Tricep exercises hurt my shoulder

JessyJ03

I've tried various dumbbell exercises, rope pulls, machine for tris..... all end up hurting my shoulders. Are there any exercises that don't cause shoulder pain for the triceps?

Any recommendation on how not to hurt my shoulders when working the tris?

Thanks!

iluvprettyshoes

Have you tried tricep kickbacks?

iWaffle

Are you having pain during the exercise or are we talking about muscle soreness the next day?

Just one note here without knowing anything else. Most tricep isolation exercises don't require you to move your shoulder. Your arm should only be moving from the elbow down. Take tricep push downs with a cable machine. Lock your arms at your side and only move your elbow hinge. Your shoulder should never move during the exercise.

JessyJ03

No I haven't tried the kickbacks (I just looked them up) but I will try those.

Pain is during the exercise and continues to get worse until I quit.

IronSmasher

Why are you using your shoulder?

Does it hurt during any other activity?

What causes it to hurt?

Meg_78

Have you tried Triceps Bench Dips, maybe something you can do at home to strengthen them, you can also modify them quite a lot to make them pretty easy (by keeping you knees bent and closer to your body). You can do them on a sturdy chair, or a low table, a park bench etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0326dy_-CzM

JNick77

The tricep bench dips put your shoulders in a bad position, so I'd be surprised if those helped at all. What about lying extensions with a barbell? Kickbacks are basically worthless exercises unless you have some symmetry issues that you're trying to solve. Do any other pressing exercises (shoulder press, bench press variations) hurt your shoulder?

What about with things like extensions on a pulley device, have you tried a straight bar and made sure your hands are slightly outside of your shoulders? I'm just wonder if you have some kind of impingement.

JessyJ03

Here is a list of the things I've tried:

Tricep rope pulldown
Tricep Dumbell (over the head and lowered down behind the head) -this one hurts the worst
Tricep Hammer Machine (hurts the least but still some pain)
Seated Barbell on an incline bench and lower the barbell behind the head. - This one I wasn't sure if the form was right it felt wrong.
Tricep free weights push down thing.

Sorry I don't know the proper terms for these hopefully you all know what I am talking about.


I don't have pain in my shoulders with anything else. The problem is my tricep portion comes before the shoulders and by time I do them I don't have as much left for my shoulders due to the pain. I do Shoulder Press for shoulders and a dumbell exercise (neither cause pain). I also do a bench press and incline press with no pain.

Edit to add I will look into exercises with the pully device, I know we have a few racks with this at the gym

iWaffle

The only thing I can think of that totally removes the shoulder is the cable extension press downs but even with that your shoulders will be used to pin your arms at your side. That shouldn't be too bad because there's no movement at the shoulder joint during the exercise. The next one down on the list would be overhead dumbbell extensions. That does require you to hold your arm up but there's not a lot of movement in the shoulder. Other than that it's going to be hard to exercise the tricep without bringing the shoulder into do some work for stabilization and assistance.

If you have rotor cuff issues there are specific exercises that help strengthen and rehabilitate that joint. You might need to work on those before you move on to tricep because it's pretty hard to do an arm exercise without involving the shoulder at least a little bit.

EDIT: Skip the rope pushdowns. Use the metal bar on the cable. It's much easier to perform and isolates the triceps more.

debussyschild

That is probably a form issue unless you've had shoulder problems in the past. Make sure you're not leading these exercises from your shoulders... Like tricep pull downs, are you keeping your elbows "pinned" to your sides, or are you letting them come up to swing the rope back down? If you are, then you're using very little triceps and mostly shoulders. That could be why they hurt... www.bodybuilding.com has good videos of exercises that illustrate good form. Check it out.

JessyJ03

The only thing I can think of that totally removes the shoulder is the cable extension press downs but even with that your shoulders will be used to pin your arms at your side. That shouldn't be too bad because there's no movement at the shoulder joint during the exercise. The next one down on the list would be overhead dumbbell extensions. That does require you to hold your arm up but there's not a lot of movement in the shoulder. Other than that it's going to be hard to exercise the tricep without bringing the shoulder into do some work for stabilization and assistance.

If you have rotor cuff issues there are specific exercises that help strengthen and rehabilitate that joint. You might need to work on those before you move on to tricep because it's pretty hard to do an arm exercise without involving the shoulder at least a little bit.

EDIT: Skip the rope pushdowns. Use the metal bar on the cable. It's much easier to perform and isolates the triceps more.

