Paul Horn SSC: The LBBS Stretch

[Paul Horn]

As an "over 50 software developer", I'll let you know how it progresses. Day 1 and I can't get anywhere near what Paul shows as his "starting" point.

If you're a particularly bad case, widen your grip as much as possible in your rack. The key is to keep the wrists straight. If you let them bend, you defeat the purpose of the exercise. The other big part is the relaxing. I believe this is called PNF stretching. If you just shove yourself under the bar and try force the stretch deeper and deeper, you'll start resisting. There's something about relaxing that allows you to push in a little deeper each attempt. Stick with it and do it every time you train. It may take a few months.

[Fiddler]

Exhaling deeply into the stretch helps a lot. Your muscles will relax a bit more each time you exhale.

[dseelinger]

Stick with it and do it every time you train. It may take a few months.

Since my rack/gym is in my basement, is this something I can do in-between training sessions, or even multiple times a day, or is it more like an adaptation that requires a recovery period?

[Paul Horn]

Since my rack/gym is in my basement, is this something I can do in-between training sessions, or even multiple times a day, or is it more like an adaptation that requires a recovery period?

I did it every day for 5 - 10 minutes to get back my range of motion after surgery. One day was not always better than the next, but I did my best each session and over a few weeks it improved. With my trainees, I only see them 3x/week at most so that's how often we do the stretch. Both work. Try it every day and see.

[Scaldrew]

People seem impatient to stretch into the proper position for the squat, which I don't dislike, so I'll chip in. Usually my warmup for the squat consists of squatting, but sometimes I add extra tiny things in between warmup sets. I always keep the bar as close to my body as possible in getting under the bar, so the bar will end up on my traps first and then I move it to just below the spine of the scapula. If I don't do this, I find it much more uncomfortable to get the bar in position.

Other than just squatting, I hang from a pullup bar for 10-20 seconds, completely relaxed, chest up, lats tensed, and going through those motions one after the other. This is something I pretty much do on every heavy squat day, maybe on recovery day, too. If my shoulder feels particularly tight or uncomfortable, I'll throw in a set of presses with the empty bar and focus on the lockout position (i.e. squeeeeeeeze traps). My flexibility isn't that big of a deal generally, so I maybe do an extra set of pressing once every few weeks. I never do "shoulder dislocations" at all ever; not once not ever. I don't do any foam rolling or "myofascial release on tennis balls" or whatever. Something I've only done once for a tight shoulder is a set of power snatches from the jumping position for a set of 5 on top of the hanging and pressing I had already done. Can't say if it really helped that much, but if people are willing to try, then I won't leave it out here.

I have actually coached a novice who couldn't get the bar into the low bar position, then had to take the widest grip on the bar possible, and is now squatting with a much narrower grip. What worked for him was switching to the leg press for a week (couldn't hit depth on high bar; overweight and detrained), then having him do low bar with the widest grip. Squatting aggravated his left elbow (work-related tendonitis), but that didn't last more than a month or so. He was a stubborn guy and never wanted to hold off on squatting because of the pain. What helped him get from not squatting to squatting painfully was deadlifting and pressing with good form. It took a while until he was squatting pain free, but if you don't care to stretch at all, know that just doing the other lifts will stretch out your body, as well.

[Slevin]

I will give this shot. Thanks for the video!

[Grumbler]

I used this same method after my shoulder surgery a year and a half ago, and it worked well. I still need to stretch before my warm up sets, but it only takes about two or three minutes.

[Culican]

Thanks Paul!

My first warmup sets are usually painful and ugly with me working me hands in after each set until I get the the right distance. Tried your stretch today and was able to start my warmup sets with my hands at the proper width and even more, it didn't hurt.

[wb416]

I used the video cues to work on my hand position tonight. It's a work in progress, but better than it was. I have a lot of time spent on a keyboard for my job that I need to work out.

[dpinsen]

I'll try it.

As it is now, I squat high bar, and it takes some stretching to get mobile enough for that.