You sound like me. My shoulders have been bugging me off and on the past year and change. I think it’s biceps tendinitis. The reality of pressing with a barbell is that it puts your shoulders in bad positions. I actually just wrote out my next three weeks of training and my three pressing movements for the week are incline, bench, and DB OHP. I’m doing good for now with barbell bench so I’ll give it a shot. I’ll be running a 5/3/1 full body routine with power clean and no OHP.
Yeah doc thought it was either that or partial SLAP tear (or both maybe)
Had an MRI like 5 years ago and there was some calcification of bone and arthritic crap going on and they said it would probably worsen over time/age/use.
Looked at the biceps tendonitis guidelines and this is what it says:
Some general tips include:
- Avoid repetitive overhead activities that cause shoulder pain
- Check your posture
- Avoid lifting or carrying heavy objects held away from your body
- Perform rotator-cuff strengthening exercises regularly
- Consult with a physical therapist if your symptoms are worsening despite rest
In other words, sit on the sideline and be a pussy
I’ll probably have to stop benching again at some point but with being just 4 weeks into my first 5/3/1 cycle, I hate to bail now.
I initially tore my right one up playing men’s softball - throwing a guy out at home from center field
Tore it up again about 8 years later doing the same damn thing
I don’t play softball anymore but damn If I’m not paying for the strain I put on my body in my youth
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I’ve nearly quit all arm training and don’t do much overhead pressing at the moment. Yesterday I finished up with some pump work on the seated OHP machine. No pain other than the intense burning from the final set.
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I’m trying to get in to see a primary care Dr. this week so I develop a relationship and head back down the path of getting my shoulder diagnosed (and eventually healed).
I just know they are going to tell me to take a break on the training and I’m not a very good patient!
I’m fortunate enough to have a primary doctor and PA that understand how important training is to me. There’s no reason to waste time telling me to do things that I’ll ignore.
I’ll listen if there’s a good reason but I’m not going to just quit being active to see if it helps. I need specifics—not vague guesses.
If you look back at my log you’ll see that I’ve been pushing hard since the diagnosis was finalized. No reason to slack off now. I’ll have plenty of time to do that while I recover.
Love how detailed your log is. Jealous. Also jealous of the fact that you aren’t on the road 50%+ like I am. I got in my best shape when I didn’t travel much. Chicago 2009-2011.
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Thanks! I figure that if I’m going to log stuff then it should be detailed. That takes all the guess work out for anyone who might be following and curious about the things that I do. I see people asking for clarification and details in other logs and threads such as calories, macros, conditioning, etc. And those who don’t care about the details can just skim right on past that stuff.
I don’t travel for work much but I still struggle to get a complete training week most of the time. I kill it Mon-Wed and then things fall apart the rest of the week because I’m not willing to sacrifice my evenings with the family. That leaves me rushing in the morning, during my lunch break, or when I get home from work to squeeze in a solid session and at least salvage the week. I make it a point to beat myself up plenty when I have the time so I probably don’t need to do as much during the latter half of the week.
As you may have seen, I don’t lift on Tuesdays but I go to the Y anyway so my daughter can play with her little friend at the Kid Zone. I have a two hour time limit so I make good use of it and force myself to do conditioning work.
We may not have stage worthy physiques but maintaining some strength and a decent appearance while working full time and balancing a family is still a win in my book.
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Here’s the plan for the next three weeks. I had to go back and review some stuff in the Beyond 5/3/1 book. Long story short, I haven’t been pushing myself with my lifts. I was kind of doing Training Maximally but then I started having symptoms/pain from my bulged disc and my shoulder started hurting. To avoid making things worse I’ve kind of backed off and have been just going for stimulating the muscles but there hasn’t really been much progression. At least 5/3/1 takes the guess work out of it. As you can see there’s no OHP but there’s definitely some power cleans!
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Do you know what weight were were in each of these pictures? (yes, I’m too lazy to scroll through myself and find them)
Looks like whatever weight you lost was all fat! Nice work.
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Of course!
10.6.17 I was 232.4 lbs.
11.11.17 I was 227.8 lbs (but somehow 231 the next day lol)
And then today coming in at 222 even.
I’ve observed something strange during the process. If I get up to piss a couple times during the night then I have a good morning weigh-in. I’m not sure if it’s just due to getting more fluids out or if we actually piss out the fast we’re eliminating. I once worked with a serious weight loss program as the trainer and they always told the participants to drink tons of water because the body pees out the fat as it’s broken down and used.
Either way the silver lining to an interrupted night of sleep is the scale in the morning.
Holy shit, a full 10lbs? Very nice!
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Yep. Today is 10 lbs since I officially started cutting which was a couple days after Halloween.
The sad thing and real question is how the hell did I gain 10 lbs of fluff so fast?
I was 220.8 lbs on 9.13.17 and my next weigh-in was 9.18.17 and I was 229.8 lbs!
I don’t recall going on a food and beverage binge that week.
It appears you can gain OR lose rather swiftly.
I consider myself to also be fortunate in being able to gain or lose weight rather quickly, but you definitely have me beat!
It’s just too bad none of that is muscle…
Oh come on, let’s be hopeful here. At least an ounce was muscle. One ounce at a time!
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not a DRASTIC change but very noticeable for sure. Trimmed up the midline quite a bit.
Dude, this had me rolling! That’s brilliant!
Did you start creatine in there anywhere? I know initially, creatine will draw a lot more water into your muscles so I’ve always gone +5 or so in the first week of starting back on it.
I am the typical hard gainer… If I ain’t pounding the food, I am staying the same damn weight.
Used to piss me off because I cared then more about the scale weight than body comp but now that I’m older I’m just looking to be a lean, strong, BAMF like the rest of you jack-wagons.
Looks like @Frank_C is headed in the right direction for sure (body comp) slow and steady is probably the best way to go since you’re not trying to be stage ready by a certain date.
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I actually did start taking creatine at that time. I blamed that for the rapid gain but when I quit taking it (which was immediately) the weight never left. I attributed it to water but apparently it wasn’t all water.