Obstacle Mud Runner - issue 08

22 obstaclemudrunner.co.uk ForEliteAtheletes toFunRunners RACE : STRENGTH grip strength and shoulder stability Shoulder stabilisation In this edition I’d like to address the importance of Shoulder girdle stabilisation and the effect it has on hand muscle strength. Obstacle course racing, as you already know, requires you to have good grip strength for obstacles like monkey bars, rope climbs, olympic rings, and rigs etc.. and if you want to complete every obstacle you come up against (with no penalty loops or burpees!) then grip strength becomes important to you. Training grip/hand strength in isolation with things like chin ups, farmers walks, bouldering, dead hangs, finger boards, hex holds etc is all great but consider that you’re only as strong as your weakest link, and there’s a little bit more to grip strength than just hanging from a bar for a few minutes. Que The Shoulder Girdle... The shoulder girdle is made up of 2 main bones, the end of the upper arm bone called the (humerus) and the shoulder blade,(scapula). Surrounding these bones are a group of muscles and ligaments. When these muscles & ligaments get stretched & pulled tight (usually from poor posture and over use), they’ll likely lose a lot of their strength & endurance, which in turn has a direct impact on grip strength. The relationship between grip strength and shoulder strength. There’s a direct correlation between grip strength and shoulder stability, and how stable your shoulder girdle is, is going to play a huge role in how strong your grip is going to be. Don’t take my word for it though, in a study published back in 2014 by Isokinetics and Exercise Science Journal , hand grip strength in 20 healthy volunteers was measured weekly over 6 weeks. The volunteers were split into 2 groups, a training group and a control group. In the training group, the exercises consisted of specific dynamic neuromuscular stabilisation (DNS) performed five times per week. The exercises were designed to obtain maximum joint stability. At the end of the 6 weeks, subjects in the training group showed significant improvements in hand muscle strength to that of the control group. Pretty interesting, right? We can conclude from these findings that strengthening the shoulder girdle with dynamic neuromuscular stabilisation (DNS) will almost certainly have a positive effect on your grip strength. It will also help you out with other exercises that you might be struggling with right now such as pull ups, chin ups & dead lifts. Dynamic neuromuscular stabilisation is fundamentally holding ‘positions’ as opposed to doing repetitions, when you hold positions statically you’ll improve the endurance of the muscle which in turn will develop stability, strong stable shoulders = improved grip, and improved grip = completing obstacles first time. Right is one DNS exercise I prescribe to many of my athletes and coaching clients who need to regain shoulder function and stability again. This is after initial assessment of shoulder girdle function. Final thoughts… Courage starts with addressing our weaknesses and we’re only as strong as our weakest link, if you’re struggling with grip strength or want to improve it, then consider that it might not necessarily be a grip problem, nor is ‘doing more grip work’ the answer either. It’s very likely that it could be a shoulder function problem and you’ll need to improve on your shoulder mobility & strength too. Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus, Subscap and Rotator cuff are all likely be weak in the shoulder and lacking in endurance. Get these muscles stronger and more durable and you’ll be well on your way to improving your shoulder strength, which in turn will help your grip out on those tougher skill based obstacles. Sure, train your grip in isolation too, go bouldering, dead hang from a bar and those finger boards, do those farmers walks & ‘hex holds’ but don’t forget that your shoulder function will nearly always dictate things. If your shoulders are grumbling at you, (e.g niggling injuries, soreness), send them some love, and in return they’ll send you some back. ... and the affects it has on hand muscle strength By Sam Winkworth