Min. Shoulder Work With Presses?

Training Bodybuilding
1

I have pain in my left shoulder whenever I do excessive pressing. I don’t think there are any significant problems. I went to the doc awhile back and he pressed on my arm different ways and since nothing really hurt he concluded that my pain whenever I do excessive pressing is just from overworking my shoulder. I think that is right.

I am not about to give up presses (bench and dumbell). I usually do dumbell presses because I figure the range of motion is better for my shoulder.

Question: How can I minimize my shoulder usage when dumbell or barbell bench or incline pressing? I read the article “shoulder savers” on here, and it suggested to (i) put your elbows “down and in” rather than flared out, and (ii) when you dumbell press, to hold the dumbbells paralllel rather than the end of one toughing the end of the other (like you hold a barbell). However, if anything it seemed like both of these made my shoulder hurt sooner and more. It seemed my should was worked more.

Any ideas that I can try? I think because of my left should problem my left chest is looking less developed than my right chest. Its quite bizzare.

Thanks.

2

you need to do external and internal rotations.
your problem is a fairly common rotator cuff issue.
you may consider seeing an ortho…

3

My guess is you have a weakness in your left rotator cuff. The muscles and tendons of the shoulder aren’t hurt (yet), but the rotator cuff isn’t strong enough to handle the weight that you’re trying to lift.

First, read Eric Cressey’s article ‘What I Learned in 2007’ ( http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1898122 ), he goes in depth (in extreme depth, actually) on how to strengthen your entire shoulder and eliminate the pain that many trainers feel. If you don’t feel like going to the extreme length’s mentioned in the article (though I suggest you do) then at a minimum start doing some rotator cuff work 2-3 days a week. Do alot of external rotators with both DB’s and cables, and make sure you’re using a weight that is suitible for the exercise (i.e. it isn’t a competition, keep the weight low and concentrate on the movement).

Shoulder issues can be a bitch and hinder your development in many areas. Take care of the health of your shoulders above anything else for the next month and you’ll be considerably better off in the long run.