The overhead dumbbell extension is the one I tried today. It was the worst pain I've felt since starting weights 3-4 months ago. Perhaps you're right and I need to work on strengthening the joints a bit more so I can safely do the tricep exercises without blowing out my shoulder.

debussyschild

The tricep bench dips put your shoulders in a bad position, so I'd be surprised if those helped at all. What about lying extensions with a barbell? Kickbacks are basically worthless exercises unless you have some symmetry issues that you're trying to solve. Do any other pressing exercises (shoulder press, bench press variations) hurt your shoulder?

What about with things like extensions on a pulley device, have you tried a straight bar and made sure your hands are slightly outside of your shoulders? I'm just wonder if you have some kind of impingement.

Agreed. Yay for skull crushers!!

rogerbosch

Are you warmed up enough before the exercise? If it still hurts, go down to a weight with which you can do the exercise, or do bench dips. Stretch when finished.

JNick77

The only thing I can think of that totally removes the shoulder is the cable extension press downs but even with that your shoulders will be used to pin your arms at your side. That shouldn't be too bad because there's no movement at the shoulder joint during the exercise. The next one down on the list would be overhead dumbbell extensions. That does require you to hold your arm up but there's not a lot of movement in the shoulder. Other than that it's going to be hard to exercise the tricep without bringing the shoulder into do some work for stabilization and assistance.

If you have rotor cuff issues there are specific exercises that help strengthen and rehabilitate that joint. You might need to work on those before you move on to tricep because it's pretty hard to do an arm exercise without involving the shoulder at least a little bit.

EDIT: Skip the rope pushdowns. Use the metal bar on the cable. It's much easier to perform and isolates the triceps more.

The overhead dumbbell extension is the one I tried today. It was the worst pain I've felt since starting weights 3-4 months ago. Perhaps you're right and I need to work on strengthening the joints a bit more so I can safely do the tricep exercises without blowing out my shoulder.

I think the rope extensions are a fine tricep isolation piece but for the OP it's probably not a good idea right now. The exercises you listed can actually put a fair amount of stress on the shoulders. The overhead work must be supported by the shoulders and your hands are likely within your shoulders on those, roughly the same thing with the pulldowns. What about lying on a flat bench with your arms straight out perpendicular to your body?

debussyschild

The only thing I can think of that totally removes the shoulder is the cable extension press downs but even with that your shoulders will be used to pin your arms at your side. That shouldn't be too bad because there's no movement at the shoulder joint during the exercise. The next one down on the list would be overhead dumbbell extensions. That does require you to hold your arm up but there's not a lot of movement in the shoulder. Other than that it's going to be hard to exercise the tricep without bringing the shoulder into do some work for stabilization and assistance.

If you have rotor cuff issues there are specific exercises that help strengthen and rehabilitate that joint. You might need to work on those before you move on to tricep because it's pretty hard to do an arm exercise without involving the shoulder at least a little bit.

EDIT: Skip the rope pushdowns. Use the metal bar on the cable. It's much easier to perform and isolates the triceps more.

The overhead dumbbell extension is the one I tried today. It was the worst pain I've felt since starting weights 3-4 months ago. Perhaps you're right and I need to work on strengthening the joints a bit more so I can safely do the tricep exercises without blowing out my shoulder.

How often do you lift? After 3-4 months of regular lifting, that pain shouldn't be getting worse. Have you played around with how much weight you use? I would try using a lighter weight and focus strictly on form for a little while. That might help you rule OUT the issue of form deficiencies. If that doesn't fix it, then I would just give your upper body a break for a week. If you injured it by mistake and you've continued to workout, then it hasn't had the chance to heal. Careful with this... This is how my brother developed tendonitis in his shoulders. If it hurts with lighter weight and you've corrected your form, you probably have an injury and should take it easy. If it continues even after you've rested it, I'd go see a doc.

SKHaz1

The fact that the dumbbell tricep extension (the one over your head) is causing you pain tells me some things. You could have impingement syndrome or like others have said a rotator cuff pathology. Do you experience clicking when you raise your arm overhead? Without seeing whats going on and doing an evaluation its hard to say whats really happening. Do you have trainers at the gym? Maybe you could meet up with them to make sure you're exercising with the right technique.

I'm a Physical Therapist, so I'd say go see a PT if this continues! You certainly don't want to do more damage. good luck!

