Rotator cuff...please help!

[Brak86]

Hey u all....ive recently been feelin a little strain in my rotator cuff when i do exercises like incline DB bench and military press...etc...im worried cause i hear that rotator cuff injuries are bad....what i have is nothing serious. it doesn thurt right now...but while im exercising, there is this little annoyance...(small small pain in my right shoulder/rotator cuff) i want to prevent any further injuries. Im pissed off....i dont want to take another week off....i already took a week off two weeks ago and im going to in a couple more weeks for spring break vacation. Next week i will start to only do shoulders once a week, but im afraid my shoulder wont heal? any tips on helping it heal faster? Is there any way to prevent further injuries or do i have to take a break from shoulder lifts?


PS...im also gonna stop upright rows...i hear they put more strain on ure rotator cuffs. That might be why this pain started

 

[Randy]

The best idea may be to take a few days off to see if the pain subsides. If you don't want to do that then all I can say is try lifting lighter. You say you don't want to take time off, but if you don't pay attention to the signs it could turn into something serious. Only you can tell what your body is trying to tell you. You ask if there is a way to prevent injuries... Well there are many way.. Number one is make sure you warm up well before you workout. Lift light at first and use proper motion and form. If you lift bulk and very heavy, do it in cycles. Sometimes your body needs a break... Its like a machine, you can't just keep working the hell out of it over and over and over without a break, or it will break. Like nitrous oxide on a car, you can only hold it the nitrous for so long.

 

[Brak86]

thanks randy....i do warmup...i lift light....i think the problem was....i used to do Chest, then triceps, then shoulders on the same day....my chest...being the first muscle i worked....got stronger...my shoulders however, werent worked as hard since i already did chest, hence i think they didnt get much stronger...so what im thinkin happened is that my bench is high now...but my shoulders are too weak to handle my bench...is that wrong?

 

[Randy]

Well you are correct in stating that when working the chest, there are other muscles that come into play. Two that come to mind are the triceps and front delts muscles of your shoulder.
When body building you want to try to sculpt your body evenly by working on your weaknesses and maintaining and increasing your strengths.

I try not to overpower myself working to many main muscle groups the same day... You just have to setup a combination that you feel comfortable with, but not overwelming.

As far as stating that your shoulders are to weak to support your bench.... Well If your working shoulders before bench and tiring yourself out, this could be the case. But you stated that chest was your first worked. So I don't think your shoulders would be to weak in this case. Again, just make sure you strengthen your weaknesses.... Work them harder. If you think your shoulders are weak you need to work them so that they become stonger.
As for the bench, you have to work your way up gradually. Don't push more than your body can handle... Work a routine where you can do 10 reps easy, then add 10-20 lbs each set and drop the reps as you go. Keep adding weight... I myself do 5 sets, 5 reps each, adding weight each set... Works for me.

 

[Brak86]

yea....im just deathly worried/pissed off about my rotator cuffs...i kno i shouldnt be...but im so scared....when i get back to lifting next week....i kno im gonna do lighter weights...i just dont want to hurt myself forever...or get taken out for a long time. im also pissed off that i have to delay my gains even longer

 

[Randy]

Absolutely, anytime an injury or setback occurs it can definately be dissapointing. I wish you the best of luck, and a rapid recovery.

 

[DrChiro]

best thing IMO is rotator cuff exercises, specifically internal and external rotation exercises....these help strengthen your humeral depressors while most delt work only strengthens your humeral elevators....the balance between the two sets of muscles is vital to keep stress off your supraspinatus tendon.

 

[P-funk]

Aside form the rotator cuff exercises like the Dcotor said, I would add especially focus on external rotation since these muscles are much smaller and weaker than the internal rotators.

Also, drop the upright rows, abduction, extension and external rotation is a lot of things to be happening in one exercise to the shoulder.

I would make all my presses more sagital to prevent impingment of the supraspinatus. When pressing with dumbells rotate your elbos forward a little bit, about 45 degree angly of of your face. This will allow the humerus to move the shoulder into sagital plane flexion and tkae it out of the frontal plane (abduction). It is much safer to press at this angle.