I have been doing Defranco’s WS4SB for a few months now, and have noticed considerable strength increases in all of my core exercises(Bench, Front Squats, Deads), however, I have been readng lately about how doing heavy pressing movements such as the Bench can have a negative effect on should joint strength and flexilbity.
I also noticed that upon chucking the ball around the other day that my shoulders are much tighter than normal.
Obviously the ME effort days on my bench are having a bit of an effect on my shoulder flexibility…just wondering if anybody else has had similiar experiences, and if so, what exercises have you switched to in order to counter effect this.
1.) Stretch the internal rotators post-workout.
2.) Pay attention to your pulling movements. Are you working just as hard on your horizontal rowing and prehab stuff like facepulls or scarecrows?
3.) Include external rotation stuff.
4.) Take breaks from full-range barbell pressing.
#4 has been the biggest thing for me. DeFranco hardly does ANY full-range pressing with his throwing athletes. He uses pull-ups as the ME exercise and sometimes a board-press. I don’t do any barbell pressing any more because it was hard on my shoulder (college volleyball player), and wasn’t worth the risks for me. The main movements I go heavy on are:
-Pullups and chins with all different grips, weighted for sets of 1-5 reps, bodyweight for RE work
-Dumbell bench with a neutral grip
-Floor press, usually dumbell
-Pushups, neutral grip with the handles, either weighted for low reps or bodyweight for higher reps.
If using WS4SB and playing a sport such as baseball or wrestling, you shouldn’t be using bench press exercises for your ME day. You need to work on Chins, overhead presses and some rowing movements. Also, be sure to do plenty of rotational work and extra shoulder pre-hab exercises (Int/Ext rotation, cuban presses, muscle snatches, face pulls, etc.).
Great advice above me. Stick w/ the dumbbells as he said. No overhead pressing. Learn how to take care of your shoulders while you’re young…read all the articles on here about shoulder health.
Since you have been doing WS4SB for a couple months, switch it up and do a different program. Make sure you’re doing plenty of unilateral work. Good luck.
Thanks Guys…for the past week or so I have been changing things up by switching out the Flat Bench with Close and Wide Grip Chins with a weighted belt…although I do have to buy a new belt as the straps snapped off of the old one that I was using…didnt bother me but the business underneath the gym didnt like the 45 plate bouncing off the floor too much…oh well…dems the brakes.
For the baseball players we train, we do not do any kind of barbell bench (neither incline or flat), and only limited militaries (usually finishing off cleans for a change of pace). I second the statement above suggesting aggressive stretching; we tell prospective students that they can not enter our program if they don’t commit to equally to building flexibility.
For throwing ballplayers, ESPECIALLY as their velocities begin to increase, I strongly recommend that they limit the shoulder movements to rotational exercises (usually with tubing) and chest movements to dumbbell presses (usually alternate arm) and balance ball pushups at a number of different angles. As you can probably imagine, every exercise we focus on serves to protect that joint.
One of my clients, 16 year old catcher that has already been scouted by both the pros and a number of D1’s (and, probably not coincidently, already strong as a horse), is almost completely on a “pre-hab” upper body program; he can throw 87 already, our job is to make sure that he can do so repeatedly with minimal wear and tear on his body.
Training their legs and core, however, is another story entirely…
I’m doing the same for pitching,and I think if you just stretch a lot like everyone said and do a lot of band work for your shoulders and scapular, you should be alright. It doesn’t hurt to throw on a daily basis either.
Regarding the ME bench, keeping my elbows as close as possible to my sides and driving my feet into the ground help to put little stress on my shoulders. They feel fine, and I can throw without any restriction of movement. I don’t know about anything I may be subjecting myself to down the road, but just make sure to focus on band work, and if anything hurts don’t do it…