JessyJ03

The fact that the dumbbell tricep extension (the one over your head) is causing you pain tells me some things. You could have impingement syndrome or like others have said a rotator cuff pathology. Do you experience clicking when you raise your arm overhead? Without seeing whats going on and doing an evaluation its hard to say whats really happening. Do you have trainers at the gym? Maybe you could meet up with them to make sure you're exercising with the right technique.

I'm a Physical Therapist, so I'd say go see a PT if this continues! You certainly don't want to do more damage. good luck!

I do have a popping in my shoulder sometimes. It happened more today than usual. In fact after moving to the Shoulder Press every single rep was making my shoulder pop.

We do have trainers but its really hard to get at them as they are always so busy.


I left every other day, so 4 days a week doing a full lifting work out (meaning I don't break up into body parts for different days)

JNick77

The fact that the dumbbell tricep extension (the one over your head) is causing you pain tells me some things. You could have impingement syndrome or like others have said a rotator cuff pathology. Do you experience clicking when you raise your arm overhead? Without seeing whats going on and doing an evaluation its hard to say whats really happening. Do you have trainers at the gym? Maybe you could meet up with them to make sure you're exercising with the right technique.

I'm a Physical Therapist, so I'd say go see a PT if this continues! You certainly don't want to do more damage. good luck!

I do have a popping in my shoulder sometimes. It happened more today than usual. In fact after moving to the Shoulder Press every single rep was making my shoulder pop.

We do have trainers but its really hard to get at them as they are always so busy.


I left every other day, so 4 days a week doing a full lifting work out (meaning I don't break up into body parts for different days)

I would take her suggestion about going to see a PT. Most trainers ain't worth a damn anyway, don't waste your time with them, get a PT.

iWaffle

Do you have trainers at the gym? Maybe you could meet up with them to make sure you're exercising with the right technique.

I'm a Physical Therapist, so I'd say go see a PT if this continues! You certainly don't want to do more damage. good luck!

For sure. I had a rotor cuff injury a year ago. Those are not fun. You should stop until you can get a trainer or a PT to do the exercise with and evaluate what you're doing wrong or if you have a serious shoulder injury that needs attention. Don't keep exercising blindly and make it worse.

MinMin97

I've tried various dumbbell exercises, rope pulls, machine for tris..... all end up hurting my shoulders. Are there any exercises that don't cause shoulder pain for the triceps?

Any recommendation on how not to hurt my shoulders when working the tris?

Thanks!

After nursing five babies and hoisting toddlers and changing diapers, I've had my share of complaints about my neck, shoulders and back. For me it's always been the result of stressed-out tight muscles and the occasional subluxation...

In other words, you need a massage and a chiropractor lol! Not that I'm laughing, just that's my experience.

I don't like to be "popped" by a chiropractor. She uses one of those "clickers" and clicks around on my muscles...works everytime. In your case, I'd say make an appointment for the massage first and schedule the chiropractor right after. That way the muscles will be relaxed more and will hold any adjustment made. Then just rest a day or two before you do anymore weight exercises in that area.

SKHaz1

The popping clicking could indicate a labral tear as well. Like I said, its hard to say what it is without doing an evaluation. You could have poor scapular stabilizers, RC tear, labral tear, impingement etc. Go see a PT ASAP so that you can get it assessed!

meshashesha2012

The popping clicking could indicate a labral tear as well. Like I said, its hard to say what it is without doing an evaluation. You could have poor scapular stabilizers, RC tear, labral tear, impingement etc. Go see a PT ASAP so that you can get it assessed!

i need to steal you and keep you in my workout bag :laugh:

OP I have an old shoulder injury that acts up every now and then as well. definitely get checked out by a PT so they can give you an idea of what's wrong and give you ways to rehab and strengthen

iWaffle

i need to steal you and keep you in my workout bag :laugh:

OP I have an old shoulder injury that acts up every now and then as well.

No joke. I'd take some good advice on this too. I hurt my left shoulder a little over a year ago. Just a weird trip and fall, nothing gym related. At first I couldn't even lift my arm enough to grab the bottom of the steering wheel in my car. It was so weak. It's better now. I'd place it at 95% and I don't notice it much at all. The only thing is it feels tight if I put my arm straight overhead and rotate it backwards. It's a really specific position so I avoid it pretty easily. I mostly notice it when I stretch although it still feels a bit weaker than my right shoulder which is why I have it at 95% instead of 100%.

I contribute a lot of my weight gain to my messed up shoulder. Sure I ate really bad last year but not being in the gym made me lose motivation. Get it looked at and don't wait as long as I did to recover. It's sort of depressing when you can't use your arms like you should be able to. I feel for you OP.