In the RKC we use the term “Packing the shoulder” quite a bit, but what does it mean?

From the RKC manual: “Packing the shoulder” refers to scapular retraction (back) and depression (down). The ability to “suck the shoulder into its socket” is very important for health and performance.

We do this by engaging the lats and other muscles surrounding the shoulder joint. “Packing the shoulder” is just an easier way to remember it and explain it to our students who may not have a background in anatomy. A simple explanation is usually the most effective.

Now, if you look at top-level presses, either overhead or bench, they naturally pack their shoulders under a heavy load (or they were coached to do so). The unskilled person will tend to shrug the shoulder up and winds up going nowhere when the load gets heavy. Most of us had to learn this skill.

Mark Toomey, SrRKC did some experimenting with a fluoroscopy, which according to Wikipedia is “ an imaging technique commonly used by physicians to obtain real-time moving images of the internal structures of a patient through the use of a fluoroscope”.

I have included a couple of videos for comparison below, and you can see in real time that the clavicle, humerus and scapular move in different ways. With the packed shoulder, the bones glide right thru the range of motion. Without it, they visibly jam into each other.

From Mark:
“This was shot using a piece of PVC pipe filled with expanding foam insulation sprayed inside. I took a barbell to the OR with two wheels, but the metal bar created interference with the flouro machine. Went to Home Depot, got the pipe and the foam, then taped the two 45lb plates to the bar. I wanted to really load the shoulders, but the total weight was only about 95 pounds using the pipe instead of the bar.

I was standing with the bar/pipe held at the base of my skull, behind the neck, shoulders down and scaps retracted as hard as I could. Hips were neutral.

We show this when docs say, “You should never press behind the neck.”

I agree, you never should UNTIL you’ve been taught to press properly.

Here is an overhead press with OUT scapular retraction

Here is an overhead press, but with the packed shoulder:

2011 was very eventful. Some bad, a LOT of awesome and overall one of the best years yet for me. Here are some of the the things that happened….

Jan- Knee surgery, bone spur removal, return to full ROM and begin the rehab process. Surgery was Jan 6, body weight 301 at the surgery center. First post-surgical RKC snatch test was Jan 27.

We also began fostering dogs for a local placement service and have help three wayward doggies find permanant homes. This has been a great experience.

My mom was diagnosed with lung cancer and vowed to beat it.

Feb-Continued improvement with the knee, San Diego for John DuCane’s Marketing Mastermind weekend. Spent some time with RKC family there that I do not get to see often enough.

March- Took a trip to PA for a workshop with Marty Gallagher and Kirk Karwoski. Began weekly conversations with Marty, coaching me to build up my limit strength. I recieved info on my squat in particular that I am still figuring out how to implement. DEEP skill. Marty made his coaching contingent on me getting down to the 240lb range. “The last thing the world needs is another fat powerlifter!”

I also visited Slim the Hammer Man and his wife Shirley.

Taught HKC and assisted at the Dragon Door Indian Club certification.

April- Vacation in Orange Beach AL. Knee fully functional. Entered into full bore “Get Lean” mode. Another HKC cert with Mark and Nikki Snow.

After talking with Sean Greeley, I became a VIP member of his business coaching group, Net Profit Explosion. Joining NPE has been the single best decision I have made for improving Nashville Kettlebell. The quality of service and information is outstanding.

May- CK-FMS in St. Paul MN.

Doc report that Mom was responding extremely well to Chemo.

Slim the Hammer Man and the Mighty Atom inducted into the York Barbell Hall of Fame in York PA. Spent time with Dennis Rogers and Jedd Johnson. Set a USAWA record in the Bent press.

June- 200 24kg snatches in under 8:00. All-time PR 5 months post-surgery. Did this on a whim, before my scheduled workout.

NPE VIP event in Orlando with McBrydes. Starting to realize just how disorganized I am and amazed at being successful in spite of it.

HKC in Atlanta with Delaine Ross, RKCTL.

Celebrate one year anniversary of the current Nashville Kettlebell location.

Consistently doing 700-1000 swings per session. Body weight in the 270s.

July- squat 405 6 month post surgery. I missed the depth by an inch or so, but I don’t care. Knee is strong.

Teach at Level 2 RKC in MN. Several of my students including  Matt and Kristen McBryde certified.

Summit of Strength in Oklahoma with MRKCs O’Connor, Jones & Neupert. ( The 4 Horsemen) Body weight in the 260s.

I was contacted by German filmmaker Andre Roessler to be a part of a documentary about strength called Kraftakt. Andre and his partner Isabel spent 2 days shooting footage in Nashville before flying to LA to shoot with Lou Ferrigno. I sent Lou a horse shoe I bent, and he is holding it in the trailer for the movie.

I also was interviewed for an documentary the Sean Greeley did about the American Dream.

Aug- Performed at Black 13 tattoo parlor birthday party.

RKC San Diego

Strapped in to the metabolic testing station at Vanderbilt. 24kg swings burning over 20 calories per minute.

Sept- Visited Charleston SC for my 5 year anniversary with Mandy. McBrydes and Snows went with us. We had a great time.

Performed my signature Hammer/Getup combo at the Association of Oldtime Barbell and Strongman Dinner in front of Slim the Hammer Man.

Mom’s birthday, she continues to do well with her treatment.

Bodyweight dips below 260 for the first time since i was in my 20s.

