shoulder problems weight lifting

twelfty · February 2013

so the story is when i was in my teens i had a bike accident, i dislocated both my shoulders, my right one wasn't as damaged as the left, and as i'm building up muscle i've noticed my left lateral delt is lagging somewhat behind my right side (same excersize, same weight, same form) and it's getting to the point where i can notice the density/toughness difference in right and left side, i'm guessing it's where ive known i've had a weakness there so i've naturally avoided using that arm in a certain way when i used to do manual labour is there anything i should do to improve this?

i was thinking i could do some extra toning with lighter weights on top of my normal routine just on my left delt to catch it up but wonder if this will work while doing heavy sets at a different point of the day - say left delt raises in the morning and normal routine in the evening

or should i drop the weight on both sides and wait for the left side to catch up then move on?

when i do my normal side lateral raises i can feel each rep my left shoulder pops a bit, not to the point of pain just a noticable sound and feeling, though i do worry as i go up in weight it will cause me problems whih is why i'm thinking toning now will knit the shoulder together better for later

babyblake11 · February 2013

go to the doctor!

AntWrig · February 2013

so the story is when i was in my teens i had a bike accident, i dislocated both my shoulders, my right one wasn't as damaged as the left, and as i'm building up muscle i've noticed my left lateral delt is lagging somewhat behind my right side (same excersize, same weight, same form) and it's getting to the point where i can notice the density/toughness difference in right and left side, i'm guessing it's where ive known i've had a weakness there so i've naturally avoided using that arm in a certain way when i used to do manual labour is there anything i should do to improve this?

i was thinking i could do some extra toning with lighter weights on top of my normal routine just on my left delt to catch it up but wonder if this will work while doing heavy sets at a different point of the day - say left delt raises in the morning and normal routine in the evening

or should i drop the weight on both sides and wait for the left side to catch up then move on?

when i do my normal side lateral raises i can feel each rep my left shoulder pops a bit, not to the point of pain just a noticable sound and feeling, though i do worry as i go up in weight it will cause me problems whih is why i'm thinking toning now will knit the shoulder together better for later

Lol no.

Go to a doctor.

twelfty · February 2013

there's nothing the doctor can do, it's fine in terms of surgery or anything like that it's just weaker than my right side

m60kaf · February 2013

The 'rules are' you do the weight of your weaker side

... oh and dumbell exercises rather than barbell. Its very difficult to get over the stronger side helping with barbell

AntWrig · February 2013

there's nothing the doctor can do, it's fine in terms of surgery or anything like that it's just weaker than my right side

This helped me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0ONHZmsFec

twelfty · February 2013

The 'rules are' you do the weight of your weaker side

now this is where i wonder because i can do the reps and sets on the weaker shoulder at my current weight i use, so i should just carry on until it's caught up to my right side, would that be right?

edit: my main concern is that carrying on at this weight might cause injury but like i say it isn't painful when it pops but obviously popping isn't good lol

m60kaf · February 2013

The 'rules are' you do the weight of your weaker side

now this is where i wonder because i can do the reps and sets on the weaker shoulder at my current weight i use, so i should just carry on until it's caught up to my right side, would that be right?

Yeah definitely same number of reps and sets on each side

twelfty · February 2013

there's nothing the doctor can do, it's fine in terms of surgery or anything like that it's just weaker than my right side

This helped me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0ONHZmsFec

cheers, youtube is blocked at work but i'll have a look when i get home

twelfty · February 2013

i've heard lightweight rotor cuff excersizes are good for weak shoulder joints too might have to incorperate them in too

Lupercalia · February 2013

I think you should see a physio or someone similar with a sports medicine background who can advise you as to what you should do.

twelfty · February 2013

yeah i did do a bit of physio after the accident but it didn't seem to help a great deal at the time, maybe now it's repaired over the years it might be good to have another go

AntWrig · February 2013

i've heard lightweight rotor cuff excersizes are good for weak shoulder joints too might have to incorperate them in too

You should preform a shoulder warmup routine prior to every workout. If not do it at least on upper body days. You would be quite surprised how mobility in your shoulders can affect your squat.

twelfty · February 2013

i don't do squats, my legs are too big for my upper body, i'm trying to even myself out lol (i can leg press 450kg)

etchasketch91 · February 2013

My shoulders pop, too. I talked to a physical therapist and they suggested to stay away from any movements like military dumbbell press, lateral raises and front raises, anything that makes your shoulder pop, don't do it. You can do cables and some other exercises to work out your shoulders... Good luck!

twelfty · February 2013

My shoulders pop, too. I talked to a physical therapist and they suggested to stay away from any movements like military dumbbell press, lateral raises and front raises, anything that makes your shoulder pop, don't do it. You can do cables and some other exercises to work out your shoulders... Good luck!

the problem with this is i workout at home as i don't have the time for gym, thank you though, i know it's not ideal for my shoulder, i'm thinking drop down 2.5lbs as it doesn't pop at this weight and really reach the ceiling of toning on it then move up and see if it helps

also the strange thing is front raises don't pop or hurt at all i can do them at nearly the same weight as a bicep curl :S i have alot of evening up to do i think lol

HelloDan · February 2013

i don't do squats, my legs are too big for my upper body, i'm trying to even myself out lol (i can leg press 450kg)

...but how much can you squat? leg press =/= squat

Can you overhead squat?

