Yesterday, we talked about lordosis in the overhead position and some cues to correct them.  However, when these cues don’t work, we have to look at other possible causes.  Tight lats and shoulders that prevent the athlete from getting to the overhead position often cause him to compensate by arching his back in order to get the bar directly overhead.   Kelly Starrett, CrossFit Physical Therapist Extraordinaire, suggests spending the proper amount of time performing these stretches before going overhead:

Grab a PVC pipe or a dowel and get your elbows close together while kneeling in front of one of your box jump boxes. Now, while trying to keep your elbows close together, slide your hands apart on the pipe to externally rotate your arms (remember lats are powerful internal rotators of the arm.)

Once you feel wound up in that awkward externally rotated position, and keeping elbows together, bring your arms into relative flexion by attempting to bring your chest to the ground. Keep your back straight and elbows together. If you can bang out a high rep Cindy, chances are that you are probably feeling a pretty good stretch about now. In the next photo, note that my elbows are coming apart a little, due to the ungodly force of the stretch I’m enduring.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at another stretch that we can do to help with the overhead position.

WOD

Michael
3 rds:
800 m Run
50 Good Mornings
50 Sit Ups

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