As most of you know, I'm getting over a shoulder impingement and am starting to amp up my training a bit. Now I'm trying to keep my shoulder out of as much stuff as possible to reduce the possibility of more inflammation occurring, so I was wondering if folks could offer some suggestions for training ideas that I may not have thought about. I'm looking for exercises for 2 categories: 1. Ab/core work - normally I'd do things like L-sits, Turkish get ups and hanging leg lifts, but these all involve my shoulder. I'm currently doing reverse crunches, reverse leg lifts and windshield wipers. 2. Conditioning work - I'm doing running, cycling, skipping (but having to be careful with it) and last night I introduced some ring rows, chinnies, squats and mountain climbers. At the moment I'm reluctant to do things like burpees, dumbbell swings and high reps pushups. So any ideas for things I haven't considered would be greatly appreciated.
re: conditioning: shadowboxing using mainly footwork, weaving and kicks? for abs... hmmm... farmer's walks, side bends and stuff? or would that irritate your shoulder too?
1. Abs Bicycle crunches, Planks (if you can), Double Leg Drop Crunch-ups, etc. Check out the site below. They have a bunch of exercises that you can try from and they tell roughly which muscles they work, if that tickles your fancy. http://www.trainwithmeonline.com/Exercises/Fitness/Intermediate/Abdominal/Bodyweight/p2 2. Conditioning Do sprinting. Lovely lovely sprinting. Also: http://www.bodyresults.com/e1exercises.asp http://www.drillsandskills.com/skills/cond
I'm thinking of introducing some suitcase deadlifts at some points for core work, so farmers walks would fit into that category. I'll probably wait a few weeks for those and see how the rowing I'm doing at the moment feels. Shadowboxing with limited punching is a good idea and similar bagwork would be good if I could get my heavy bag hung. I've always struggled to make shadowboxing feel intense enough, but I suspect I just need to try harder with it!
I try to avoid crunches due to a lower back problem. Planks are something I've thought about but might put too much pressure on my shoulder at the moment. The problem with a lot of conditioning work (and ab work) is that it involves high reps using the shoulder for things
Themed rounds helps to alleviate boredom and raise intensity when shadow boxing. Two minute rounds. Round 1. Just focus on footwork and good upperbody movement, slipping, angles and just working behind the jab. Round 2. You must throw at least a three punch/kick combination, then angle off. Round 3. You must use a defensive move before any punches and kicks are thrown. This can be a body defence such as a slip or duck, use of the arms such as a parry or block, or use of the feet for stop hits or distance (out and back). If this does not take your fancy you could always do one minute rounds with a 30 second blast of body weight squats before the second minuteof shadow boxing. This means in the second minute you have to re-focus your breathing, gain control of your muscles (keep hands high and keep moving) while all the body wants to do is rest*). * Note to self. Listen to your own advice.
re: shadowboxing, one thing that never fails to give me an instant training high, and therefore might suit your needs, is to just train techniques while maintaining constant forwards pressure. you need a good stretch of space to do it though, but with kicks it's a bit easier, just keep stepping forwards after each kick, improvise random combinations, spin, jump, whatever, as long as you keep the forwards momentum. also yes, always make sure your heavy bag is well-hung :evil:
what about an isometric hold? like, locking your legs around something, say on a decline bench, and instead of doing a crunch or sit-up, just try to keep your body horizontal, with increased abdominal pressure (compressing your ribcage and then affirming your core) to stabilize your spine while you do it.
Do slow squats, squat thrusts, and maybe hold a squat position (horse riding stance works too) for as long as you can. A personal favorite of mine, which I'm doing right now, is this: 1. Do as many squats as you can in 30 seconds, focusing on speed and power (don't forget good form!) 2.Rest for an interval of 15-30 sec. 3. Do as many squats as you can in 30 seconds, focusing on speed and power (don't forget good form!) 4. Rest for an interval of 15-30 sec. etc. You can repeat this as many times as you like. For example, 3x30 sec rounds with 15 sec of rest in between. Your legs will be feeling like jelly
squat+kicking. in fact: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n26adHMbwQ4"]squat + leg techniques drill - YouTube[/ame] should start doing this stuff again myself, actually.
i should do this sort of stuff every day, instead i do it like once or twice per year. same with joint rotations. need to make it a habit. can still do it, though, but my balance is a bit wonkier.
Might be an idea - I'm doing isometric holds for my GHRs at the moment I do high reps squats as part of tabata drills as well as squat thrusts/mountain climbers. I don't really want to do slow reps as I get a decent strength workout with weighted versions. I really want stuff that works cardio/conditioning rather than strength.
You have no idea how I want to change your post to read "I'll definately be wearing skimpy clothing", anyway, Mitch probably has that covered.