If it doesn't hurt, it's probably benign crepitus, but someone who's actually qualified to comment will hopefully step in shortly.
My joints pop and crack so much. Especially my spine, my breast bone and my shoulders. When I step up for my first squat of the session it's like a drum corps goes off in my shoulders. My shoulders also hurt a lot in the front just above my underarms. But it's not all shoulders. The back and chest crack and pop or always feel like they need to. I sometimes get a bit crabby, too, emotionally cranky.
Any advice? I don't know if this is just an age thing, a nutrition thing or what. It subsided on a 6-week layoff from lifting.
If it doesn't hurt, it's probably benign crepitus, but someone who's actually qualified to comment will hopefully step in shortly.
I get why you might have posted here, but given that it's a fairly interesting question ("When might the creaking and popping be an indication of something worth worrying about?") and not getting any action on the senile ghetto board, I'd post on Mark's thread, if I were you. (OK, I'd try a couple of "site:startingstrength.com <keyword>" searches first, but the worst that can happen is you get bumped back down here, right?).
See this thread http://startingstrength.com/resource...ad.php?t=27770
Geezers are mostly a creaky bunch, but mostly not a cranky bunch.
No warm up. Just the warmup sets. Basically it's a mad dash from the front door to the squat rack the instant the gym opens. 10 minutes late and you'll be waiting in line for a while. I will stretch after usually, mostly just hamstrings, glutes and other nether regions.
That's probably your problem. You want to be breaking a good sweat before you even get under the bar. I do at least three sets of heavy KB swings with stretching between the sets of swings. Plus rolling my back and legs with a rumble roller. If I was not doing a good warm-up, I would anticipate feeling about the way you do or even worse.
Take the 10 minutes waiting for them to open the door and do arm circles forward and backward, body weight squats and stretch your upper body.
First, you are NOT elderly. You're only three years older than I, and I sure as shit aren't elderly!
My joints make a cacophony of painful sounding squeaking, cracking, creaking, popping, and grinding noises. It has nothing to do with my age, but everything to do with my rheumatoid arthritis (juvenile onset). I've been crunchy since I was a kid and am used to it, but you should see the looks I get from other people when they hear it! Warmups and stretches are a huge help, as well as staying hydrated. Are you drinking plenty of water? Keeping my sodium and alcohol intake in check is helpful, too, but I'm not always the best at it. Another big thing for me is keeping warm, as even the tiniest chill makes it worse (same thing for humidity). My weight room is down off of the garage, so very cold and damp feeling with it's concrete walls and floor. I just put a big electric heater in there which I'm hoping will keep it comfortable for the winter (otherwise I'll have to bundle up like the Michelin Man and try to lift).
As for the crabbiness, I'm always a crab. Being in pain makes it worse. Not much I can do about it, and luckily those close to me are used to it.