Reply With QuoteIt started hurting from lifting things around the office today, so I scheduled an appt with an Ortho for Wednesday. I guess I will atleast know what it is on Wednesday.
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Training with shoulder/arm pain
I'm progressing fast and everything is great. EXCEPT in the last few weeks I have been having on and off left shoulder and left triceps pain (by the elbow). I've mostly been working through it, as I'm pretty sure thats what Rip's advice is to tendinitis type pain. But I think I've reached the point where I cannot. The pain was so bad that I decided I couldn't continue working out after finishing my first 3x5 (first time that has ever happened). My entire shoulder/upper arm area was just on fire, I could barely move my arm and I couldn't focus on anything. I came back later that day to finished the rest of my workout and after the next 3 sets I had to tap out again. It hurts intensely for about 45 minutes and then subsides to just a bit of soreness. I don't mind soreness or regular tendinitis type pain. This was pretty intense pain.
My best guess is it's something with the tendons in the tricep/elbow area and possible the rotator cuff in the shoulder too.
I know I can go to an Ortho, but whats the point? They will just tell me to take a few months off working out and sports (the only activities that both it, once soreness goes down). The only reason I'm thinking about still going to the Ortho is just to find out what exactly is injured. It's really hard for me to isolate where the pains are coming from.
The pain occurs intensely after bench press, OHP and the squat. On the presses it is from the pressing movement and in the squat it is from being in the position that is the limit of my shoudler flexibility. I feel soreness in the deadlift but it's not bad.
Any advice?
Last edited by timelinex; 08-28-2017 at 03:05 PM.
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It started hurting from lifting things around the office today, so I scheduled an appt with an Ortho for Wednesday. I guess I will atleast know what it is on Wednesday.
Member
How much ibuprofen have you taken?
Callador
Here are a few suggestions. Some of them you can implement right now without messing up the program. The other one you would have to do on some other kind of program.
1. Light Dumbbell Hammer Curls with a 4 second eccentric for each rep. These seem to help a bit with my elbow tendinitis.
2. Check your squat grip, this could be giving you that elbow tendo.
3. Try a new grip for press and bench. This could help you figure out what is pissing your shoulder off. Do you know what specifically is doing it? Is it only during a certain part of the ROM, etc. ?
4. Vary the bench press exercise. This probably won't work on SS, but for instance if I bench to my chest all the time I get shoulder pain. So I put in things like floor press to help with that. I would only do this as a last resort, since you don't want to mess with the program if you don't have to.
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When I had this issue it was because I was trying to get too tight a grip on my squat and was taking some load on the arms. My solution was to use bent wrists + wrist wraps while the elbow healed (and stretch more to get the desired grip).
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Get an MRI, either confirm or rule out physical damage to the shoulder.
Member
I took 600mg that night just to lower any immflamation. Doesn't do much for the intense pain, so it would be a waste. I try to stay away from meds unless it's for a headache or a REALLY bad body pain. I dont care about the dull or aching pain, I'm a big boy and just live through it. I care for the immediate sharp throbbing pain during training, which NSAIDS would do nothing for. Also I can't imagine it is smart training through a pain that intense. I did, but wouldn't be surprised if I pay for it. I dont know.Originally Posted by Tiburon
Benching and pressing aggravate my shoulders but only once my shoulders are already in pain. I used to think it was the benching, since thats the go to shoulder pain scapegoat. So I did change my grip to a bit narrower. It helped aggravate them a little less, but it definitely turned out to not be the source of the injury. I had to reset the weight a little when I moved my hands closer, but I passed my last PR's a while ago so no reason to go back. I figure the closer grip is healthier on the shoulders regardless.
The Primary reason for my shoulder pain is Squats. The low bar position used to be way past my flexibility point and in the recent weeks it's now within my flexibility but right at the edge. This is with me spreading my hands as far apart as possible within my rack. I'm constantly playing "better of 2 evils". It's either I bend my wrists and my wrists and shoulders aren't too happy from the load or I keep my wrists straight and hands on the side/top but then my elbow and shoulders kill from stretching past the point of flexibility. I know it's getting better and better and now I can get into the position easily, where before I had to really stretch to get in it. But the damage and wear has obviously been done...
I think using bent wrists ends up making my shoulder take some of the load, since it puts the arms below the bar. I'm not sure it will work for me as it is something I have tried many times.
I'll get whatever scans the doc recommends. My shoulder is sore and aching a little today. It's never been sore the net day unprovoked before.... My appt is Wednesday, we will see what he says. I definitely can't workout today or tomorrow. Then I'm leaving town on Fri to Tue for vacation. Lately I've been working out on vacation, but maybe it's a good time to take a week off.
I'm just hoping it's a tendonitis in the shoulder and elbow areas. Then I can confidently train through it I suppose.
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Since I'm taking the next few days off, is there anything you guys recommend I can do the at the gym to either maintain my progress or still progress my overall fitness? The entire SS routine hinges around the shoulders one way or another.
Leg Press worth it?
Callador
I actually squat on an 8' bar and use a competition squat rack or monolift so I can move the hooks in. I am almost at the end of that bar, so I squat with a wide grip like you do. In a normal gym situation where I have to squat in a power rack I have problems, but I found a few work arounds.
You could give high bar squats a shot for right now. You don't need to put the bar way up on your neck either. It can sit towards the back of traps, so it isn't that much higher than low bar. Bending the wrists with wrist wraps should help get some pressure off too. You could also try a grip outside the hooks, where your hands are on the collars. I do this on a 7' bar. I normally put a pair of of clamp collars on the inside of the bar before I put weight on (like these: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Olympic-D...&wl13=&veh=sem ). This allows you to take an even wider grip and get your hands away from the hooks a bit. So essentially you have one pair on the inside and one on the outside.
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1.) Unless you like cortisone shots, being punted to 3-6 weeks of physical therapy, being given bad weightlifting advice, and wasting money, I'd cancel that appointment. Unless you think you need surgery, of course (then keep it).
2.) Based on the information you've provided, it's likely your bar postion is causing the problem. Read these two articles and watch these two videos thoroughly:
The Elbow Problem | Jordan Feigenbaum
Preventing Elbow Pain in the Squat | Nick Delgadillo
A Clarification on the Squat Grip | Mark Rippetoe
Low Bar Position Stretch | Paul Horn
3.) Post a video of your squat, preferably to the coaches forum so you won't get too much conflicting advice, and ask them about your bar/chest position.
4.) An inflammatory condition can be helped by taking an anti-inflammatory. 800mg of ibuprofen 3x daily for about 5 days is the general recommendation we see around here.
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