So I just finished a delt/tri day today and my left rear delt is killing me. For a while I’ve been feeling some stress behind that shoulder during most triceps work. I did some skull crushers, pushdowns and kickbacks tonight, and felt pain through each, except for the kickbacks, but it was more of a dull feeling then.
Any ideas on this? Form issue? I flared a little bit (I can’t seem to exaggerate it even if I want to) and lowered towards the very top of my head on skull crushers. I felt the same pain last week during JM presses, even though it was only 65 pounds for form.
Help please? Haven’t found anything on the site or google.
It sounds to me like you have tendinitis in your triceps. The long head of your triceps (the part closest to the inside of your arm) has its insertion point at your scapula, between your teres major and your teres minor/infra-spinatus.
Flaring out may be what has aggravated it since the inside of the triceps will bear more strain as your elbow flares outward. Try dumbbell skull crushers with your palms facing each other instead.
This insertion point is probably inflamed and is the source of your pain, creating the impression that your deltoid is in pain.
Ice the area and take 6-12 ibuprofens per day. Let it rest entirely for a few days, including refraining from rear delt work, then start in on tricep/rear delt work with very light weight.
Try rear delt flys with 5-10lbs. Also try lateral delt raises with 5-10lbs. with your thumbs turned down, like pouring a drink out, and raise your arms out in front of you at a 45 degree angle (halfway between a lat raise and a front raise). Do your regular triceps work, but use VERY light weight for a little while until the tendon strength is built up. Do the same with your pressing movements as well for a little while.
Also, cut back on the overall volume of your triceps work a little bit as well. Unless you’re only doing a couple of sets on each exercise, three exercises may be a little overkill for a small muscle like the triceps. If you insist on doing three moves, make one of them close-grip presses, but make sure you keep your elbows tucked through the press.
Thanks for the advice. I’ve actually been doing dumbell skull crushers lately and they don’t hurt at all, so this sounds like exactly what you’re talking about. Appreciate it very much.
i get the same kind of pain, especially from tricep pushdowns. but i just deal with it. i actually have one of those 1-strap backpacks and use it like a sling after some workouts because it gets that bad.