Hi BBM fam
Rehab consult not really possible at the moment due to personal finances so here I am at the whim of the group.
Seeking advice for alterations to training the olympic lifts short and long term to work with my hypermobile shoulders.
The right shoulder has subluxated on several occasions. Isn’t an issue when doing strength based overhead movements (can OHP and have done for a long time without issue) but anything explosive (martial arts, and more recently, the snatch) is a problem. I feel the humeral head ‘slip’ like it’s about to pop out of the socket. It’s not causing any pain at the moment but it’s killing my confidence at getting into the full snatch position and this is starting to play on my mind and affect my commitment to the split jerk as well. I’m really enjoying oly lifting so far but if I can’t snatch or jerk I’m not sure I’m going to find it all that fulfilling or be all that competitive.
I’m 35 going on 36 so I’m not deluding myself that I’m going to compete at a high level but I’d like to push myself and compete within my own gym/maybe locally.
I’ve seen a physio and their advice was basically a lot of rotator cuff strengthening for the next six weeks and see how it goes. Maybe an MRI to check if there’s an injury, or whether I’m just extra bendy. They were suspecting a torn labrum but obviously difficult to say definitively without imaging.
At the moment I’ve just removed any snatch work that involves the turnover (doing a lot of high pulls) and I’ve subbed pressing in for jerking.
I feel like this will soon become a problem though as my clean will rapidly outpace what I can press overhead. My best OHP was only ever 60kg and I’m currently cleaning that for doubles.
Looking for ideas on how to snatch/jerk safely and make it a trainable movement - I’d consider narrowing my grip in the snatch as I feel like a more vertical arm position may be more stable than the wide overhead grip the comp snatch demands. But wanting other ideas.
If I can’t make it fully trainable I think I’m just going to try and develop a monster clean and press, as at least that’s a goal to shoot for. But ideally I’d like to be able to train the oly lifts ‘properly’ for the sake of keeping on the same trajectory as my gym buds and friendly rivalry.
Ajnsing,
Thanks for the post and welcome back to the forum. It’s been a minute!
I’m not sure how long you’ve been Olympic lifting, how long it’s been since you’ve injured your shoulder, whether or not you took the physio’s advice re: direct rotator cuff work, and so on.
I do think it’s possible to work into full versions of the lifts, but that is likely going to take some time, gradual revisions, and follow up with a professional. I understand that doing a consult may be a stretch at the moment, but I really think you’d benefit from it. Training is obviously very important to you and it’s unlikely a forum answer will be sufficient.
In the interim, I’d be curious if you could muscle snatch any load currently, even if it’s a 15kg bar. That may be a good entry point for training the snatch movement that’s tolerable. Similarly, I’d be looking to work into some sort of snatch balance movement at a light load and perhaps limited ROM.
For the jerk, I’d be thinking about training the press and some type of jerk support, progressing later to the push press, power jerk, and finally jerk.
I would also be including some direct shoulder work, favoring external rotation and shoulder extension for you, along with 1-arm overhead pressing. This is reflected in our shoulder rehab template.
-Jordan
Hi Jordan,
Thanks for the speedy reply.
In answer to your questions:
I’ve been oly lifting for about 2 months.
I first injured my shoulder in my early 20s. I threw my arm up and out to block an incoming strike and felt my shoulder pop out and in. Followed by a lot of pain and altered sensation down the arm.
Obviously this was a long time ago so I can’t remember much else but I don’t recall it being sore in the following days.
I think that type of thing happened once more, and since then I’ve had occasional moments where I can feel the shoulder ‘slip’ - usually when it’s either an explosive movement (briefly started BJJ but soon stopped for fear of causing more damage to the shoulder) or my shoulder musculature is particularly fatigued.
I saw the physio 5 days ago and I’ve been doing the prescribed exercises religiously. A lot of rowing with a packed shoulder, and external rotation at various angles to the body.
I’m not averse to a consult, I’ve used BBM P&R team before, but at the moment it’s not viable. Once finances loosen up a bit I’ll reconsider.
I had considered the muscle snatch. I was able to do it a few weeks ago when it was programmed. I think a slightly narrower grip muscle snatch might be a good jumping off point once I’m feeling a bit more confident.
As far as snatch balances that was sort of what lead me to seek help in the first instance - there were behind the neck snatch grip push jerks programmed and they, more than the full snatch, were causing my shoulder a lot of problems (though the full snatch also had on several occasions with loads as light as 40kg).
I was going to ask whether some light overhead shoulder extension work would be a valuable addition - if my issue, as I understand it, is that my shoulder has difficulty stabilising past my ear, working to strengthen the muscles that oppose that direction of travel would surely help?
Thanks for the advice Jordan.