Why does my shoulder hurt and how do I fix it?

CrossFit Deep Weekly Mobility

Shoulder Pain

By: Austin Braham + Lindsay Marshall

Being CrossFitters, it is easy to understand that we use our shoulders in some way every day at the gym or in every day life. Whether we are pressing weight over head or reaching into the cabinet to grab something.

As coaches, we sometimes hear an athlete say, “I had to take a week off to heal my shoulder” or “my shoulder always hurts and I can’t do that movement because it causes more pain.”

Most of us have been in this situation in one way or another and it’s not a pleasant experience. When the shoulder is in pain it causes our regular daily functions to be burdensome. In order to keep your shoulders pain free we are going to look into your daily activities for the solution instead of only blaming it on the class workout.

            For the most part, Americans tend to live in a slouched position called protraction, which over time throws your trunk all out of whack.

Protraction of the shoulder is caused by a muscle called the pectoralis minor being flexed. Protraction is the sole movement caused by the pec minor. Imagine walking around and flexing your bicep the whole entire day, yeah even thinking about that seems not fun because of how tired and tight your arm would be. We should all be living in a slightly retracted state (and no I am not talking about walking around with your shoulders awkwardly pulled so far back that you look unnatural), neither completely retracted nor protracted. When we are in this protracted state for a majority of the day and you show up for the class workout that includes a shoulder movement, your humerus is no longer sitting comfortably in your shoulder joint. yet Let’s say the metcon has 100 push press in the workout and your shoulder musculature (pressure ie. the infraspinatus, lats, teres minor +major, pec minor+major, deltoids, etc.) is going to take a lot of pressure due to the muscles on the front of your body are tight simultaneously with the muscles on the back being stretched and taken through a range of motion with weight and for a crazy amount of reps.

            So after all of that biomechanical mumbo jumbo, how do I fix this?

1.     Practice staying neutral with your shoulders.

a.      While sitting at your desk, perform retraction: clinch your shoulder blades together, hold for 5 seconds, and then do that 5 times per hour

2.     Grab a massage ball (knotty body ball on Amazon for $10 ) or lacrosse ball from Dick’s for $2

a.     Lie on the ground or lean against the wall: Place the ball where the circle is and when you find a tender spot, hold it there and try to bring your arm from down beside you to above your head and take it back and forth.

3.     Mash out your teres minor

a.  It is important when getting into the front rack position. Use the same concepts as number 2.

What is your why?

Summer time is arguably one of the most fun times of the year, between all of the festivals, pool days, and back yard BBQ’s. There is one part about summer that every Texan understands a little too well, it’s hot! Sometimes it can be hard to have the motivation to go outside, much less make time to exercise. As a professional in the realm of health and fitness I often think about the different reasons why people exercise or don’t exercise in the first place. We have to have a reason to do what we do. For some it could be that they simply want to look better, want to live longer/feel better, or have the ability to play with their kids and maybe even grandkids. Adversely, some might be suffering from an old injury, not knowing what they are doing, or being scared to exercise in general. There is always an underlying motive that few people recognize or want to admit, and although it may be cliché to say, but we should always be asking the question “why”. As a general rule in life, the why is almost always the most important question because without the why you cannot have the what, when, where, or how. I challenge you to look at your motives behind exercising or not exercising. Are you doing it because you want people to like you? Or maybe you are not doing it because you are afraid of looking “weak” or “dumb”. Although I cannot choose your why for you, I can tell you that some things are healthier than others. Choosing to serve others rather than being served, showing love rather than only wishing to receive love, and so many others. Learn from your why and use it to help you grow in every aspect of your life, you might even need to rethink your why in order to have a healthy perception of yourself and or others. There are few things that we can actually control in this crazy thing called life, except for one thing. We have the choice to control our motivation, so make it something that will last and is strong. And always remember, answer the why and the what, where, and how will take care of themselves.

Why community makes your life better

One definition of a community is, " A feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals." I believe that no matter where you are in the world, you need community and here is why.

I don't know about you but when I am around like minded individuals that are uplifting and encouraging, I tend to be more uplifting and encouraging. The unfortunate part is this same concept can work inversely as well. We have all had the talk from our parents or a parental figure where they say "Choose your friends wisely" or "You can tell who a person is based on who they are friends with" now I don't think the second one is ALWAYS true but you get the idea. We as humans are ALL, and yes I said ALL, leaders, wanna know why? Because a leader is anyone who has an influence, either positive or negative upon another person. I don't care who you are, you are influencing others and you are still being influenced by others around you. This means that if you choose to surround yourself with positive influences, than you are being led in a positive direction and vice versa. There is a reason that in the past one of the main forms of public discipline was exile, a positive or negative influence is a powerful thing.

