It seems a little over the top that I always talk about how much stuff hurts, and perhaps it is just that I am soft and weak… but climbing our particular ropes with 70 odd pounds dangling between ones legs really hurts. Since getting the partial climb with the 70 I have gone back and gotten all the way to the top, but that isn’t coming out as a video until I can put it in as the warm-up to climbing with the 88lb kb afterwards. As to training this, I would recommend that people use a bunch of chalk, get a good dipping belt, and start small. If a rope climb isn’t effortless than doing this with added weight can be brutal, especially when you know you really can’t fail with it.

I have recently been doing a lot of work looking at rebuilding and strengthening my shoulder girdle.  It seems that people everywhere are dealing with shoulders that aren’t moving properly.  The answer has been twofold.  First of all the Turkish Get-Up done with a barbell.  The ultimate in tools for rebuilding that shoulder girdle.  It of course deserves a whole post of its own… hopefully one where I can showcase putting up my body weight.  So until I have that nailed down I am going to hold off on showcasing my TGU.

The second item has been to play with the good old fashioned push-up again.  An item which seems to have fallen out of vogue, but I continue to believe is one of the few exercises a person needs for building phenomenal upper body strength.  Given some people have recently been asking about some of the basic variations I like to make use of I have thrown this quick clip together.

Now as to how well this program in redeveloping shoulders has been going. Well it seems that I am finally able to start getting back into doing some movements that have been painful to do for a number of years now. Is this a great tool for developing active shoulder flexibility and strength: no. However it is a pretty good way to gauge just how healthy my shoulders are once again becoming. I would simply suggest that everyone add one or two days with some heavy TGUs and some push-ups into their daily training. It of course goes without saying that the standard ball work and soft tissue work should not be neglected.

I commented a while ago on the notion that you need to do some passive stretching after doing soft tissue work on the musculature of the shoulder girdle. However I have been remiss in actually following that up with any kind of video or article. Today with a number of individuals in pain, it seems that I can’t neglect this any longer. Stretching daily is important. Regardless of whether or not the muscles have been worked. While countless articles have been written on how stretching does nothing whatsoever for preventing injuries or aiding in rehabilitation I am going to stand in protest of such statements. In my personal experience a good stretching regime done regularly has always helped speed recovery for me, as well as done a lot to decrease any kind of movement limitations and daily pain.

Note of course that I think that stretching should come along side of soft tissue work and effective training that fixes muscle imbalances. However the stretching bit, while profoundly simple is still needed.

I suggest holding most of the stretches for 30s-1min, alternating sides and doing each stretch about three times. The actual time limit can be determined best by the person stretching. Don’t watch the clock, rather breathe into a stretch and use it to open up those stuck tissues.