sore shoulders

[Kevy_boi]

ive startd to get a sore point in one of my shoulders that has developed over the past week or so swimming.. it nw seems to b happening wen lifting the iron,and has start to happen in the other shoulder and wondering if there is ne way to either stop it..or aid it in healing it with out stopping my work outs.. ive been on a plateau for the past 2-3 weeks and havnt had this problem in the past and am pretty sure its nt the weight of iron im lifting.

[weener lad]

A Little more description on the problem with your shoulder may help. Where it's sore, what type of pain and is it reacting anywhere else?

[Kevy_boi]

sharp pain wen lifting.. um its on the chest side of the joint nt the joint it self bt very close to it.. soz for the bad description of the bones lol i dnt knw mani of them lol :?

[weener lad]

I'm no physio but I've had plenty of shoulder problems. Kind of sounds like something with the subscapularis. Like I said though I'm not a Physio so find an ACC credited one and get it seen to or your training will take a nose dive.

Good luck

[1day]

:oops: im no anything either but cud be that stupid little muscle in shoulder that never gets worked but is so easy to hurt.

if so, try lieing on ur side ,holding a light as dumbell out horizontally with your elbow into ur side and just raise weight up and down(pivoting from elbow but still keeping elbow in to side), (was a tip from nato)might not work or make sence to you, but ive found in the past that this helps when i get that same pain :shifty:

[Android]

:oops: im no anything either but cud be that stupid little muscle in shoulder that never gets worked but is so easy to hurt.

if so, try lieing on ur side ,holding a light as dumbell out horizontally with your elbow into ur side and just raise weight up and down(pivoting from elbow but still keeping elbow in to side), (was a tip from nato)might not work or make sence to you, but ive found in the past that this helps when i get that same pain :shifty:

Ahh the old rotator cuff problem. The achilles heel of weight lifters the world over...

I guess everyone has injury stories to share but hard to say if what we, or I had is the same as yours so I won't pretend to know I can help here mate. I don't have time for physiotherapy though after going to them a few times over 20 years I find them to be useless. Just back off a notch for 3-6 months and change your expectations or goals. Hit your Legs harder over that period in the long run it doesn't matter. then slowly get back into your form again if you can. That's my non-Phd advice for you :-)

Oh and my experience ... collapsed on the floor with a screwed back physio said I was knackered. My lower back was so weakened I couldn't walk out of the gym. I took panadol all weekend and lay on the couch not moving a muscle. If I got up to pee I would get help. By Monday morning i was jumping out of bed and off to work, back into the gym that evening. Deadlifts 2 weeks later bit lighter, all good by 1 month.

Front delts screaming once, after 160kg bench presses for a comp. Physio told me to do rotator cuff exercises I did them for two months and still no joy so I backed off shoulders and did light free weights only to maintain them, for 6 months. Then they just come right after that rest, and 2 years later I do 50kg dumbbell presses, bench press of 170kg one rep, no worries no weakness.

Had an instep soreness when I did calf raises (that really hurts) Physio said I needed expensive shoes and other uncool stuff. Just changed calf raises to lower range only for 6 months and they've been fine can handle 80kg seated calf raises, no niggles.

now...I have a bruise on my palm under a finger joint, it hurts when I go heavy, my self-administered advice is to back off on what aggravates it and find other ways to do my Back exercises. It'll come right and in 6 months won't even remember it. So...I just back off and re-group my way around things like this.

Hope that helps :-)

[boostinggtir]

good advice.

[Kevy_boi]

ty will try this stuff to see if it works

[agent86]

All my shoulder problems have been caused by flat bench presses. Flat benching puts a lot of strain on the front delt and after awhile can cause chronic pain. 4 times I stuffed them doing this exercise and each time it took up to 6 months to come right. I learnt slowly or I just didn't want to give away this exercise.Don't do the exercise that seems to aggravate the pain and just work around it. It might mean you can't do any exercise above shoulder level or can't do side raises. Work out what makes it worse and cut out that exercise till it comes right. Don't push throught the pain as it will make the injury chronic.

I only do incline smith and decline press for chest and don't come right down to the chest. I stop about 6 inches above the chest and this stops the shoulder joint being pulled apart. I don't do flyes too deep as this aggravates the shoulder. On bench I bring the back of shoulders together to put more emphasis on the front delts.

I don't do pull ups or shoulder raise with barbell close grip.

These are things I have discovered cause me grief.

[1day]

.

I only do incline smith and decline press for chest and don't come right down to the chest. I stop about 6 inches above the chest and this stops the shoulder joint being pulled apart. I don't do flyes too deep as this aggravates the shoulder. On bench I bring the back of shoulders together to put more emphasis on the front delts.

I don't do pull ups or shoulder raise with barbell close grip.

These are things I have discovered cause me grief.

:-s ur idea of 'grief' just sounds like my idea of 'hardwork' :pfft:

remember " no pain, no gain"!! :naughty:

[Kevy_boi]

“Welcome to The Pain Zone, This is Where We Live “

- Tom Platz

[Varven]

Be VERY careful with flat benches. Its a great strenght and size builder in the begining but once you start moving heavy heavy stuff, its always the source of pec and deltoid injuries.

Check out the number of pros and guys trying to become pros with torn pecs from flat benching... check out professional muscle..e very other week someone there blows a pec usually benching 150 - 160 kg upwards...

I think body builders doing reps on flat bench with heavy weights should sooner than later swap it for inclines, declines, db's and machines.

Unless they bench like powerlifters where you are less likely to tear a pec...

[Kevy_boi]

well i think im doin a flat bench.. bt yeah i only do bout 35 kgs so would that cause some of the problem?

