Workout of the Day:
For time:
30 Handstand Push-Ups
40 Pull-Ups
50 KB Swings
60 Sit-Ups
70 Burpees
Why Active Shoulders?
Written by Mark Riebel
Anytime you lift or hold something overhead in a workout, from an OHS to a thruster or yourself in a handstand push-up, your coaches always stress shrugging your shoulders up into your ears—‘active shoulders.’ But what is it about active shoulders that is so advantageous?
To answer this, we have to explain some of the anatomy of the shoulder. The shoulder is a ball and socket joint, similar to the hip, but in this case the head of your humerus is the ball and a depression on your scapula called the glenoid fossa is the socket. In the case of the hip, this is a very stable arrangement since the ball extends well into the socket. Not so with the shoulder. The glenoid is very shallow even with a small extension from the fibrous tissue surrounding it, the labrum. This means that for optimal stability and safety of the shoulder joint, we can’t rely on our body’s “hardware” to support the joint and must therefore use the muscles surrounding it.
The simple act of lifting or holding a weight overhead will sufficiently activate the muscles of your arms such as the deltoids and triceps, but to get to the base of the shoulder and where the force for that weight will meet up with your body, it’s necessary to further stabilize the scapula. And that’s where shrugging comes into play. Shrugging your shoulders gives tension primarily in your trapezius, the major anchoring point for the scapula, but also in several other stabilizing muscles of your upper back such as the levator scapulae.
Having active shoulders is the surest method to lift overhead safely, and should be employed by anyone who wishes to do so. I’ve heard we do a little of this at CrossFit Invictus, so take heed.
Great times this morning at 9:30 am!
Huge props to Frank from 6:00 am, that is a studly time dude!
PS. Rumor has it that George was lurking around the box last night… can this be confirmed?
Shrugging alone is not the be all and end all of proper overhead lifting technique. Mark neglects to mention that in addition to being elevated, the shoulder blades need to be retracted as well. Try rounding your shoulders forward and reach overhead. It’s nearly impossible to do. Pulling the shoulder blades back not only allows for the athlete to have a proper overhead position, but when combined with elevation of the scapulae it allows for an increased amount of stability in the overhead position.
Another reason for active shoulders is safety. The acromion process, which is a bony protuberance at the lateral aspect of the scapula, can compress the soft tissue between itself and the humerus when lifting overhead which in turn can result in shoulder impingement. The best way to avoid this condition is by retracting and elevating the shoulder blades whenever there is a load overhead. This results in an upward rotation of the scapulae which increases the space between the acromion process and the humerus thus reducing the risk of injury.
There is a poem
comprised of lines with two lenghts
no, it needn’t rhyme
it’s called a Haiku
let me take a stab at it
and here it goes, yo
the glenoid fossa?
a bony protuberance?
in layman’s terms please!
a photo would help
or a drawing would be nice
to help visualize
Great workout this morning! I love hanging with the 6 a.m. crew. But must ask…where has Bee Charmer been? And Wink what is this you cheating on us with the 9:30 crew?
I decided to take this WOD and add a little weight – #10 weighted pull-ups, 53lb (don’t remember the KG) KB swings and GHD sit-ups in place of ab mat sit-ups. I sort of felt like my head was going to explode afterwards. Nonetheless, it was fantastic.
Elle and Amy were troopers. I know the 70 burpees at the end was complete torture, but you two rocked it. I wasn’t joking when I said you guys were the highlight of my day. It makes me so happy to see you getting stronger and pushing yourself. Amy, tackling those handstands against the wall and Elle knocking out the HSPU with just the thin band for support. Keep up the good work ladies.
Oh and I have a confession. I just walked down to Starbucks and ordered a 4 T latte with extra foam. I’m having one of those days and I just decided to give in.
I will drink extra water later. For now I am going to enjoy the large dose of caffeine.
Dantelope way to scale up girl! I’m talking about the coffee by the way…
Oh, and I’m not cheating on the 6:00 am peeps… just gotta keep it constantly varied righhhht?
This is not Dani the coach at CFI talking – this is Dani friend of Wink ‘NO’. You cannot cheat on your 6 a.m. crew.
And when it comes to coffee there are few that can out drink me.
See you tomorrow morning Wink.
I see absolutely no problem with drinking a 4 T latte at any point during the day or night!
Glad to see everybody kicking ass and taking names!
30 HSPU’s
40 PU’s
50 KBS (1.5 Pood)
60 SU’s
70 Burpee’s (Hell!)
As rx’d: 16:23
Great job to everyone at 9:30am, thanks Michelle for pushing me during those Burpees.
Ack burpees! I know I would have collapsed at 30 but Dani kept pushing. Chest to the ground! All the way up! And how can I not try my hardest and do my very best after hearing that we are the highlight of her day. Now that is great coaching. And thanks for teaching the band technique for HSPUs Dani. See you next Tuesday
Dantalope / Sunrise Crew,
Can’t seem to shake this bug. I can hit up a WOD with the sniffles, but the slight fever is what’s keeping me down. I haven’t worked out in 6 days and it feels like a month.
I’ll keep hydrating, get some rest and try to be back with the 0600 on Thursday. I miss starting my day with you guys!
Nice Haiku MB. If I recall, that last Haiku you authored was about pickles. You got mad poetic skillz!
~BC
Bee Charmer, you are doing the right thing. Get plenty of rest, drink water and you will be good as new in no time at all. Hang in there. You are missed.
Dantelope
Thanks for the shoutout Wayne! I had a blast with the 6 a.m. crew. It was a pleasure to partake in the kool-aid w/ Mark and the rest. I appreciate the support and look forward to tomorrow’s pain.
Mark, I was told once, by a physical therapist, that my Darth Vader Scapulae was all jammed up because of all of the stabilization and pull ups. However I was shown an exercise to balance it out. It was like an L-sit on the PVC pipes, without having to do the ab component. Pressing with the arms straight down elevating the body till the shoulders were pressing in the opposite direction as the “active shoulders”. It made sense that if you work (over work) a muscle in a certain direction that you should also work the opposite way as well. Maybe Calvin and his PT knowledge can speak to this if he can decipher what I am trying to say.
Fun little workout today! Used a 1.5 pood (need to get a 2 pood) Thanks WInk for the motivation today.
POS, that exercise you were doing is a good thing for shoulder stabilization. While you are using some of the smaller stabilizers for shoulder depression (the motion of your scapula that you’re doing), a big portion of the work is being done be the lower trapezius. It’s a fair bet that nearly all of us have weak lower traps relative to our upper and middle traps that we use actively all the time when we shrug in our cleans, snatches, etc. It’s really just because there’s not a whole lot of exercises that stress the lower part as much as the others, so they get little direct exercise. Working the lower traps will add some stability to the joint, particularly in your overhead squats that you’ve been chasing. If you regularly lose the weight forward of you, while there certainly are a lot of factors, weak lower traps may be a part of it.
Forgot to mention…POS, your time was absolutely insane. Well done.
I concur with Dr. Riebel.
Doctor, Doctor, Doctor, Doctor…
didn’t make this one today…can’t really complain…I hate burpees with a passion. I did “Nicole” on my turf…brutal.
Nice pic…I think my shoulders are a little over-active though. hahah
Nice job guys!