[bdpiche]

Been doing the 8 week workout set in addition to the hangs and lockoffs. Recovering from a shoulder dislocation so taking it pretty easy and feeling stronger as have been working hard on it with physio.

When I go to do one arm hangs, my dominant (non-injured) arm seems pretty stable. When I do my weaker arm, seem to almost do a 90 degree turn.
Is this a sign of instability, and if so, how do I address it? Want to get back on ice with a bit more confidence

Topic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on December 14, 2017 at 2:04 am #7153

Hi. I found it was important to really tense my hand, arm, and shoulder muscles when doing these hangs–not just when hanging, but before, to kind of set up my body. If you are turning, maybe your shoulder is sliding out of position? I would say, just because you had a dislocation, and you don’t want to get injured just as the season starts, perhaps you should do the hangs on your injured side with an assist, for example, by placing one foot lightly on the floor, or using a rubber band aid, or some kind of thing to reduce the resistance. I would think you would want your injured arm to align itself in the “straight” position, or, at least, in the same position as your other, non-injured side. As you get stronger, hopefully you would be able to hold the same position with both arms. I guess that the fact that you had a dislocation, and that arm seems to be behaving differently, even if it’s pain free (for now) raises some red flags for me, and I would proceed with caution. My feelings is that it’s always better to be a little weaker and healthy vs. injured!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on December 15, 2017 at 10:11 am #7161

Spinning while doing a one arm hang is pretty typical when first doing these exercises. It indicates that your shoulder stabilization is not all it should/could be. Start by touching your toe lightly against something to stop the spin as you work to learn the correct muscle engagement that prevents the spin. As you gain stabilizer strength you’ll need the toe less and less.

This is analogous to hip stability. Many people are much less than 50% as strong doing a single leg squat than a normal 2 legged squat. Thats because the strength limitation for them is not in the big prime mover muscles but in the smaller stabilizer muscles of the hip that properly so the prime movers can do their work. Using two legs for the squat removes a great deal of the need for hip stability. This is why we are such advocates os the single leg box step up for mountain specific strength training.

The same goes for the shoulders. There are many small muscles around the shoulder joint whose job it is to stabilize that joint so that the bigger prime movers can flex or extend the shoulder.

Scott