AHR's Megan was invited to sit down with the boys at Little and Large over the weekend to discus topics such as the sport of Strongman, training, warm up, and injuries among others.

She was also able to experience the sport of Strongman by being coached through the Atlas Stone, Log and Yolk carry thanks to PTC Marcathur.

To listen to this awesome podcast and others, use the link below, or to listen to it on the go, download the Stitcher app and search Little and Large!

Ep 11. Rose amongst the Thorns from Little and Large - http://stitcher.com/s?eid=39921728

Written by Megan Gaudry. 

This post is in the response to a follower's request to provide some idea of corrective- or activation-based exercises to injury proofing or prepping shoulders prior to a training session, given the higher risk of injuries in sports requiring overhead movement, such as throwing sports, olympic lifting movements, Crossfit and the like.

Shoulder injuries are very common, in fact shoulder injuries are the third most common injury to lower back and neck pain. Up to 36% can suffer shoulder pain in the general population, and 8-13% of shoulder injuries are suffered within the athletic population. Of these injured individuals, studies show that only 44% of acute shoulder pain will resolve within 3 months and 50% within 6 months. 

Shoulder injuries are usually associated with heavy, overuse, repetitive type movements, often in the overhead position. The shoulder is at its most weakest in the overhead position, a great example is wide up phase of a baseball pitcher, with the arm externally rotated and above 90 degrees flexion causing repetitive capsular overload.

In this position, research has shown that ligaments in the shoulder play a bigger role then muscle force in that overhead position, meaning, that all your stability is relying on three particular ligaments holding the shoulder (ball) to the glenoid (socket). Therefore many individuals tend to dislocate in these positions, especially given the amount of force and load that we put on ourselves.

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AHR's Megan demonstrating a band activation and movement patterning exercise prior to hitting 90% 1RM Overhead Squats.