Without actually seeing you move, it's impossible to say for sure, but shoulder popping is likely to also be linked to the rotator cuff muscles, scapular positioning and thoracic spine mobility.

twelfty · February 2013

i don't do squats, my legs are too big for my upper body, i'm trying to even myself out lol (i can leg press 450kg)

...but how much can you squat? leg press =/= squat

Can you overhead squat?

Without actually seeing you move, it's impossible to say for sure, but shoulder popping is likely to also be linked to the rotator cuff muscles, scapulae positioning and thoracic spine mobility.

i haven't done them in a while but around 50kg, trust me my legs are too big for my upper body lol

but yeah very accurate actually, very often i used to get a tightening of the muscles around my spine between my shoulder blades moving slightly above this, scapula not so much but have found them very difficult to develop but i think that's normal?

Docmahi · February 2013

if you dislocated your shoulder its most likely an anterior dislocation, so you will have discomfort on military pressing and dumbbell pressing to some extent. Shoulder joint issues are the most difficult to deal with in regards to weight lifting but my suggestion would be pretty simple albeit i dunno if its what you want to hear.

1) as you had mentioned in this thread earlier - rotator cuff exercises, i prefer using a cable pulley with very light weight 5-10lbs and just doing some internal/external rotation to warm up the joint

2) I see some people telling you to avoid military barbell/dumbbell exercises - i completely disagree, I would use them as the bases if your shoulder training. anytime someone suffers an injury I believe free weights are the way to go because your movement mechanics will be different so the free weights will allow whatever unique pathing your shoulder joints need to take.

3) Use lightweight - dont care about ego lifting you will hurt your joint more. our rotator cuff has three tendons that compose the rear portion of the joint and only on for the front which is why it generally dislocates anteriorly. use weights that you can do comfortably with both shoulders even if your stronger shoulder isn't getting trained as hard so you dont develop a lagging body part.. If that means you are using very high reps so be it.

This is all just my general advice - do with it what you will

HelloDan · February 2013

i haven't done them in a while but around 50kg, trust me my legs are too big for my upper body lol

but yeah very accurate actually, very often i used to get a tightening of the muscles around my spine between my shoulder blades moving slightly above this, scapula not so much but have found them very difficult to develop but i think that's normal?

If you can overhead squat 50kg, the regions I mentioned previously, are probably in not too bad shape.
If you normal squat 50kg, I really don't think your legs are too big.

I've never come across anyone who genuinely had legs that are way too big for their upper body, and some of the guys I train with have some big strong legs (team GB weightlifters and England rugby players).

Anyway, given what you say about your tightness, I would get some soft tissue work done, and work on developing strength in the posterior muscles of the shoulder and back, and work on developing mobility in the shoulders and thoracic spine.

twelfty · February 2013

if you dislocated your shoulder its most likely an anterior dislocation, so you will have discomfort on military pressing and dumbbell pressing to some extent. Shoulder joint issues are the most difficult to deal with in regards to weight lifting but my suggestion would be pretty simple albeit i dunno if its what you want to hear.

1) as you had mentioned in this thread earlier - rotator cuff exercises, i prefer using a cable pulley with very light weight 5-10lbs and just doing some internal/external rotation to warm up the joint

2) I see some people telling you to avoid military barbell/dumbbell exercises - i completely disagree, I would use them as the bases if your shoulder training. anytime someone suffers an injury I believe free weights are the way to go because your movement mechanics will be different so the free weights will allow whatever unique pathing your shoulder joints need to take.

3) Use lightweight - dont care about ego lifting you will hurt your joint more. our rotator cuff has three tendons that compose the rear portion of the joint and only on for the front which is why it generally dislocates anteriorly. use weights that you can do comfortably with both shoulders even if your stronger shoulder isn't getting trained as hard so you dont develop a lagging body part.. If that means you are using very high reps so be it.

This is all just my general advice - do with it what you will

thank you thats very insightful

tbh i'm not a big ego lifter anyway, i curl and butterfly 7.5kgs, 10 if i'm feeling braisen lol (though i feel it necessary to point out thats not my max :P) side raises i've been using 5kg but i'm thinking of going down to 2.5 to pull this problem back into shape then move on from that

i can do heavy shoulder shrugs with ease - more than i have in additional dumbell weights at 20 reps, no pain at all

is there a specific excersize that targets that sort of T3 area of the spine/ shoulder blades? perhaps reverse butterfly? (if thats an excersize lol) like lying on my front as opposed to my back

shoulder problems weight lifting

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