Posts Tagged ‘fitness’
July 21st, 2009 | 
Author: You may have heard of the Y-T-W-L circuit, which develops scapular stability by strengthening the shoulders and upper back. Scapular stability is of the utmost importance for overhead throwing athletes like pitchers. Talk to someone with healthy shoulders, and they probably have been using the YTWL.
Yet despite it’s popularity, the YTWL circuit is often done improperly, and actually contains some movement patterns that aren’t useful: specifically, the W.
My shoulder routine has consisted of the YTWL for a few years, coupled with an additional standing shoulder/rotator cuff circuit. However, for the YTWL, it is time for a upgrade, and that is why I have made the switch to the YTLP.
My friend Nick Tumminello at Performance University has been evaluating the YTWL for a while now, and has done a series of videos on how to perform his newly developed L-Y-T-P circuit perfectly, many of which are featured below. Read some of his other great training articles on this page.
Nick has made a lot of changes to the circuit, which I am going to highlight in this article. The biggest is a call to eliminate the W pattern, which he swaps for the (P)ivot Prone. Rest assured, adopting the new circuit is going to give you stronger shoulders and more scapular stability than you’ve ever had before, even if you’ve already been doing the YTWL.
I’ve been familiar with foam rolling and myofascial release for a few years now, starting when I was told I had a lot of inflexibility that needed to go away. If you’re unfamiliar with myofascial release, check out this article. It’s from wikipedia, but it gives a pretty thorough overview. Basically, though, you maneuver yourself over a foam roller, which compresses the tissues beneath, allowing for connective tissue (fascia) restrictions to loosen. This includes trigger points, which gives a lot of people chronic pain.
I hadn’t done much of it recently, but felt motivated to get back into it. And having experienced good things with it in the past, I made some time after a workout.
I figured I would write a post of milestones of post-surgical activities, as that is a pretty common question people have. I asked other guys all the time when they could do this or that, so here you go. Some of these I can’t remember exactly, so bear with me.
Out of sling: 2 days
Stopped taking painkillers: 1 day
Started forearm rehab: 1 week
Full Range of motion: 3 weeks Read the rest of this entry »