[agent86]

Flat bench press has always caused me problems but usually when I get heavy say 100-120kg. Overuse of the flat bench can cause shoulder pain just in front of the joint but I have also injured the rear of the joint once.

If you have shoulder pain I would say try substituting incline smith machine for awhile.

It is easy to say it is a weak person that doesn't push through the pain but the fact is if you injure yourself then you just waste a lot of training time. Better to train smart and keep in the gy than allow the ego to take over and end up injured. U would build up to 120kg bench and then feel soreness in the shoulders. Instead of stopping I would push through the pain and end up crippled for months.

Flat bench is always looked on as the bodybuilder's favourite exercise and people always ask "how much can you bench?"

You have to see what exercise hurts your shoulder but flat bench press is a common cause of shoulder injury.

Shoulder flexibility can be a problem so there are various stretching exercises that can help. One is to hold a wooden pole in front of you with a wide grip. Then take it over your head and down your back still holding the pole wide. Bring it up your back and over the head to the front . Repeat this 50 times to stretch the shoulder.

[vracula]

.Don't do the exercise that seems to aggravate the pain and just work around it. It might mean you can't do any exercise above shoulder level or can't do side raises. Work out what makes it worse and cut out that exercise till it comes right. Don't push throught the pain as it will make the injury chronic.

perfect advice!i had the same issue with barbell curls,i just don't do it anymore?I use the ez bar instead.i dont miss it one bit!

[Varven]

That ex agent 86 rocks... I did 20 reps every day for 2 weeks and it sorted out my issues.

I now use it as a preventative measure.

Both my ART and Physio have asked me to lay off the benches.. they reckon nearly 3/4ths of men they get with injuries in shoulders are from flat benching usually. ....

heaps of other stuf you can grow on.. incline and decline smyths, dbs, dips, etc

[agent86]

Yes I too no longer do straight bar curls as it ruins my elbow joint. I use the EZ Curl Bar. For tricep pushdowns I use a bent bar for the same reason.

[KING LEONIDUS]

Used to have the exact same problem man with my rotator cuff..Started of as just a niggle that would occur sometimes whilst training shoulders..On different occasions the pinch would get a little stronger and sometimes force me to withdraw from further training..I found that thorough stretching routines before and after shoulder workouts helped alot and eventually the pinch in my shoulder went away.

[knock knock]

Is it safe to do dumbbell flat bench instead barbell?

[Creatine]

Powerlifting style bench pressing is a lot safer than bodybuilding style. Keep shoulder blades together, keep weight on traps instead of shoulder blades and tuck elbows. I think its mostly the flaring of the elbows, in bodybuilding style benching, that causes injuries, because of the rotation the shoulder goes through when your lifting heavy. Add weak rotator cuffs to the mix and you up you chances of getting injured.

Sometimes injuries come from weaknesses in other muscle groups. When muscles fail to do their job, either due to weakness or poor technique, other muscles must pick up the slack and if the ones taking up the slack aren't up to it, you can injure them. An example is people who have lower back issues due to weak hammies and glutes(or activation issues) when deadlifting. I read in another forum of someone who had issues with their shoulders during bench, and was fixed by bringing up their triceps and adjusting technique.

Technique and weaknesses can easily be eliminated as a cause by just getting someone experienced to watch your form, or if your experienced yourself and know your form is good, and you don't have any weaknesses that may cause injury, then you can look down other avenues.

[vegas_warrior_nz]

I get a bit of pain in my right anterior deltoid and I am guessing shoulder joint and I get it from doing flat bench press,

A doctor at a gym I was training at told me that if your elbows go past horizontal it shifts all the weight from your pecs to your deltoids,

But then again i see alot of BIG guys at the gym taking the weight alot lower to almost or actually touching their chests....

I wonder if not taking the bar down so low might help you out?

[orange]

He might mean horizontal as in having your elbows out wide. If you keep your elbows in close to your body you lower the weight using your triceps and press it up using your chest. As you get into your set and more tired you can see your elbows moving out wider to bring in your delts for support.

[musclenz]

All wide grip bench, chins, lat pulls, military press, & behind the neck press impact heavily on the shoulder joint & rotators. If you are having problems in the shoulder, its a good idea to bring your elbows & hands in on these lifts & in say lat pulls & military press, reverse the grip. Where a reasonably severe impingement has occurred, your ROM can be shortened to allow partial lifts to be performed, which can help strengthen the joint & keep size in place. As discussed ^^^ dont push past the pain barrier as the shoulder joint & rotators are complex & further damage is easily done. A program of rotator cuff exercises should be started & done before shoulder & chest workouts.

[lazyeye]

im always a fan of fixing the problem in the first place

i work with a lot of people with bad shoulders, its often the same thing...poor internal/external rotation at the shoulder, weak scapula rectractors/depressors, serratus anterior and shoulder external rotators

fix all those and your not left with many real problems, only the cartiledge issue guys, and most of them can benifit from the above anyway

[agent86]

I get a bit of pain in my right anterior deltoid and I am guessing shoulder joint and I get it from doing flat bench press,

A doctor at a gym I was training at told me that if your elbows go past horizontal it shifts all the weight from your pecs to your deltoids,

But then again i see alot of BIG guys at the gym taking the weight alot lower to almost or actually touching their chests....

I wonder if not taking the bar down so low might help you out?

What he says is correct and I have been only benching so my arms don't go below parallel. I tried to do dumbell press on a heavy weight and the weight went below parallel. On trying to push the weight at this angle I damaged the Anterior Deltoid quite badly again.

This is about the 4th time I have hurt the rear delt doing bench and it has always been through going low. Should have learnt my lesson.