Krystol and I have been friends since she joined CrossFit Peachtree in 2011, where I was a coach. She was attending physical therapy school at Emory, and soon joined the CFPT coaching staff. We immediately hit it off in the gym, pushing each other competitively while jamming to our favorite old school rap music.
Now she is training for her first powerlifting meet and we’re back in the gym together! I am grateful for her friendship and advice as she helps me fix poor movement patterns and optimize my performance.
Here is her commentary from a recent session we had, where she helped me work through some nagging shoulder pain I’ve been experiencing.
Bench pressing, desk work and defensive pushing all rely on an internally rotated power position.
This position is very effective but can overpower the posterior chain due to all of our lives happening in front of us.
If you can’t maintain aligned posture in a static position then you are SOL in a dynamic situation.
With repetition and force, the risk for injury or overuse increases.
Give this a shot if the back of your hands usually face forward when standing or walking. With this exercise we take away the upper extremity internal rotation component and focus on breathing into the back while holding the shoulder in an externally rotated position:
-Set yourself up like in the photos (above and below). Tie up a resistance band to a rack a few inches above shoulder height. Slip your shoulders through the band and step back a few inches away from the rack. Hold a PVC pipe in your hands, palms up, grip outside shoulder width. Hold this position focusing on perfect upright posture, while breathing into the middle back and focusing on firing middle and lower traps.
-Start by accumulating a 2-minute hold in this position (take breaks every 30 seconds if needed!).
-Work up to holding for 5 minutes at a time.
-If you’re doing it right, it will BURN and feel more localized than performing rows.
-Spice it up by inching your hands laterally while maintaining the chest posture.
Let us know how it feels!
