01 Sep Tucker: Shoulders and hips

I’ve learned some more neat stuff over the last couple weeks! I’ve been working on all these little muscles and stabilizers, and it’s become apparent just how asymmetrical my body was. 

From doing my rotator cuff work I’ve seen that my right shoulder (bad shoulder and bad elbow side) was constantly pushed forward in the socket, and all the rotator cuffs as well as the rhomboids, Teres major etc weren’t doing their job in keeping my shoulder back and snug in its place. My elbow is getting better as I improve my shoulder, so that’s very encouraging.

I’ve been working on my hip doing lots of internal and external rotations, just like for my shoulders, and after getting them warm I’ve practiced a lot of squats and I’m seeing how on my left side (bad knee side) my foot/ankle were weak and unable to root or grip the ground, and my hip is jammed and rotated….. No wonder everything was hurting so much!

I’d imagine most people are like this in some way though, and this just goes to show that everyone should be putting just as much thought and focus into their warm up and prehab for their individual issues as they do for their actual training session.

Rotator cuffs:

internal and external rotations , side to side and up and down

Small abductions and adductions trying to focus on engaging the rotator cuffs and keep the shoulder head in the socket

Light presses and pulls to practice engaging the muscles in full ROM

Hips:

Internal and external rotations with my thigh flush with my torso, and bent at 90 degrees

Small abductions and adductions trying to focus on engaging the hips flexors, glutes and tiny muscles in connecting to the hip socket.

Light squats practicing gripping the floor and engaging my hips more evenly to take stress off the knee

Everything has been going really well so far. Whenever I find something new it seems so daunting to find a way to get it to work the way it’s supposed to, or get the muscle to engage… but somehow after a couple weeks of practice it gets better and a new layer is added. It may take a while yet, but I’m learning a ton about my body and I’m having a fun time.

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Tucker Loken

Tucker Loken is a Bodybuilder turned Powerlifter turned Powerbuilder from Eugene, Oregon. He did his first bodybuilding show when he was still in high school, and has been training male and female competitors for shows since 2011. Several years ago he decided to take a step away from his normal routine and learn how to get strong. He worked with Brian for 9 months, added 200 pounds to his raw total and qualified as an Elite lifter in the 220 pound weight class. He returned back to bodybuilding much stronger and now incorporates the 10/20/Life philosophy into his training to keep himself healthy and making continual progress in the Big 3 as well as adding size and shaping his physique. Now part of Team PRS, he brings his unique expertise of nutritional knowledge and how to balance Bodybuilding with Powerlifting to help athletes achieve their best potential.

Latest posts by Tucker Loken (see all)

• Tucker: Another Normal Log Update - March 1, 2019
• Tucker: A Normal Log Update - February 16, 2019
• Tucker: Making Do - February 4, 2019