Get or find a gym with a safety squat bar if you can't high bar. Start pressing a broomstick until you can lock it out, then a light bar, then THE bar, and so on.
The advice Comrade Wolf gave you before all still seems relevant.
Member
Subacromial Impingement, involving the Supraspinatus Tendon
Finally went to see a physio about my shoulder pain
- discussed, briefly, here: http://startingstrength.com/resource...ad.php?t=56589
Which prevents me from doing: squats (can't use right arm/shoulder to hold barbell); presses; chins; pull ups (due to limited movement of arm above head); and is having some effect upon my bench, although not too much...
I'm not having much luck finding stuff on it - I had to ask the physio to write it down as I didn't recognise any of it.
Could anyone here give me a translation? What is one of those in layman's terms?
And does anyone have any experience of it?
And finally, if anyone has any programming ideas - I've been trying to do chins, pulls, etc with some discomfort and physio has told me to steer clear for now. How do you program for no squats and limited shoulder movement?..
Thanks guys.
Starting Strength Coach
Get or find a gym with a safety squat bar if you can't high bar. Start pressing a broomstick until you can lock it out, then a light bar, then THE bar, and so on.
The advice Comrade Wolf gave you before all still seems relevant.
Member
Thanks, Nick.Originally Posted by Nick Delgadillo
I would have posted in that thread, but it was closed. Yes, Mr Wolf gave some good advice but at that time I didn't have a name for the injury and I was still doing stuff I've now been advised not to do. I may even have to drop the bench for a while. And the physio has told me not to raise my arms above my head at all, if possible, which kind of rules out your suggestions - much as I appreciate them.
As for a safety bar, I've never seen one in any gym. I get the general sense, from this forum and elsewhere, that the UK is poorly supplied and provided for, in terms of barbell and strength related equipment, so a lot of what is more freely available in the US is sparse here. My recent attempt to purchase a decent belt in the UK is further evidence of that... I've never seen a prowler either.
Any further thoughts or suggestions much appreciated.
Starting Strength Coach
If I was in your situation, I'd press overhead.
How are you going to get a cup/plate/whatever out of your high cabinets in your kitchen? I hope you don't have anything you need in a closet that's higher than eye level. Take a moment to think about how silly it is for a "physio" to tell you to not raise your arms.
Member
I can't press overhead.
And to be fair to the physio, I do still have my left arm to get cups/plates etc from high cabinets, if necessary. And the physio didn't tell me not to raise my arms, they told me not to weighted excercises (repeated movements) that might aggravate the shoulder injury, such as those requiring my arms to be above my head.
Starting Strength Coach
Can't yet. Have you just resolved yourself to never raising your right arm again? Don't you see how that's a problem. I'm not saying you need to be breaking personal bests, but you need to press. Again, if it was me, I'd press a stick. If I couldn't lock out the stick, I'd keep doing it until I could. Then I'd do more. Stress-recovery-adaptation.
If you're doing things properly, you won't be damaging or impinging the shoulder. I thought this was common knowledge around this corner of the internet at this point. I think a read of the article about my pal, Brian Jones, would help you get your mind right.
http://startingstrength.com/index.ph...b#.VUPXbJI4nTY
Member
Subacromial impingement!!!! Welcome to the club!
I had some nasty bone spurs due to the above condition taken out back in August. My left arm was pretty useless for a couple weeks but I started physical therapy the day after surgery.
Do you have anything that needs to be taken out of your shoulder or do you have any injury that needs to be repaired? Did you get an MRI?
Anywho, once you figure that out; you'll probably want to figure out if you need to get that work done or not. Either way, after you figure that out and/or get the work done, just work on restoring range of motion to your shoulder. Chill out on the big loading of the shoulder and get some of the basics working properly (like internal rotation, external rotation, range of motion overhead, abduction and adduction). Keep deadlifting. It is possibly the best exercise for stabilizing the shoulder joint. Start working on back work too (like rows, pulldowns, machine back work, etc.). Work within the pain range but gradually try to nudge your progress further. When you have decent overhead range of motion passively (like you can lay down flat with your arms overhead) and without much pain, start the overhead press with a stick or an umbrella or something light. Add weight slowly and consistently. You really have to stay on top of all this regularly and aggressively for it to get where you want it to be which is pain free and strong.
