I'm hoping there's at least one weight-training vet tech or vet assistant out there who can help me out with this. And if you're not a tech, please help anyway...my shoulders are collapsing
. It's a two-part question...
Dear Fellow Vet Techs,
I need help figuring out which weight training exercises are most beneficial to us. Meaning, those that help to increase the strength we need when lifting (and more importantly)
restraining BIG dogs. It's obviously going to be a focus on shoulder, upper back, and bicep work, but does anyone have any specific exercises that they do that have helped with lifting and restraint? Is there a webpage or something out there that lists beneficial exercises for techs?
and...
Dear Everyone Out There Who Lifts,
Here's one specific problem I've had lately -- and anyone who can give me help with this can have my first-born child or the first million $$ I make, whichever comes first
.
Last Thursday, I was restraining a very strong Golden Retriever on the table as the vet drained a cyst on his belly. I was in the normal restraint position for a dog that needs to stay standing; meaning my left arm was up at a slightly-more-than-90-degree angle from my shoulder, bent at the elbow, and wrapped around the dog's chest. My right arm was under his belly and wrapped up around the other side of him (I hope that makes sense). The goals being: (1) don't let him fly forward and jump off the table, and (2) keep him standing up despite his desire to sit or lie down. This Golden was 95 lbs if he was an ounce. And I was in that position for
45 minutes. And as you can imagine, he was struggling for a good portion of that time -- after all, who
wouldn't struggle if some guy was poking at them with a needle for 3/4 of an hour? Plus, I think he was getting really very bored. I know I was
.
Anyway, I got home and could barely use my left shoulder (or my right wrist, for that matter) for about 24 hours...
Now, I've been weight training for 3 years, so I'm no weakling. But what MORE can I do to strengthen (particularly) my shoulders? IS there an exercise that can improve one's ability to hold their arm out at a slightly-more-than-90-degree angle?
And just to make this all a bit more interesting...I tore my rotator cuff about 10 years ago. And didn't know it. And then a year or so later, the pain was so bad that I finally went to a doctor who shrugged and said, "Just don't use that arm anymore" (nice). Needless to say, it didn't heal properly...
.
Any tips before I start cruising the internet to find a doctor who'll perform a bionic shoulder transplant?
Thanks