The Kettlebell Snatch - for Shoulder REHAB?
“The King-Sized Killer”
https://cart.chasingstrength.com/ksk2
“Systematic Core Training For Kettlebells”
https://salutis.kartra.com/page/systematic-core-training
Yeah, I bet that sounds crazy, doesn’t it?
Most people think that the kettlebell Snatch can DESTROY shoulders NOT rehab them.
And yet - behold this forum post which we’ll put up here on the screen:
So to quote Slim Pickens from Blazing Saddles, “What in the Wide Wide World of Sports is going on here?”
Well, the Snatch is like a scalpel - a tool.
Used correctly in the right hands, it can be used to facilitate healing.
Used incorrectly, and in the wrong hands, it can be used to “destroy.” (As in tearing the long head of the biceps tendon, for example.)
How exactly does this work?
Well, admittedly, I rarely talk about this because it is just so misunderstood. But I have been using the Snatch to rehab shoulders since the late 1990s.
The Snatch is basically an accelerated form of the PNF (Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation - a rehab system) D2 flexion / extension (D= Diagonal) pattern.
Here’s what it looks like:
Look at the yellow highlights - “D2 Extension” and “D2 Flexion.”
That’s essentially the Snatch.
Now, back in the late 90s up to the mid-2000s, we’d do this after we’d done a BUNCH of D1 Flexion-Extension work and other exercises:
1 Arm Rows
Single Leg Deadlifts
2 Arm Chops + Lifts
Presses
Lunge & Reaches
… To name but 4 or 5 exercises.
THEN and ONLY THEN would I ever have someone Snatch.
So, there were checkpoints a person had to pass through to qualify to do the Snatch. And honestly, not everyone made it there.
These days, those exercises still absolutely work, but they should be done on top of a foundation of core restoration training - especially deep abdominal core work.
(Interestingly, @Denys is also doing that too along with KSK.)
And that’s because the shoulders often lose flexion (arm over your head) and external rotation - think about making a Y and then drop your elbows down so they’re at 90 degrees so your left arm, plus your head, plus your right arm look almost like a 3 prong rake or a really wide W -
When you spend a lot of time sitting, which most of us do.
As a result, your head drops forward, which decreases your ability to take a deep breath and limits the function of your diaphragm.
From there, your body over-recruits your accessory respiratory muscles - your scalenes (primarily) found in your neck.
This makes your neck and shoulders tighten up over time.
Your shoulders roll forward and your pecs (your chest) and your lats (your back - the Pull Up muscles) get tight.
As a result, you lose shoulder flexion and external rotation.
What about @Denys’s hip and back?
It’s really the same.
Address the core dysfunction, repattern and reprogram your body’s natural neural pathways, and then add load to it - in @Denys’s case - the Snatch.
Stay Strong,
Geoff
P.S. Here’s @Denys’s post:
https://www.strongfirst.com/community/threads/i-think-geoff-neuperts-snatch-program-is-rehabbing-my-shoulders-hip-and-back.27532/