and training history and training goals.

What most people will tell you here is that you should...

• Seek some medical advice if you think there are structural issues, if there is any pain, or injury history.
• Get technique instruction from an SFG
• Possibly get an FMS
• Explore things like Relax Into Stretch, Super Joints, Flexible Steel, OS Resets

Again... welcome

 

[Kevin Gupta]

Hello, I have some experiences.
My left shoulder always felt little unstable, but I didn't aswer this problem. I worked up to Get Ups with 32 kg, but one day, suddenly, on the descent, my left shouder stopped working and I got into BJJ armbar with kettlebell.
I couldn't do Get Ups for several months, when I started doing them again, I wanted to answer this weakness.
I tried Arm Bars, halos, hanging, crawling... all worked to a certain extent.
Then I stumbled upon this article:

Two Important Carries for the Clinician | StrongFirst

It is said that rack position should be mastered before overhead position.

I competely replaced Get Ups with 10 minutes of Rack Carry, I always try to breathe out and let kettlebell and my arm sink as low as possible.

Thus far, I'm impressed, my mobility got better, both rack and overhead. My left shoulder is finally painless. I feel really tied up. Rack Carry really enforces breathing behind the shield and full reflexive full body tension, to a greater degree than TGU, I think. And my military press also increased, after all, rack carry is a static press and and a military press trajectory will be burned into your CNS.

 

[Tom Lavery]

Hi Off Width, Thank you for the welcome and detailed response.

• I'm 33 and currently about 15-20kg overweight.
• No significant injury history - the stiffness in shoulders, right the worst, comes up sporadically and the shoulder has given out - without serious injury when I've tried to get in shape with weights at various times - seems weak and has a dull pain, with chest press, shoulder press for example.
• I've done several periods of kettlebells before - best period was over 3 or 4 months 3 times a week. I'm sporadically in and out of shape.
• Training goals this time are to be consistent with S+S, get to a normal weight, and reach the program minimum - as a start.

I will hassle the instructors in the area again - I'm in Italy and there are none in my city!

I have tracked down an FSM practitioner not too far away so will arrange an appointment - and add Super Joints into my morning routine anyway, - and stop being such a sissy - read it and failed to apply so far!

Thanks again, all strength to you.

Tom,
Welcome to SF.
Can you tell us a bit more about yourself? Age, injury and training history and training goals.

What most people will tell you here is that you should...

• Seek some medical advice if you think there are structural issues, if there is any pain, or injury history.
• Get technique instruction from an SFG
• Possibly get an FMS
• Explore things like Relax Into Stretch, Super Joints, Flexible Steel, OS Resets

Again... welcome

 

[Tom Lavery]

Hello, I have some experiences.
My left shoulder always felt little unstable, but I didn't aswer this problem. I worked up to Get Ups with 32 kg, but one day, suddenly, on the descent, my left shouder stopped working and I got into BJJ armbar with kettlebell.
I couldn't do Get Ups for several months, when I started doing them again, I wanted to answer this weakness.
I tried Arm Bars, halos, hanging, crawling... all worked to a certain extent.
Then I stumbled upon this article:

Two Important Carries for the Clinician | StrongFirst

It is said that rack position should be mastered before overhead position.

I competely replaced Get Ups with 10 minutes of Rack Carry, I always try to breathe out and let kettlebell and my arm sink as low as possible.

Thus far, I'm impressed, my mobility got better, both rack and overhead. My left shoulder is finally painless. I feel really tied up. Rack Carry really enforces breathing behind the shield and full reflexive full body tension, to a greater degree than TGU, I think. And my military press also increased, after all, rack carry is a static press and and a military press trajectory will be burned into your CNS.

Hi Kevin, thanks for such a detailed and thoughtful response.

I'm very much at the early stage of TGUs, my first ever 1x16kg rep yesterday were unsteady to say the least, but felt like an achievement, and my S+S journey in general.

I'm impressed that the shoulder pain went away and you loosened it up through exercise alone - this is my best case scenario I guess.

The article is really interesting, I'll certainly give it a try. I don't much fancy the Kettlebell BJJ arm bar!

Thanks again and all strength to you!

 

[Kevin Gupta]

You are welcome, I'm pleased to share my story.

If you decide to give Rack Carry a try, here are two tips:

1. Put your free arm behind your back, it is an idea from Max Shank, it makes the exercise more "honest."

2. Try to relax as much as possible, all tension should be reflexive. I also open up my fingers and let kettlebell sit in my palm (no wrist bending, of course).

I wish you many luck in your strength journey.

 

[Brookes]

As I painfully learned last year the shoulder is very complex and if the weights get heavier needs it´s "maintenance". Doing S+S until simple made my shoulders incredible trouble free.

After a few weeks ignoring my usual maintenance (OS Resets for example) due to upping the volume of my training I developed a nagging pain in my left shoulder. It wasn´t very painful and only a little bit disturbing but wasn´t getting away. While trainining and afterwards it was gone for some time and so I continued training since it seemed to improve my shoulder. Then one day came a very sharp pain combined with serious loss of strength.

My physiotherapist explained to me that I developed a impingement symptom due to a dysbalance in my shoulder joint. No more training for now around 18 weeks except specialized exercises to get more room in the joint and loosen the tightness of the surrounding muscles. Rule of thumb for shoulder is you need around double the time to rehab it as the time you ignored it at first.

The takehome message is:
If there is pain or a bad feeling in your shoulder, go to someone who could analyse your pain and show you exactly the exercises you need since a quick fix isn´t always the solution. Go, see a medical professional who is familiar with lifting weights.

 

[Tom Lavery]

As I painfully learned last year the shoulder is very complex and if the weights get heavier needs it´s "maintenance". Doing S+S until simple made my shoulders incredible trouble free.

After a few weeks ignoring my usual maintenance (OS Resets for example) due to upping the volume of my training I developed a nagging pain in my left shoulder. It wasn´t very painful and only a little bit disturbing but wasn´t getting away. While trainining and afterwards it was gone for some time and so I continued training since it seemed to improve my shoulder. Then one day came a very sharp pain combined with serious loss of strength.

My physiotherapist explained to me that I developed a impingement symptom due to a dysbalance in my shoulder joint. No more training for now around 18 weeks except specialized exercises to get more room in the joint and loosen the tightness of the surrounding muscles. Rule of thumb for shoulder is you need around double the time to rehab it as the time you ignored it at first.

The takehome message is:
If there is pain or a bad feeling in your shoulder, go to someone who could analyse your pain and show you exactly the exercises you need since a quick fix isn´t always the solution. Go, see a medical professional who is familiar with lifting weights.

Thanks for your response and sharing your experience Brookes - I will absolutely take your advice and make an appointment immediately - sacrificing some time now to save time later is certainly the way to go - I've ignored it far too long.

Good luck with your recovery.