In 2014 I had a slip and fall accident which resulted in a 5cm full tear of my left rotator. I went to PT for 3 months at the end of which I still had quite a bit of inflammation, limited ROM and was quite weak.
Went back to the gym and my bench and presses were shit. Pain kept me from making much progress. My shoulder would get to a position where it would want to lock up and I was pretty down about things. The repaired shoulder got worse over time to the point that even grabbing a box of cereal from the pantry shelf caused this locking. I thought that at my age, 52 at the time, this was just going to be one of those things I had to live with.
Then I tore the other rotator. And thank God I did, because it was right around this time I saw the video you posted about your shoulder rehab.
As soon as the doc ok'd me for PT after the surgery I decided to give your method a shot.
I had to bastardize it a bit because my gym doesn't have rings so I started with a 7' dowel, then a 35# bar. The first time I put weight on a 45# bar I dumped it (a pair of 5s) because my left shoulder (the one I spent 3 months rehabbing) locked.
The recently repaired shoulder was weak, but otherwise fine. Some pain, but no locking.
I had to adjust my presses to be a little bit more elbows forward than normal because of this locking, and I couldn't bench because I couldn't unrack, but I kept at it.
When my press hit 125# I had to reset, but right about that time a funny thing happened. I noticed that most of my pain in both shoulders was gone. It really snuck up on me. There was still some soreness after pressing, but the locking was nearly gone. So I added some lighter incline bench presses to the mix. I chose inclines because the ROM from rack to ready is smaller and I was still pretty unsure of my shoulder.
After my reset I worked up to a 135# press. And then I had knee surgery, but that's another story.
It was my goal to hit 135# before scheduling the knee surgery. Doesn't sound like a lot of weight, and it's not. I have pressed more. But with the surgeries / atrophy and my age, that was my goal. And I managed to get my bench up to 210# as a bonus. Really, not impressibe numbers but the weight isn't the story... the pain, or lack of, is.
So thanks. It helped. A lot. I can grab a box of cereal off the shelf any damn time I want to now.
