Yet another testimonial and grateful thank-you here, Rip.

I've had shoulder issues for a *long* time - related to millions of pushups in karate class as a teen, some hard falls in judo in my twenties, and lifting with poor technique in my thirties. My issues usually took the form of tendinitis with embarrassingly loud crepitus.

Two years ago I did something to my right shoulder, I still can't pin down what caused it exactly, but I was concerned that I'd torn my rotator cuff - I couldn't even open a door forward with my right arm. A visit to the local sports doc who supposedly works with the pro and college athletes in town suggested my RC was intact, but I had a nasty case of tendinitis in there. I got a cortisone shot and advice to skip weights for a while (I had already dropped lifting for 3-4 weeks prior) and do some PT to strengthen my shoulder. Fair enough, I didn't know any better. I did my PT - some wall pushups, light db work from weird angles, wax-on wax-off, etc. Progress was slooowwww, but about 5-6 months after I first experienced pain (2 months with the PT, the rest was following the exercises on my own at home), it seemed all better.

Fast forward to this year, been following SS as a 40 year old and making thrilling (to me) progress. Again, something happened somewhere (but I'm relatively sure it wasn't at the gym, maybe lifting my kid or s/t), and now my left shoulder was killing me - it was damn near identical to my right shoulder a few years back, I couldn't open a door or lift things with my arm extended horizontally without significant discomfort. I did all the diagnostic tests to make sure I didn't have an injured RC, and I was fairly ready to bet it was tendinitis again. I didn't want to stop lifting and do PT for 6 months if it wasn't necessary, so I decided to follow what I've read in SS, PP, and on here.

Prior to the pain my best press work set was 145 3x5, and so after a 2 week vacation interruption, I started at the bar (very, very conservative, I know) and just added 10 pounds per session for about a month or so. I pressed twice every week (M-F), with bench just on W so I could get a little more pressing in. I had some mild pain near the bottom when coming down, but it actually felt good when I got to full extension. Yesterday I did 135 3x5, and not only was there zero pain in the exercise, I noticed that over the last 2-3 nights, I felt no pain while sleeping and rolling on to that shoulder. None. Of course, I'm going to slow the weight addition to the much smaller jumps the program recommends (I think I'm still in novice phase, no need to get creative yet).

Better via one month of lifting vs. better via 6 months of PT - how this is not the standard of care is beyond me. And I suspect that based on some of what I've read, had I been less conservative I might have gotten pain-free even faster (e.g., starting at s/t like 95 or 105 or more and moving up from there).

Thanks for advocating what really works and sharing it with us all. I'm ready to get back on track and pursue that bodyweight press...