Old Forum Windmill from Super Joints

[Wesker11]

I suck at the windmill active stretch from Super Joints. I usually do the chair version. In the pics Pavel has the hand outside the shoe and shoulder all in one line. I feel like my shoulder gets to the middle of my feet then my arm forms a 45 degree angle across my chest to get on the outside of my foot. Anyone have any suggestions to help improve this stretch? Are the other stretches that will help this one along faster? Thanks for any help!

 

[Wesker11]

Also, is it ok to use the outside foot as leverage and really crank on the turn?

 

[Steve Freides]

Wesker11, I don't have my SJ book handy - is the stretch you're referring to from the first part of SJ or the second?  If memory serves, the second part begins with the Pink Panther stretch.

I suggest you also read Relax Into Stretch if you haven't already.   I found that I learned a lot from the combination of the two books and from comparing similar movements in each.

I'd consider the form we practice with kettlebells - you may also do it as bodyweight-only and I practice it that way all the time.

Last but not least, I cannot recommend you "crank on" this movement because I don't think it will improve your t-spine rotation, which is where the range of motion should be coming from, but rather you'll just push your hips out to the side more.  The kettlebell form of the movement better locks the hips into place, IMHO.

I'd love to hear from Pavel on this one.

-S-

 

[Wesker11]

Hi Steve, thank you for the response. The stretch I am referring to is in the second part of Super Joints. Pavel shows several versions, sitting on the floor, standing up, and sitting on a chair. I have Relax into Stretch as well and there is a similar movement where you sit in a chair and rotate the spine using the chair as leverage.

I've never done a windmill with an actual kettlebell. Are you saying this movement will help with the stretch?

 

[Steve Freides]

The kettlebell windmill is a different - similar, but different - movement.  I believe it's shown in the original kettlebell book Pavel wrote and it's also taught at our Level II Instructor certifications.

Instead of both legs being straight, you hip hinge on the side with the weight overhead, keeping that leg straight and keeping most of your weight on it while the other legs is 'soft" with a bit of knee bend and not much weight.  This form of the windmill might be thought of as a combination of Good Morning and the Windmill exercise with which you're familiar.

I'm saying that I prefer the version of the movement I just described to the one you're doing.  It provides more hip stretch and, at least to me, the spinal rotation it provides feels safer than the SJ/RIS version of the windmill - safer in that I find the hip hinge version helps isolate spinal movement in the upper back and keeps it out of the lumbar better.

-S-

 

[Wesker11]

Steve, thanks again for the info. One quick question regarding the KB windmill and KB arm bar. Do you think it is ok to practice these after an SnS session? Especially if you keep the weight light and treat them as movements rather than presses.

 

[Steve Freides]

Sounds like a lot of the same thing to me - getup, windmill, arm bar, all working the shoulder.  Not sure what you'll accomplish by doing that - I might try them as warmups, or maybe even the windmill as a replacement for the getup once in a while in which case you could go heavier on it.

-S-