Nagging shoulder pain

[Eric Schexnayder]

Back in October 2020 I was training heavy Press singles to prepare for a meet. I believe that during one of these heavy singles I injured my right shoulder. I’ve had a slight, occasionally sharp then lasting dull pain in that general area ever since.

So, going on several months now the pain is still there. Hard to say if it’s gotten significantly better.

The pain is distracting during squats, presses, and benches, but it’s not crippling by any means. Just uncomfortable when it sets on and is then somewhat dull for a minute or two.

I don’t expect a diagnosis over the internet but am wondering if this is indicative of a small injury that will just take a long time to go away or possibly a sign of something I should get checked out.

Thanks in advance.

[Will Morris]

Back in October 2020 I was training heavy Press singles to prepare for a meet. I believe that during one of these heavy singles I injured my right shoulder. I’ve had a slight, occasionally sharp then lasting dull pain in that general area ever since.

So, going on several months now the pain is still there. Hard to say if it’s gotten significantly better.

The pain is distracting during squats, presses, and benches, but it’s not crippling by any means. Just uncomfortable when it sets on and is then somewhat dull for a minute or two.

I don’t expect a diagnosis over the internet but am wondering if this is indicative of a small injury that will just take a long time to go away or possibly a sign of something I should get checked out.

Thanks in advance.

Coming from someone who spends virtually his entire professional life dealing with people who have similar complaints, if you came to me, I'd be able to pin down at least a structure that might be causing the pain....but that's about it. Any treatment I prescribe is basically going to be normal training with whatever modifications needed to be made to allow you to train at the highest possible capacity. For shoulder nagging "injuries" like this, I have found tempo work to be especially helpful.

[Eric Schexnayder]

Coming from someone who spends virtually his entire professional life dealing with people who have similar complaints, if you came to me, I'd be able to pin down at least a structure that might be causing the pain....but that's about it. Any treatment I prescribe is basically going to be normal training with whatever modifications needed to be made to allow you to train at the highest possible capacity. For shoulder nagging "injuries" like this, I have found tempo work to be especially helpful.

Hi Will, sorry for the delayed response. I must have missed your post in the noise of the new posts. I really do appreciate your response.

So it sounds like just continue to train through it only modifying what needs to be for "comfort". No indication for a more serious intervention.

As far as the tempo work, I've previously used your recommendation to do tempo squats to rehab some hip tendonitis and it was very successful. Should I do the same thing for both Bench and Press? For the Press, should I try to keep it strict? I imagine tempo-ing the lean back would be very difficult.

And I believed you'd prescribed 5 sets of 3 at a 3-1-2 tempo. Same thing here?

Thanks again!

[Will Morris]

It is very difficult to tempo a press. This is the one exception to that rule. For the overhead press, I do them normal speed but I do repeated doubles on them.

Comfort is a loaded term. I prefer to think about it as " do them at the heaviest load that will still allow you to move the way you desire to move". It may be uncomfortable, but if you can move properly, you are likely good to go.

Yeah, 4-5 sets of triples at 3-1-2 is a good place to start, and I chop that down to 2-0-1, then back to regular tempo.