For weightlifters, any type of injury can mean trouble, but an injured shoulder is among the worst. Because they are involved in so many different types of movements, shoulder injuries can all but bring your workout routine to a screeching halt.
At best, a shoulder injury can sap your upper body strength, which results in the loss of hard fought-for gains in muscle mass and strength. And the fact of the matter is that shoulder injuries account for about 40% of all resistance training-related injuries, which gives them the dubious distinction of being the number one cause of pain in the gym.
Left untreated or worse, treated improperly, a shoulder injury can last for weeks or even months. And given the complexity of the shoulder, proper treatment can be tricky. Fortunately, Mike Westerdal (CriticalBench.com) and Rick Kaselj, MS (ExerciseForInjuries.com) have teamed and developed a solution that unlocks the secret to fixing shoulder pain and getting back to your high intensity workouts in no-time at all.
Their step-by-step solution to treating (and preventing) shoulder pain is laid out in “Fix My Shoulder Pain: Get Back to Pain-Free Workouts.” The book and videos offer up a simple solution to fixing your shoulders without costly visits to the doctor, medications or surgery. And if you’re one of the lucky ones who have not experienced a shoulder injury yet, the book presents four strategies to reduce pain and prevent injuries, using their unique 3-step method.
The strategies the guys outline to prevent shoulder injuries in the first place are pretty straightforward and not at all difficult to follow. Their shoulder injury prevention strategies include:
- Warm up the muscles and not just the joint: in order to prevent injuries you need to address both the shoulder muscles and the joint—not just one or the other.
- Don’t get stuck in the traditional shoulder pain cycle: when a shoulder injury does occur, most guys get caught up in a seemingly never-ending cycle of pain and treatments that don’t work. FMSP offers real-world strategies that will help you break the cycle and avoid shoulder injuries once and for all.
- Deal with the root of the problem not the symptom: although medications and stretching my reduce pain, they don’t eliminate the root cause—they just treat the symptoms. FMSP presents solutions that treat the root cause of shoulder pain, not just the symptoms.
- Reshaping the shoulder joint: using the simple 3-step method invented by Injury Specialist and Kinesiologist Rick Kaselj, MS, it is possible to reshape the shoulder from a painful shoulder joint to one that is entirely pain-free.
And if you have already injured your shoulder and are looking for a solution that really works, then you ought to take a look at FMSP, which includes both e-books and videos. The first step is watching the video presentations, which lay the foundation for the entire program.
The first 40 pages of FMSP outline the basics of what you need to know before you move into the actual program itself. Proper technique, breathing, posture, mobility and stretching are just some of the many key concepts discussed in this first part of the book.
And while some people might be tempted to skip through this first section and get right into the action steps that would be a mistake because critically important information is presented here. One of the most important aspects of this first part of the book is its presentation of Rick’s SR3 method to eliminating shoulder pain once-and-for-all.
The SR3 Model is comprised of three parts: Part 1 (Alignment), which includes three steps (technique, breathing and posture); Part 2 (Tissue Quality), which has four steps (self-massage, mobility, stretching and hanging); and Part 3 (Activation and Endurance), which has three steps (isometrics, shoulder blade exercises and rotator cuff exercises).
A handy table outlines all of the exercises and includes links to videos that demonstrate proper form and movement. The remainder of the book goes into detail, providing full explanations of each. The detailed explanations of each exercise are well-done and easy-to-follow. The guys clearly outline the purpose of each exercise, progression strategies, as well as tips and suggestions to make sure you’re on track and not making any mistakes while performing the movement.
Having had the opportunity to give this a thorough review and having had to suffer through years of shoulder pain and treatments that never helped, I can say that FMSP is a must-have for anybody who does resistance, strength or weight training.
Mike and Rick have put together a no-nonsense, surgery- and drug-free program that can prevent and eliminate troublesome shoulder pain once and for all.
