Shoulder pain during bench/incline and lat pulldowns...

[FM 3321]

I've been working out for about a month and a half now and the more I keep trucking along I think "no wonder why so many people are out of shape, this stuff is hard." Anyway my ideal plan includes running in the mornings and 3 sessions of lifting at the gym per week and on chest day I'm noticing pain in my left shoulder. It hurts most on the bench and incline presses and it's killing me because I can lift more than my shoulder allows.

I've read some articles on Bodybuilding.com but I wanted to come here and see what your personal experiences were on dealing with shoulder pain and how to recover from it. Starting out 7 weeks ago I never started doing dedicated shoulder exercises until last week because I realized I should get my shoulders in shape as well as the rest of the muscles that are being worked on.

So with all that said how do I get over this? It seems like just when you get into the groove of working out some stupid injury gets in your way and you have to totally revise your game plan. First it was knee pain from running, now it's this shoulder pain. I would like to get this resolved before I permanently damage my shoulder.

 

[The Bat]

Shoulder pain is tricky but very common occurrence. Look back on my thread history and I posted a thread about it awhile back. Nowadays, I don't feel any shoulder pain at all because I incorporated military press and upright rows in my workouts. They are training my shoulder and "freeing" them up, so to speak.

What shoulder exercise are you doing? Ideally, you should be doing a compound shoulder work so it works your entire shoulder group rather than isolating and strengthening one part over the other.

 

[immrtlwun]

If its actual joint pain, you could try some joint supplements, like glucosamine, chondroitin, and MSM to help rebuild cartilage and ligaments in your shoulder.
Otherwise, just make sure you are using good form on the lifts and keep up with the shoulder workouts.

 

[FM 3321]

Shoulder pain is tricky but very common occurrence. Look back on my thread history and I posted a thread about it awhile back. Nowadays, I don't feel any shoulder pain at all because I incorporated military press and upright rows in my workouts. They are training my shoulder and "freeing" them up, so to speak.

What shoulder exercise are you doing? Ideally, you should be doing a compound shoulder work so it works your entire shoulder group rather than isolating and strengthening one part over the other.

Yesterday and last week I did Front Raises (dumbbell) http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/exerpop.php?Name=Front+Dumbbell+Raise and Bent Over Later Raises http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/exerpop.php?Name=Seated+Bent+Over+Rear+Delt+Raise .

Interestingly enough it's not those exercises that are killing me but like the thread title says the bench press, incline press and front lat pulldowns.

 

[FM 3321]

If its actual joint pain, you could try some joint supplements, like glucosamine, chondroitin, and MSM to help rebuild cartilage and ligaments in your shoulder.
Otherwise, just make sure you are using good form on the lifts and keep up with the shoulder workouts.

When I had knee pain I bought some GNC Mens Joint Health which has all those ingredients. I think I messed up when I started of my workout program without incorporation shoulder exercises off the bat. The only shoulder exercise that rally hurts is the military press since yesterday all I could do was 1.5 sets using the regular 45lb bar.

 

[Throttle]

It hurts most on the bench and incline presses and it's killing me because I can lift more than my shoulder allows.

you realize, of course, that strictly speaking this sentence doesn't make sense. you can't lift more than your shoulder allows -- it's the limiting factor right now.

Starting out 7 weeks ago I never started doing dedicated shoulder exercises until last week because I realized I should get my shoulders in shape as well as the rest of the muscles that are being worked on.

if you weren't doing shoulders before, and are now, your routine may be temporarily overtaxing them. what does your 3 day split look like?

also, you don't give any specifics on where the pain is, but it is common for flat bench, behind-the-head shoulder presses & lat pulldowns, among other exercises, to cause progressive rotator cuff damage, especially with sloppy form. that seems unlikely in 7 weeks unless you have previous damage done by another sport or a previous bout of lifting. consider dropping the flat bench, and check your form on the lat pulldowns.

 

[moneybanks24]

Work on strengthening your rotator cuff, which is what's hurting you on the bench.

 

[mrRuckus]

Search trigger point pain referral areas for the shoulders. You probably won't. No one ever does, but it usually works.


Do shoulder dislocations:
http://www.intensemuscle.com/6997-how-cure-shoulder-problems-trust-me-will-do-90-time-7.html

 

[Kuroro]

Work on shoulder mobility, scapulae strength and rotator cuff strength, also pull more than you push.

 

[MrS]

rotator cuff trouble is sounds like.
Kuroro speaks the truth here.

 

[FM 3321]

I also wanted to update this thread. I started working out shoulders for the past 3-4 weeks and although the pain is still there, the intensity of the pain has greatly decreased. As the muscles for the shoulder have gotten stronger the better they are able to support other exercises. Bench was easy today and incline bench was very manageable. At the time I posted this thread the incline bench press with the 45lb bar was extremely painful. Today I was able to add two 25lb plates and things were much better.

Thanks to all who posted in this thread.

 

[TheBucketOfTruth]

When you just start out these things can happen. I've tried glucosamine and MSM, but they make me feel weird and some even give me awful gas. Right now I'm just taking calcium/magnesium citrate, vitamin D, and fish oil.

 

[oakraiderz2]

I used to have that problem. It probably bursitis/impingement. I take ibprofen every other day to keep the inflamation down, otherwise it would bother me all the time.