Heres the deal; I have recently developed a pretty severe pain underlying my right anterior/medial deltoid. It occured during my second week of meltdown training; following the program exactly except for the substitution of flat bench dumbbell press for push-ups. Now I am experiencing a limiting pain(limiting the amount of weight I usually handle) during my flat bench dumbbell press and pushpress. I have already made the substitution push-ups for flat bench press; still somewhat painful but tolerable. As of today I substituted snatches for the pushpress. Also, somewhat oddly I experience no pain through dips. A few years ago I was a pitcher during high school and developed some sort of rotator cuff problem which was never fully addressed. Where do I go from here? Please none of the obvious rest or ART responses, I realize I should take some time off and I possess not the funds for ART; college student. I had previously worked my way up to 120 x 6 on flat bench dumbbell press with no problems, so I am almost certain that the 4 days a week of performing pushpress, dips, and dumbbell press is the cause of this; but I think this time instead of just taking some active rest I am going to attempt to resolve the problem. I was thinking about doing Catanzaro’s Strong and healthy shoulders program; I noticed that while it outlined a set/rep scheme it didn’t recommend a frequency or duration. So, how many times per week do you guys recommend and approx. how long should I stay on the program? I know there is no generalized solid answer but advice from those in the know would be greatly appreciated. Should I immediately end Meltdown training? Another problem is that I have attempted to utilize the cuban press previously and with 15 pound dumbbells I was feeling extreme pain; not the good pain. So I guess I will go lighter in the hopes that the pain subsides. Any advice from those with similar problems and even those whom have utilized the program outlined by Catanzaro would also be appreciated. Thanx for the info guys; after figuring out what I should be doing to resolve this problem I am going to construct a new 2 month program and post it up to be fine tuned for Monday. The good thing is I have been wanting to do some serious lower body work for awhile and now is the perfect opportunity. Sorry for the long post as well. J Persinger
I don’t understand. You claim to know that you should take some time off and/or obtain ART. Then you ask how long you should be on a particular training program. You may not have money for ART (for the record, a good ART guy can work seeming miracles), but surely you can afford to take time off from training. If you make a mistake in training with a shoulder injury, you could cause more extensive or permanent harm. If you know you should take some time off, then take some time off.
It isn’t really necessary to take time off from weigh training. Obviously prioritizing lower body isn’t going to further my injury, and I take it that the strong and healthy shoulders program could be utilized for rehab. Although I more or less will be taking time off in terms of upper body training. Not alot to do for chest/back not involving strain on the shoulder girdle.
Take a look at your past programs…are the imbalanced with reguards to horizontal pushing to horizontal pulling? Do your hands face each other or are they facing behind you? Lie on your back, feet flat on ground, tilt your pelvis down so your back is flat on the ground. From this position, with your arms straight at your sides, palms down, bring your arms over your head keeping them straight and see if you can touch the ground with your arms. If you can’t your lats/teres major is short (one of your internal rotators). There are other ROM tests, for other related muscle groups, but i don’t have time to go into it right now. Basically you have to figure out why your shoulder is hurting, not just treat the pian. If you were a baseball player like me (great sport, but fucks up your body)you probably have some imbalances that have been inhanced by your weight training. Look for Ian King’s shoulder article on here, it should help, but try to get looked at by a therapist.
I attempted the ROM test you suggested and as it seems you have predicted, my arms do not touch the ground. If anyone has anymore advice let me know; for now I am going to go back through and read everything I can regarding the subject. I had actually read King’s article in the past but as it didn’t apply during that particular time period I seem to have forgotten the jest of it. Next week I will probably just work 400m sprints and restrain myself from entering the weightroom until I figure out what I need to be doing to fix this problem. Although, I do not plan on seeking out therapy. I realize that this may be the best idea but I have a tendency to avoid medical treatment. Thanks. J Persinger
BTW, in the past I had never really emphasized push over pull, so I don’t believe I possess any serious strength imbalances. Although 90% of the time I trained chest/tris prior to back/bi’s during my weekly cycle; but for the past few months I have really emphasized back development.