I tried to do dumbell over head squats today at my gym and i felt a lot of shoulder pain. Can some please tell me the correct from for over head squats and if there is another excersize (besides plain old squats) that i can substitue. Thanks alot. Scooby
If you have a squat rack, and if there are pins, set it at a shallow depth, then steadily increase it each time, maintaining the same weight. Get to rock bottom, add a little weight and start at the top again. But don’t ignore pain, what did the pain feel like? If it was just typical range of motion being extended a slight bit, try regaining some of your range of motion before diving into these. There are quite a few good books about stretching. How do your shoulders typically feel after normal standing military presses?
Good luck.
DUMBELL overhead squats??? Well, my first piece of advice would be to use a barbell, not dumbells. I’ve never heard of anyone doing the exercse with dumbells, but maybe I’m wrong…? Has anyone else ever run into this?
It’s not at all uncommon for your shoulders to scream when first doing overhead squats. It’s typically one of the most humbling exercises there is. You might start off doing them with a barbell as it will be easier to balance…also stretch prior…What I do is get inside a power rack and put my left hand on the left support and the right hand on the right…then i take a step forward to stretch the chest then start squatting down to stretch the shoulders. When you do them make sure your hands are wide enough apart to enable you to get down. Once you get the flexibility the movement will come.
Char-dawg,has a solid point. Consider starting with a wooden dowel or bar. If pain exists, immediately seek a qualified medical opinion - Although right now I think Char-dawg’s comments were dead on. (Dr. Char-dawg). In faith, Coach Davies
Heed char-dogs comment. Using dumbells will put your arms in a much more vertical position (as well as adding another plane of potential motion in the shoulder). If you tend to do back squats with the bar fairly low and use a lot of forward lean (small hip angle), you might consider doing a short cycle of front squats to get used to a more upright body position during the squat motion, then go to the overhead squats. As always, start light and get the form down first.
I’ve been trying these since I read about them because i like to mix it up. Damn humbling exercise in my opinion. Anyway. My shoulders weren’t flexible enough to do these right away. To stretch them, I’d grab an empty bar, set up in front of/slightly in the squat rack so that I was at the start position of an overhead squat with the bar resting against the cage. I’d drop down slowly into the bottom position, going slightly deeper each time. The cage keeps your arms/shoulders from going forward and gives a nice stretch. This is obviously a stretch that should be done with a controlled motion, and don’t feel you have to drop all the way down te first time you try it.
Char-dawg’s right, don’t do them with dumbbells. In the bottom position your arms actually have to be out at an angle for your to support the weight; doing this with your arms pointed straight up (which you would have to do with dumbbells) is next to impossible. There are a few people out there whose shoulders are flexible enough to do squat jerks (jerking the bar and then dropping into a squat position to catch it overhead) but this is rare - and this is basically what you’re trying to do with dumbbells. Anyway, one thing I would suggest is doing some dislocates. Just grab a towel, hold it apart with both hands and rotates your arms forward and back, bringing the towel behind your head. A few windmills with a 5 lb plate can help too. A few tips to help you balance the barbell - space your hands apart fairly wide (not all the way to the plates, but pretty close). As you drop into the squat position concentrate on pulling the bar apart. Also concentrate on “screwing” your arms into the bar - do this by trying to rotate your hands in as you hold the bar (you won’t actually be able to rotate your hands, but doing this will lock your arms into the right position). Other than that, just start out light (empty bar or a broom stick if you need to) and work on your flexibility. Good luck.