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Hi I am currently working through many of Kit's stretches in an attempt to correct years of mindless strength work and heal the many niggles that has come along with such a regime. I think that most of my issues will resolve with more mobility, however, I have one problem with my elbow that I'm not sure how to deal with and was hoping for some advise. The problem is a clicking elbow on pushing movements, particularly dips, and worst on bench dips where your hands are behind you. It's not a painful click, but it does get sore after repeated popping; it really seems like something is catching? I didn't think this was a problem, but then I came across someone on the gymnastic bodies forum who has exactly the same issue as me and the (less than helpful!) reply from Christopher Sommer: Hello! For about a month now the joint on the inside of my left elbow has been popping with almost all pushing movements. The three exercises that make it act up the worse are dips, bodyweight triceps extensions, and pushups. It only pops on the negative portion of the rep, when, when my elbow forms a 90 degree angle. It is not an extremely painful popping, but rather uncomfortable. It happens on 90% of the reps. Is there a way to fix this, because it is rather uncomfortable and the elbow does become sore due to the repeated popping/snapping? Thanks! Sam Sam, - Excuse me for being direct, but it was quite foolish to continue these movements for a month when you were repeatedly experiencing elbow issues from performing them. - You will now need to rest the elbows for at least several weeks. There are no shortcuts. When imprudent decisions are made, there is no escaping the price that must be paid. Next time, check your ego at the door. - Triceps extensions are a terrible exercise choice for someone with sensitive elbows; discontinue them immediately. - Focus on building up to pain free pushups first. Then and only then should you proceed on to working dips. Yours in Fitness, Coach Sommer He gives no information on how to build up to pain-free push-ups! Anyway, I am wondering if this is a mobility problem, and if so, how does one go about trying to rectify it? All the best, Aaron

Dear Kit, I have a shoulder niggle that I am hoping you could help me with. I am currently working through your "Master the Squat" series to complement the gymnastic bodies foundation course that I'm also working at; my flexibility is pretty shocking, which is severely limiting my progression through the gymnastics. The most concerning aspect of my mobility to me is my shoulders: I experience a very specific click with pain through certain movements; not a normal joint click, but a more soft tissue pop which is quite uncomfortable and becomes more uncomfortable with repetition of the specific movement. Before I provide you with more detail, I think it might be useful to give some information on my background and the series of events which I believe has led me here--please bear with me! I am a 30 year-old male, and like most men, have a few years of unstructured weight lifting (especially bench press!) coupled with no stretching under my belt. At the age of about 25 I transitioned to bodyweight training, specifically progressions on the rings with the help of Christopher Sommer's "Building the Gymnastic Body" along with a lot of pull-up, dip, and press-up variations, again with no mobility. About 2 to 3 years later I had to stop such a regime due to the development of left shoulder pain (deep in the side of the deltoid, but not the one that now gives me grief) which was diagnosed as trigger points in my rotator cuff and treated with soft tissue work; this has largely disappeared, but if it gets sore then I know what to do. After all this I decided to start from scratch and develop the desired strength with some direction from someone who knew what they were doing. I managed to find a children's gymnastic coach who was willing to give me one-to-one sessions; he correctly identified my severe lack of flexibility as a major issue and set about helping me rectify this with various mobility drills and stretching. However, one of these drills was shoulder dislocates on a stick; he pushed me pretty hard on these and even manually helped me if I couldn't get round at a certain width of grip. Needless to say, after a few weeks my right shoulder began to hurt during the movement and soon after it was accompanied by a kind of click. I came to the conclusion that he was treating me like he treats his much more flexible and mobile 8 year-old students and so I stopped going, and instead started Sommer's foundation course which was specifically geared toward adults. I did have a few months rest before starting GST and went to see a physio, but the rest didn't cure it and the physio didn't really have any ideas. That brings me up to the present, where, in any motion in which my right arm is behind me--for example, trying to do as wide an arc as I can with my arm--as I'm coming back round I get that painful pop, it seems to happen on the front of my shoulder on the boney part. The exercise which really highlights my issue, however, is the so-called "Stiff Leg Windmill" ( ); somewhere near the bottom of this movement reliably makes my shoulder hurt and click, so reliably I had to modify it greatly to progress! Sorry for the rambling, but I hope it gives you enough information to help me if you have the time, any advice would be most appreciated. I would also like to hear your thoughts on courses such as GST as it doesn't seem to be helping my shoulder; there are shoulder dislocates on the horizon, and to be honest, I am dreading them! All the best, Aaron