Thread: rotator

i dunno what to tell you about the chest and shoulders, both will work as long as it fits with the rest of your workout. When doing rotator cuff exercises, you should pretty much only do external rotation because you are internally rotating on a lot of exercises already (presses, pull downs/ups, rows etc).

Originally posted by jadakris31
i think its my rotator.. but im not sure... my shoulders hurt alot after chest days... but gone after one day ... and if i put my hand on my shoulder i can feel it pop or grind sometimes... but it never hurts to raise my arm or something... so im going to start working out my cuffs... but im starting a new workout next week.. and would i be better off doing chest with shoulders on the same day... or seperating them?

I doubt you tore your cuff or anything serious like that, odds are it sounds like you are stressing your delts more then anything. Try and check your form for benching. I have torn my left cuff and boy it hurts like hell, you definatly know when you have done that. Not sure about the popping/grinding though. I currently do chest and shoulders and do fine with it, but I've done it both ways in the past. Do what works best for you. Just warm up before hand with a few cuff excersises and don't do anything to crazy for now.

How to Bench Big
heres a link of benching form and some other good info.

you definitely didn't rip the rotator, but you could have some mild tendonitis, or impingement. you could try and go to a doctor and have him do an MRI and/or X-ray to be certain.

My shoulders used to bug me on heavy bench day, until I learned how to bench properly. I have a couple articles linked in my signature.

For some reason my left leg pops as I walk. It hurt when I first got it, and I thought it went away after I took a week off. However, I noticed one day when I was walking with my hands in my pockets that it still clicked. However, I can't tell without directly touching the area where it clicks. There is no pain, noise, or even feeling really. The other weird thing is it seems to subside when I go jogging. I just kind of ignore it for the moment...

yea ive read your sigs plenty of times but i guess maybe i still off on my form... i wish someone had a detailed pic of someone benching .. like an overhead and side view... i guess ill have to work on it some more.... but my other question was since my shoulders have been bothering me would i be better off doinf themsame day as chest with less overall sets.. or their own day

Everyone should do cuff work on a regular basis.

If it continues, please see a doctor, there could be any number of things wrong, that can become serious if not corrected.

ok good deal.. im going to take a few days off lifting... come back and do shoulders on their own day and do so some cuff work on those days...

"When doing rotator cuff exercises, you should pretty much only do external rotation because you are internally rotating on a lot of exercises already "

which ones are some examples of external (not sure which are which)

In my second semester of college women's strength (lifting) classes, I over did it. My left shoulder was not improving as fast as I thought it should. It was always "just" abit weaker than my right and would fatigue sooner. So I worked on it more. I was also taking a morning class as well as my usual evening one.....and may have overdid it too. Ended up with impingement problems.

I did have some problems crossing my left over to touch my right shoulder...would get a twinge. I had problems sleeping on my left shoulder and flexibility was not as good as my right although my movement was still good. My flexibility was improving from the lifting. But the classes each lifting day (3 day split) was not giving it enough rest, I guess....was building up my poundages pretty good then. So I went to my doc and had a MRI done. Turned out I had an old traumatic tear (not from lifting) in the anterior supraspinatus that was acting up.

Never knew I had it and this is not uncommon until something brings it out. So, I had to cut back on the classes. My husband took me to an Accupuncturist for the tendonist....that help. Although being 50 at the time, the orthopedic doc told me I did not need surgery...good. The lifting had improved my overall strength/muscles in that area too. The tear was an old one, as said, but nothing else to show it was getting any worse. Just overdid the training and the supraspinatus was not recovering enough. In his opinion, surgery would have done more harm than good in my case.

I could still lift by changing my routine, cut back my poundages, do rotator cuff exercises and alternative shoulder ones. So upright rows were out and any heavy military presses. I had dropped lateral raises early in my classes....hurt too much to do them with the left shoulder. My instructor told me if it hurt "that" way....dont do them.

I do military presses with dumbbells at parallel and shoulder presses with palms facing each other.

At least I now know Why the lag with my left while going through the final set of reps. I can live with that. I have been able to get the strength up to balance with my right. I hate to think I would have gone through surgery by now if I did not start those classes to begin with to lose bodyfat and build strength.

By the way, with the changes, I can now cross over without a twinge. My left arm flexibility has improved greatly and with fewer problems pressing weights.

Having an old tear is no fun but can be worked with and around.