Saturday, August 28, 2010

Shoulder Plan of Action/Swing Drop Sets

I am back! I have been working out, but just not posting due to various issues - mainly work and family obligations resulting in lack of time. My shoulder, however, is not back to normal. I continue to have pain and have not been able to do any overhead movements. However, I do have a plan of action. Most of it is based on comments posted on my blog by Mark Reifkind. He reminded me of a great shoulder article posted on T-nation several years ago. I have had previous success using these exercises back in 2008. I would highly recommend everybody take a look at this article even if your shoulders are currently feeling good. I have now started a steady diet of stick shrugs, push ups, face pulls, and scapular pull aparts. The shoulder article referenced above has excellent video clips demonstrating the above listed exercises. See the following video by Rif demonstrating a modified stick shrug and the scapular pull aparts:




I have further modified the stick shrugs because I don't have a squat rack in my basement. Instead, I kneel on both knees in a door jamb and slide my PVC "stick" up and down the door jamb. This works very well. I have been doing the face pulls using a Grey Cook band.

I have also been reading an excellent book by Ida Rolf:
Rolfing: Reestablishing the Natural Alignment and Structural Integration of the Human Body for Vitality and Well-Being

Anybody who is interested in body mechanics will find this book an extremely interesting read. It fits very well with the writings of Thomas Meyers (Anatomy Trains), who studied under Ida Rolf, as well as the FMS philosophy. As I have read this book, I have begun to realize that my repeated left shoulder issues are likely due to some larger structural abnormalities which I think are ultimately related to an ACL tear of my right knee at the age of 18. I have located a Rolfing specialist in my area and have made an appointment for evaluation. I am hopeful that correcting some of these issues will help me recover from my current shoulder injury and help prevent further problems down the road. I will keep you updated on my progress.

My workout Friday was inspired by the Queen of Swing, Tracy Reifkind. Instead of doing swing ladders with various weights of bells as she had recently posted on her blog, I decided to do swing drop sets using the 40kg, 32kg, 28kg, 24kg, and 20kg bells. I did 10 reps of 2 handed swings with each bell. Each set consisted of 50 reps and took about 1 minute and 30 seconds. I rested 45 seconds between sets and completed a total of 8 sets for a grand total of 400 swings.

9 comments:

Jakeheke said...

ashippIda Rolff studie osteopathy deeply and take some principles to her system structural integration.
I treat my patience allways looking wholenes! Usually cronic situations begin in old trauma !
Stephen Davidson D.O says: local strain make distal pain !
You find rolfer near you home,good.
Ihave sometimes problems and usually origin is in my operated knee or sternum(bicycle accident).
I hope that rolffer fix your body(shoulder) and you could train ,again ! Next world championship is in Finland. November 12-15. Veteran division is 14-15. Shall we see there ??

Mark Reifkind said...

Matt

glad to see you are posting again and that some of my stuff is helping. tracy will be pleased as well that you are using her ideas for your swing workout.

I would recmmend, though, being careful with pushups in this phase as they can keep too much tension in the pecs,front delts, lats etc and slow down progress.

at least it did for me.

the tall kneeling with the pvc pip on the door frame is good,at least the pvc won't take the paint off yours,lol.

heal fasrif

MKSchinabeck said...

Jake, although someday I would love to compete in Europe, this year is not the one. If I am going to make such a trip, I would like to be in top form. Maybe next year......

Rif, thanks for the help. I will take it easy with the pushups.

Matt

Boris T said...

Matt good luck in the recovery. Thanks for the article recommendations. I'll look it over.

Brad Jones said...

Hi Matt,
Glad to hear that you are enjoying Ida Rolf's book. I think that you are wise to think more globally and look at your entire structure to help understand your shoulder issue. I have been a Rolfer for 12 years, who are you going to see?

best,
Brad Jones

MKSchinabeck said...

Hey Brad,
Great to hear from you. I will be seeing Brian Moore. He appears to live in Milwaukee, WI but spends 1 week a month in Cleveland.

Do you make your living Rolfing, or do you do other things? I have found this material very interesting and would be interested to learn more.

Matt

Alex said...

Heya Matt, good luck on the healing. You will be missed in Atlanta this year, Cate will be there as well.

MKSchinabeck said...

Alex,
Is the meet this weekend?
You have continued to make steady progress. Keep up the work. Good luck this weekend.

Brad Jones said...

Hey Matt,

Yes, Rolfing is my main gig. Here is my web-site:
rolfingbellingham.com
I don't know Brian Moore, but I just looked at his web-site, he has been at it for a long time. I'm sure that you will be in good hands.

I look forward to hearing how it goes. If you have any questions, fire away.

Brad