Oct- HKC and workshops in Melbourne Australia. Mandy went with me for this one and we spent a few days at Hamilton Island. Just before we left, Mandy had what we thought was a cyst removed. It turned out to be skin cancer. Thankfully she had all of it removed in a single process after we returned home and is fine. We didn’t really say much about it publicly, but it was pretty scary. We talked about it and decided to include it in the year wrap up. If you or someone you know has anything questionable on your skin, get it checked out.

Nov-Taught at Hardstyle Ventura for the 3rd year and attended the wedding of Doug and Laura Nepodal. I am so happy I could be there to see them tie the knot!

Seoul Korea RKC. My first RKC as acting Chief instructor and the first-ever Asian RKC. SrRKCs  Jon Engum and Dr. Mark Cheng teach with me. Three Ninjas! The Korean people and the Dragon Door staff there were amazing.

Thanksgiving and my birthday. Mom’s hair is growing back.

Dec- Final HKC of 2011, certified 2 more NKB instructors.

In 1995 I began training in Jook Lum Hakka Mantis and Chu Gar kungfu. Because of some renewed email communication with my Sifu, I received instructor credentials in from him.

Nashville Kettlebell continues to grow.

These are the high points. I am very happy and thankful for the health of the people I love and for the ability to get to do what I do.

Big things are on the horizon. On to 2012. Happy New Year!

I’ve talked about the awesomeness of the swing before here: http://irontamerblog.com/the-month-of-the-swing/

Here are few more thoughts based on a question NKB member Will Gant asked recently.

Why is the swing so effective?

I have mentioned it before, but it is worth repeating.  Alan Calvert, author of the book Super Strength (published in 1924), said the following about the kettlebell swing: “The best exercise for strengthening the back and legs and for teaching them to work together. It takes considerable effort to master it, but it is worth all the trouble because it is one of the fundamentals of super strength. Here are a few of the things you will gain from this exercise: You will learn to instinctively keep your back flat when making a great exertion; you will get a much firmer grip on the ground with your feet; you will learn how to ‘time’ moving a heavy object; you will increase the gripping power of the hands and increase development of the front part of the shoulder muscles.”

A dramatic amount of work can be done safely, effectively and short period of time.  A 16kg swung for 200 reps equals 7200lbs moved.  A relatively new trainee can do this. Obviously more weight, more total reps or a combination in both increases the workload. There aren’t very many other activities that allow this kind of output. Doing that amount of work, especially if the rest periods are short  has a tremendous effect on both strength and endurance.  The swing is an all in one  strength/cardio/metabolic superstar.

The techniques we teach in the RKC for generating tension  allows the person swinging to increase or decrease the amount of force being generated. Master RKC Mark Reifkind refers to this as a “Force magnifier”.   In one force plate study we saw that the weight of the kb at the point where it changes directions on the backswing was several times greater than the actual weight of the kettlebell.  Think of dropping the kettlebell vs. setting it on the ground. There is more force as a result of the movement. Because of this, our 16kg/7200lb example increases based on this virtual force.

The swing teaches the body to work as a single interconnected and coordinated unit and helps you learn the skill of distributing a heavy workload across the entire body.

Combined with good eating habits, swings are an excellent tool for fatloss. In fact, I have not found anything better than swings (and their first cousin, snatches) for body composition changes.  Ask the folks at Nashville Kettlebell.

Better movement, more strength, better body composition.  Let’s swing.

“Which is better: internal focus vs. external focus?” is a pointless argument.  It’s like the old “what is the deadliest martial art?” question.

Different people learn differently and the correct cue is the one that gets the desired response from the individual.

External focus has its place, but in my real-world experience, more people learn NEW skill from internal cues of body alignment, positioning, etc than from loading them up and letting them go. This is true for both elite athletes and general population. After all, we are all humans and we tend to be more similar than different. This includes HOW we learn.

For an intermediate level of skill, once alignment, positioning, breathing, etc are no longer a conscious checklist, the load can teach things that cueing cannot. Here is where external focus becomes more useful.

For refining and improving an existing advanced skill, internal works better. Understanding and feeling the internal workings of your own body is one of the most crucial aspects of deep skill.

My conclusion, based on my own training and my students:  Both are important.

If we focus ONLY on moving the weight from point A to point B, then our body seeks to find the most efficient way to get it done. As weight gets heavier, technique will degrade. If we focus on technique first (internal) then the line of trajectory is more consistently the same and as the weight increases we get stronger in that movement.

Last time in the post about Sifu Louie Jack Man I gave a quick overview of my history and experience with Jook Lum Southern Mantis Kungfu.

Jook Lum Southern mantis was an influence on Okinawan karate and is considered both a soft and a hard style. Sombogin ( translated as 3 steps forward or 3 step arrow) has a great deal in common with Sanchin Kata.

It also has a great deal in common with RKC and Hardstyle methodology. Consider this quote I found in my notes from years before I knew what a kettlebell was:

“In fighting, the breath must fill the body to protect the organs. Like a coffee mug inside an inflated basketball, if you strike the ball you can’t break the cup because of the air pressure surrounding it. The organs are the cup and the body is the ball. Proper breath control protects the internal organs. If you strike when the opponent’s body is deflated you will penetrate the organs. Proper control is to feel the body to about 70 percent capacity. Too full is also dangerous just like over inflating the basketball. When is too full outside pressure will cause the ball to explode.”

Pavel calls this breathing behind the shield. He developed it by studying Okinawan Karate breathing techniques.

“In striking, mantis has 3 ways of controlling the breath.  First is to release light exhalation 5 to 10 percent of your air on impact through the nose. Second is to issue a vocalization up on strike. Third is to hold the breath when striking.”

Three variations of the biomechanical breathing match we teach in RKC.