joshp

Well it has been nearly 6 months since my original shoulder injury and my shoulder is feeling pretty good (after taking large amounts of glucosamine, chondroitin, MSM and type 2 collagen for the past month). I plan on starting light rehab on shoulder for a while, but after this I want to start working out chest again. I really haven't lost much size in my chest, but I want it to be strong and I want to increase my chest mass.

I figure I will start with pushups as this shouldn't be too hard on me since it is my natural body weight that I'm using as resistance. I plan on only going to 90 degrees due to fear of shoulder being reinflamed. What else can I do to build up my chest that is easy on my shoulder? I can't do barbell bench because the locked position that it puts you in tends to cause aggravation (past shoulder experience). I used to do dumbells but I'm worried about that first rep up hurting my shoulder; once the first rep is up I can limit the negative to 90 degrees. I might be able to do cable flies but dumbell flies tend to aggravate it for some reason.

But what else can I do?

Squaggleboggin

Bench powerlifter style if you can - it's much easier on the shoulders than bodybuilding style. It involves more triceps than anything, but it should still help. Otherwise, you may want to try machines to try to isolate the chest more.

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Gym_Maniac

man that's a hard one, most chest exercises are hard on the shoulders, but if i have to choose one, it has to be flat dumbell press, it's a very natural movement, just go light.

MyK

none!! shoulder is a secondary muscle to all chest exercises!

what is it with people and an obsession with having a big chest??????

CowPimp

As part of rehab for my shoulder sublexation, I was doing chest presses on a machine. These started out extremely light. Stick to 2 sets of 15 repetitions or something like that for now. I started out using a full range of motion, but with uber low resistance. Eventually I moved to very light weights with barbells and dumbbells once I felt comfortable. Now I'm almost back to my previous numbers.

However, I must note that even now I really have to focus on using proper form. If I did "bodybuilder benching" then my shoulder doesn't like it much. PL style is much less stressful on your shoulders. I just posted a good article about it. Search for it.

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TJ Cline

What type of injury would cause you to have to take 6 months off.......and why no rehab during that 6 month time???

Some information on your situation is needed if you expect any type of intelligent advise.... people are just shooting in the dark without it

BritChick

Gotta agree, what was the shoulder injury and did you get any sort of medical advice?

CowPimp

True enough. Always get a doctor's permission before start up again. I sort of assumed that was the case, but I really shouldn't.

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joshp

I have had a history of shoulder problems. This is what got me into lifting. In late middle school early highschool I went to a doctor for my shoulder due to pain (apparently ortho said shoulder was partially dislocating). THe ortho had me go to rehab to strengthen the muscles to hold it in the socket. THe doc said that I hadn't grown into my arms yet.

Present time:
Over the past 6 months I reinjured/ aggravated it several times during those six months (playing golf).

The six months of pain all started after I noticed the pain after I slept on the floor on my right shoulder. I woke up and it hurt and I had little movement (the pain was on the backside of my shoulder usually when I overtrain I get pain in the front).

Went to primary doctor and he said it was tendonitis and if it doesn't go away in a certain amount of time (i think like 2-3 weeks can't remember) to come back. I went back in because I still had pain.

First orthopedic I saw said that it was from overtraining, but I didn't feel comfortable with this doctor. He told me to stop all shoulder exercises permanently (these exercises are what fix me partial dislocation problem in the past), stop all bench press exercises permanently and stick with bis tris legs and abs. Most of my back exercises would need to be eliminated as well. I figured it couldn't be from training because I didn't lift the day before and it felt fine the day before I slept on it. I figured maybe I rotated strange on it (while sleeping) and tore something (I weigh 200 pounds and have wide shoulders).

So I asked for a new ortho. He said that he didn't see anything major from the x-ray and that he agreed I should have an MRI done. MRI revealed fluid in shoulder and a frayed tendon. He said the rotator cuff was in good condition and that the tendon issue was outside the rotator cuff. He said to lay off it stay away from golf and stay away from lifting until pain goes away. After that I can slowly return to lifting.

I haven't done rehab because I was suffering from tendonitis and it seemed that any kind of rehab I attempted would cause more inflamation even when I ice and heat immediately after lifting. Now that it is feeling pretty good I'm going to begin rehab. After I've done rehab for a little while I'll return to light back and chest exercises hopefully. But I wanted to see if there are certain chest exercises that are easier on shoulders.

shm353

Well there ya go.
Do ya KILL the ball when you golf? I did. Golf tore my shoulders and back up until I learned to swing properly. balance and tempo. I still suck at it. I love the game but pretty much gave it up cause of the twisting.
Tendonitis feels like it lasts forever, but my shoulders and elbows hurt less now from lifting once I got those trouble spots healed and then sloooowly strengthened. Avoid any lifts that aggravate. Real lightweight (15 lbs)lateral raises worked for me to keep the delts limber while strenghtening the tendons. I did incline pushups on a set of stairs. Those micro tears have to heal completely. If any pain starts up again I lay off totally for several weeks.
Now I'm working light on my lower back so I can start doing better deadlifts.

"I just have shit bag genetics but a good work ethic." P-FUNK

joshp

I'll definitely try this out once I've done some rehab for it, except for the PL part. I read the article on Power lifting unfortunately that doesn't work for me. I tried it in the past but didn't know that was the name of it. What ends up happening when I pull my shoulder blades back, it stretches out the front side of my shoulder where the clavicle joint is and causes aggravation there. The other issue I have is that when I keep my elbows at my sides It ends up bothering my elbows and my shoulders more for some reason.

I had this problem on skull crushers one time and haven't gone back. I was training and a partner said keep your elbows in and he pushed them to where they were inline with my shoulders and the next thing I knew, my right shoulder popped and I had quite a bit of pain in it. When I pull my elbows in there's some kind of lever that causes my shoulder to want to pop out away from the body causing inflamation (even when I'm using no weight and use this kind of form).

joshp

Yeah something to do with that repetitive motion. I think it has to do with the force and whipping action in a golf swing and then the body having to slow down the club after you've hit the ball. If I return to golf I think I may switch to left handed clubs (I bat left handed at baseball). I also suck at it. Right now I'm doing that famous lay on your side rotator cuff exercise with a dumbell. I start with 2.5 pounds and go to 5 pounds. Funny I used to be able to use 12 pounds. I'm going to have to start lateral raises with a 2.5 pound plate in each hand because I'm pretty sure that anything heavier will cause an injury. But it will probably be a few weeks before my shoulders are even ready for that.

kraziplaya

i find the vertical press(adjust the seat so ur seating a little high) and incline bb to work fine when im having rotator issues... also try warming up your rotator and some rotator exercises

kraziplaya

i find flyes...dips....flat bench...painful on the rotator sometimes..avoid exercises that hurt

lnvanry

try 2ccs of cortizone