Shoulder injury how to program Texas Method around it

[ARH]

Male, 23, 105kg

12 weeks of Starting strength
Weight: 110kg --> 105kg
Squat: 3x5@100kg --> 3x5@145kg
Bench: 3x5@80kg --> 3x5@90kg
Deadlift: 1x5@120kg --> 1x5@155kg
Press: 3x5@45kg --> 3x5@67.5kg
Clean: 5x3@50kg --> 5x3@70kg

Last week was my 12th week of SS and after 3 resets and dropping cardio and adding calories I still couldn't add weight on my lifts without compromising form. I was going to finish the 12th week and then move onto texas method.

2nd lift of the week Pressed 67.5kg, felt tough but okay and had no pain during or following, then by the evening (I lift in the morning) I started to get a pain in my left shoulder that go progressively worse, the next day it felt even worse so I iced it and started taking Ibuprofen and decided to not do my 3rd workout of the week but to rest it off until I started Texas, so that would have given it 4 days of rest. I'll just mention here that I do have issues with my left shoulder dislocating very occasionally but I incorperate DieselCrew's shoulder rehab whenever that occurs and I also do Limber 11 and Simple 6 on my non lifting days.

Came to Texas first lift day and everything felt fine, no pain at all in any position and the lifts felt good, got 87.5x5x5 on the bench with no pain at all. Fast forward to lift day 2, the deload day, I pressed 55x5x5, felt fine no pain, finished my workout and then around 2 hours after started to feel this pain again and it got progressively worse over the course of the evening. I have slept it off and it's less painful today but still hurts. It is quite odd though, resting position, raise my arms out in front and behind and mimic press motion there is pain, raise them out to my side the pain goes and if I mimic the position they would get in for the low bar squat all pain goes completely.

After some searching around and rewatching of videos and reading the book again I think that I have my grip too narrow on the press which may have caused a strain but why would it only hurt a few hours after lifting and not immediately? I assume this is due to the muscle warming down and then inflaming

I know it is best to train through an injury and that is what I intend to do but I was wondering what would be the best adaptation to Texas so I can allow my shoulder to heal. My thoughts were to just remove pressing for around 1 week, so I would just bench on volume deload and intensity day, then the following week incorporate the press back in very light on deload day with an altered wider grip to see if that is the issue, then put the press back in week 3.

I apologise for the long post I just wanted to make sure all the information to offer some advice was present.

Any help is greatly appreciated as I am just wanting to do what's best.

ARH

[Tennisgolfboll]

To close grip on press?

Where did you have your index finger and how tall?

[Greg Esres]

You don't describe your pain or its location precisely, so I'll throw out the generic advice to look for trigger points in the muscles of your shoulder, upper arm, upper back. These can cause pain when doing certain movements (and the pain can be referred to other locations) and can cause extra strain on tendons. Use a lacrosse ball work work them out or get a massage therapist.

[ARH]

I am 5'10, I place my middle finger on the inside of the knurl of each side.

Here is were my hand sits on the bar: http://imgur.com/rnEjBN0&NcZo2Rc#1

Here is a picture of my grip width from the front: http://imgur.com/rnEjBN0&NcZo2Rc#0

I used to use a wider grip initially but realised that my forearms were not completely vertical so thought I needed to have my grip closer together to remedy that, now I realise that I can use a wider grip and just need to push my elbows out to the side more to achieve the same result. I have been using the closer grip for around 6 weeks of the 12 with no pain at all, my left arm would go numb occasionally after pressing but my arm also goes numb after I sneeze, the hospital just said it was a nerve that was getting twinged so I assumed it was just that.

I don't have any videos of me pressing from the front only the side, I assume that wouldn't be helpful. I plan on lifting tomorrow, I will try and press the bar and after my workout depending on how my shoulder feels.

The pain when I raise my arms to the front or above my head feels as if it is the top/front of the shoulder whereas if I raise my arms backwards it feels inside the shoulder. Apologies if it is not specific enough, is there any other way I can describe it?

I have been taking Ibuprofen and limiting how much I use my arm as much as I could today and it is already feeling 10x better.

Thanks for the replies everyone

[Tennisgolfboll]

Form check is needed i guess.

You would probably be best served with a grip where your index finger is on the knurl next to the smooth.

[ARH]

Thanks, I definitely think it's the grip width that has caused the injury in the first place. I lifted today around 3pm and it's around 10pm now, I had no pain after the bench, only around 1 hour ago it started aching very slightly.

The question is now, how do I train through this, I think if I go ahead next week and Press volume and intensity days it may make matters worse, would you agree with what I suggested in my original post and bench in place of the press for the next 2 weeks or so and on the deload day try out the new wider grip and see how things feel.

I really appreciate everyone's help and I will be posting some form check videos in the coming week, I train at home alone in my garden so I will have to figure something out when it comes to recording myself.

[Greg Esres]

"The question is now, how do I train through this,"

You will have to experiment. You ought to look for trigger points as I suggested...you may not find any, but it certainly won't hurt to massage your shoulder, upper arm and upper back. If the problem is tendon-related, then ice helps a lot. 20 on, 20 off. It might take multiple sessions.

While I'm sure that it's sometimes necessary to take time off, so far I've been much better served by the techniques above. Once you figure out what helps, be aggressive about the treatment. I hit my elbows with ice after finishing any pressing exercises and it helps prevent a problem from getting started. Taking time off hasn't ever done anything for me, except kill progress.

[Tennisgolfboll]

Trust your instinct. If you think you need time off then do it.

I think that stretching and some technique improvements would be enough to keep going.

[ARH]

Thanks for the advice guys. I am going to keep training through and use the ice treatment along with the lacrosse ball/foam rolling. I did find a trigger point using the ball so I worked the fuck out of that and will continue to do so.

Again thanks for all of the advice!

[Tennisgolfboll]

Your welcome

My trigger points react very well to stretching (better than foam rolling, which seems opposite to most other people though)