So, I did chest today. I like to live on the edge. Can’t help it.
This post will get more detailed as I go along but the short of it is that I’m satisfied w/my chest workout - I did less volume than usual but increased the intensity. And, knock on wood, my rotator feels no worse for the wear. I avoided direct shoulders because I felt like I need more “feeling out” time, plus after a good chest workout my shoulders, front anyway, are fried.
My worst fear was something catastrophic could happen. Amazingly, this is the worst and only REAL “injury” I’ve had in 10-1/2 of serious lifting. Before my workout started I had this fear in the back of my mind that I was going to do something that would keep me out of the gym for longer than I would otherwise, require surgery, you know, all that OCD shit.
So far, so good, I was conservative in my chest workout, I warmed up my rotators for 3 minutes. Did the most thorough warmup on flat db bench press I’ve ever done.
Again, my rush to get back to things, albeit intelligently, is because the nagging pull hadn’t recovered after 2 weeks of rest. I really didn’t/don’t want to sit out anymore than I have to…One day at a time.
I’m amazed and appreciate all the feedback this post has illicited. I’ve asked a ton of questions on various boards but never come CLOSE to 40? fucking responses. You guys are focused =>D
“Go get a doctor to look at it if it hurts. If he tells you to take two weeks off, then just lifts that don’t require your rotator cuff for X amount of time”
You know what sucks? Just about every movement you make involves your rotator muscles to one extent or another.
[quote]rwwddavis wrote:
“Go get a doctor to look at it if it hurts. If he tells you to take two weeks off, then just lifts that don’t require your rotator cuff for X amount of time”
You know what sucks? Just about every movement you make involves your rotator muscles to one extent or another.[/quote]
Well he can still do shit like leg presses, extensions, abs, forearms, calves, etc. If he absolutely has to take off 2 weeks cuz of a shoulder issue, you can still find ways to work some parts of your body without having to destroy your shoulder, you don’t even have to get creative…
Its like saying if you broke your fucking arm you might as well stop working out other body parts.
For what it’s worth too much rotator cuff training can cause more damage then it’s worth. It’s a smaller muscle used primarily for minor rotational assistance that keeps your shoulder in it’s joint while it’s performing larger movements. It’s not a muscle you want to hypertrophy, cause muscle damage, and risk scar tissue. It will lead to longer warm up requirements when training.
6 weeks off can help alot for certain injuries, but it would be smarter to know what the injury is before taking 6 weeks off. If you have a meniscus tear and opt out of surgery, 6 weeks off will do much more to strengthen your knees then trying to train through it. But having pain in the knee doesn’t mean you have a meniscus tear.
Like I said I’ve gotten back to training in the last week and am doing everything but overhead presses. I’m going to see if I can’t workout/heal simultaneously. The shoulder SEEMS to be getting better, not worse, wood/knock.
One thing is for sure, I’m going to do whatever I can to avoid injuries in the future - having the injury period is a pain in the ass.
I first delved into lifting at 14 and consistently lifting since June 99. I have a pretty good track record and lucky I haven’t dealt w/more injuries. Maybe age (37) and wear and tear caught up w/me.
"For what it’s worth too much rotator cuff training can cause more damage then it’s worth. "
You know, you’re right, and the week leading up to this I used heavier weight on my rotator cuff exercise than usual. I even did, dare I say, “forced reps”, but I did go up to ~10 reps so I wasn’t being too careless…So I thought…I’m not sure if this was a contributing factor but certainly might have been.
That’s the main reason why I said it. I dislocated my shoulder from an accident and afterwards I would do rotator cuff exercises, I would be ok for a few weeks. Then I would OD on them and jack up weight and reps, thats always when I start getting a pain in my shoulder while doing other movements.
Rotators are one of those things I think the majority of guys neglect, and if they don’t, it’s because an injury convinced them. It’s also, apparently, a muscle you have to work out differently and be more “scientific” about in your approach to training them, due their seemingly delicate structure.
dont take 6 weeks off training, (coming from somone with experience) it dont work;and you wont lose muscle if you stick to you diet…if you did.(just end up looking flat as you may put on alil weight and have no pump,if you did you would bounce back asap)
Go lighter and look some rehab work or get somone who knows what theyre talking about to give you some advice; pts DONT (in general) know what theyre talking about as far as injuries are concerned.
OP, where’s the injury? A “rotator cuff injury” is kind of vague as there are 4 muscles in the rotator cuff. Your plan of attack will depend on which one is sore/injured and how it’s injured. For example, if it’s your supraspinatus that’s inflamed, a neutral grip for pressing is less agrtivating as it opens up the space in your shoulder where the muscle slides through. The infra, teres and subscap have different functions and different things will aggravate them. Without more info nobody can really make specific recommendations with any meaningful time period.
With that said, I agree that you should still go but work around it. Avoid what hurts and do what doesn’t.