 I am 22 years old and about to graduate from college, do you want to know what the best decision of my college career was? Getting into the community surrounding my college, the moms and dads, the businessmen and women, the pastors and the atheists. Sometimes we can view life as a "marathon" that is being run by all individuals, and I don't agree with that view. I am running this marathon of life on a team, where sometimes I just can't do it and guess what? Someone is right behind me to help me until I am strong enough to run again. Isn't that so much better than the idea of running alone? I am afraid that we are all turning into these me me me machines. We walk to and fro wherever we are going with headphones in so that we don't have to make conversation with strangers. We put headphones in at the gym so we don't have to talk to anyone while we do our thing. And I think the most dangerous of them all is when we have struggles and burdens but yet we don't tell anyone because we are afraid to seem weak and vulnerable. Guess what? I have been all three of those scenarios, until I realized I couldn't do it alone. I need that stranger on the side walk to say hey have a good day, I need a Joey Sandvig or a Denver Fontaine to encourage me to pick up the barbell when I feel weak. I need a Ryan Smith or my girlfriend to talk to me when I feel like the weight of the world is crashing down on me. And you know what's even cooler? They're not the only ones that offer all of those things to me. When you immerse yourself into a community, you have a family. Ecclesiastes 4:12 says, "Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves, a cord of three strands is not quickly broken." You see, we don't have to take this world on alone! There are always others around you that want to have you as a part of their community or to even make a community with them , and all you have to do is look for it and just live life with them. I cannot encourage you enough that wherever you are and you feel alone and beat up, to get up and find a community, and I say "find" because most of the time it is not coming to you. I mean community is going to cost you financially or it will cost time and you know it will probably even cost both at the same time but it is worth the fight. Relationships are always worth your time and so are you!

 We are on this earth for Community, we were literally created for it, God Himself said that, "It is not good for man to be alone." Seek that community for yourself, be that community to others, and watch as your life transforms from a single manned struggle to a team event victory.

Why the CrossFit Open is not for me this year

      Now I know what you are thinking, "This guy is speaking blasphemy!" But let me tell you exactly why the Open isn't for ME this year. I have been competitive in my CrossFit career, whether it be in actual competitions, the Open, or just between my friends so I know what is like to push myself to be the best athlete that I can be every single workout. So believe me I know exactly where you are coming from those of you that are just as mentally unstable towards fitness as I am. But the CrossFit Open was not created for only those that are ultra competitive in CrossFit but rather it is for the community as a whole. 
      I am a part of a great team of coaches at CrossFit Lynchburg in Lynchburg, VA in which I have been coaching at for a year now and have been working out there even longer. The thing that I have noticed about CrossFit through my coaching, the community we are a part of is everything. You know the super cliche saying that all kinds of companies use "The customer comes first"? Well I have realized that this applies to us in the fitness world as well. Our view of coaching/training should be "The Athlete comes first" and yes i used athlete purposely. If you are continuously training in CrossFit, Pilates, Zumba, etc. you are an athlete that is training with a purpose. Too often I can view my training of others as just a means in which I grow or I get better as an athlete, which seems strange until you are actually in a coaching position for long enough, or I guess you're just perfect. But the more I think about it the more I realize that I just love the heck out of the athletes that I coach, and I want to succeed more than anything. The Open is an incredible time where athletes who are new to CrossFit and CrossFit veterans can compete against essentially the world of CrossFit to prove your fitness. Now there are those that take the Open very seriously where they want to make it to regionals and then eventually the Games (This is where I lie) and then there are those that are doing it just for fun and the camaraderie of it all. I just recently started having an old back injury start flaring up in like the middle of January (so only a month away from the Open) and now I have just been blessed with an achilles injury 2 days before 16.2 was announced. Well crap. I have been training all year for this moment right? God uses things in my life to remind me of the truth, I am weak but He is strong. I am not in charge of my life and ultimately it is not about me. I am on this earth to let the people I come in contact with know that I love them and that more importantly God loves them. There is a big old 0% chance that I can perform to the true best of my ability on the upcoming Open workout because of the different things happening right now and I love that. I can now focus on what is important to me, and that is being the best coach and the best advocate for my athletes that I can be. That is what makes it all worth it isn't it? Showing others that they are worth the time that they are more than just a random person at the gym, they are family. 
     So that's why the Open isn't for me this year, its for everyone else. It's for my awesome classes that have to deal with my crazy music selections, long periods of time sitting in a squat, and of course my crazy and weird warm-ups. Sometimes we need to take a step back and realize the big picture. I have the opportunity to invest in someone's life and to make an impact, what an incredible gift so why not take advantage of it. Let's be the community that pushes others to be the best mom, dad, brother, sister, wife, husband, friend and stop worrying about ourselves so much. And hey you might just find that we're not too different and that you know what, the Open isn't for you either.