I know that people here don't like PT's but find a good PT (or two) and see if you can get some sessions. They will show you some things that really do help make you start moving in the right direction. Some of the stuff will be fluff but a lot of it is good. The added plus is that they will work on your shoulder while you just lay there and take it. Stuff like that helps to get you loosened up and back in the swing of things quicker than you could on your own. Maybe your physio could refer you to one but make sure you take a look on your own too.
After you are all healed up, make sure you don't neglect regular maintenance work. Healing doesn't mean that your problem is gone. It means that you can now move on from the problem. You still have to keep your problem happy by doing regular care for your shoulder. Don't abuse it, or you will be right where you started.
Good luck and take care of that shoulder.
As for squats, get a manta ray. Put it on the bar. If you can't reach back yet to do high bar, use straps to hold on that way and keep the bar in the manta ray. I got back into squatting this way when I couldn't reach back to the bar and I finally got my arm out of the sling.
Starting Strength Coach
I don't have a problem with PT's. I have a problem with idiots. Idiots with some "gravitas" to their opinion like doctors, PTs, etc, I especially don't like. We have some excellent Staff Coaches and Starting Strength Coaches who are also excellent PTs. They're not idiots and if they weren't SSCs, I suspect I'd still have a high opinion of them for that reason.
Member
[QUOTE]Can't yet. Have you just resolved yourself to never raising your right arm again? Don't you see how that's a problem. I'm not saying you need to be breaking personal bests, but you need to press. Again, if it was me, I'd press a stick. If I couldn't lock out the stick, I'd keep doing it until I could. Then I'd do more. Stress-recovery-adaptation.
If you're doing things properly, you won't be damaging or impinging the shoulder. I thought this was common knowledge around this corner of the internet at this point. I think a read of the article about my pal, Brian Jones, would help you get your mind right.[/[QUOTE]
Did I say I was resolved to never raising my right arm again? That would be stupid.
Sorry man, but I'm baffled by your replies. I think my posts are quite easy to read, but you seem to be completely misreading me and making some bizarre assumptions. And on top of that, you're advising me to do exactly the wrong thing.
As for Brian, yes, I'm familiar with him - but having chatted with him in the past, when I snapped my achilles tendon. I followed his progress in his log and he was always cautious about doing anything that might cause further problems. I think you're misreading him, too, to be honest. From past experience, I know he wouldn't advise me to do something foolish that would damage my recovery either.
It looks like you're an SS coach yourself, quite honestly I don't think you should be giving advice on something you clearly know nothing about. If I was stupid enough to take your advice there's a good chance I could make it even worse. Shame on you. I came to the Coaches forum for good sense not bro-science.
Thanks Dwayne, that was a really helpful post. You clearly understand the problem I'm facing. I don't know about surgery just yet, as I've only just had it diagnosed - in fact, I've had it for quite a while now - but like an idiot, I thought I could just 'exercise my way through it'. Since seeing the physio and stopping a bunch of movements it's aching a lot less, so I'm hopeful that resting it - rather than working it - and some more sessions with the physio will get me on the road to recovery.
You're right about deadlift. It seems counter intuitive, but that's one movement where I have absolutely no problem at all. In fact, I'm now within 5-10kg of my PB!
If you have any links to the kind of movements you're talking about I'd be glad to see them.
Thanks a lot, Dwayne, for posting with your experience. You've been very helpful.
Starting Strength Coach
You're on a strength training forum asking for programming advice regarding your shoulder issue. I've responded as a strength coach based on my experience dealing with people with the very same issue as you and also told you what I would do if I was in your situation. Maybe that's broscience, but you're on a strength training forum. We're not your doctor and I can only assume you're here to get our opinions. In my experience as a non-doctor, broscience spouting, shitty Starting Strength Coach, I can tell you that what you're telling us here as your interpretation of what the physio said is bullshit.
Dwayne didn't say much that was contradictory to what I said or what Wolf told you a while back. I guess he was just more accommodating.
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